Henry Ford

Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and transformed automobile manufacturing, and industrial production generally, through his development of the moving assembly line. Introduced fully at Ford's Highland Park plant by 1913, the assembly line cut the time needed to build a Model T from more than twelve hours to about ninety minutes, letting Ford cut prices repeatedly while still turning a profit and putting car ownership within reach of ordinary American workers for the first time. In 1914 he also startled American industry by more than doubling the standard wage to five dollars a day, a move that both reduced costly worker turnover and, Ford argued, let his own employees afford the cars they built. His manufacturing methods, widely copied and later known as Fordism, reshaped mass production across many industries, even as his later career was also marked by open antisemitism that drew wide criticism.