Electrical Dependency

David G. Dupuis

COMM/215 – Essentials of College Writing

27 September 2011

Karen J. Birk, MA

Electrical Dependency

As a society I don’t believe we consciously realize how electrically dependent we have become. At approximately 4 p.m. Thursday September 8, 2011 reality struck nearly six million people in the Southwest and Mexico when the power went off line. The outage impaired or stopped most our daily operations and functions. I felt vulnerable to the electrical system and began to realize just exactly how deeply this type of event impacted my family. I found myself examining means of backup power for the sole purpose of avoiding the incontinence of being without power. In truth, electricity is a convenience we have turned into a necessity.
Critical to Henry Ford’s success and accomplishments was the implementation of assembly lines to create mass production of his vehicles. Before assembly lines, automobile production was a very slow process that involved groups of highly experienced workers producing expensive automobiles for the well to do. Ford saw this as a serious problem. “Mr. Ford looked to innovations in production to solve that problem, and was particularly interested in the production model being used by Chicago meat packer Gustavus Swift” (McDonough, 2003). Ford took the disassembly line in the meat packing plant and modified the process for assembly of his vehicles. “Ford did not conceive the concept; he perfected it” (Eye Whitness to History, 2005, p. 1). Henry ford began introducing assembly lines in his plants in 1913. Assembly lines permitted mass production at a substantial cost reduction and created job opportunities for less skilled workers. Assembly line workers stayed in one area constantly performing a particular task on each vehicle as it moved down the line. This process decreased production time on the Model T from more than 12 hours to fewer than six hours creating the opportunity to have an affordable automobile for the average American.
Affordable automobiles in the early 1900s for the average American were nonexistent until Henry Ford began production of the Model T in 1908, at $825 the Model T was affordable to the average person and sales soared to more than 10,000 the first year. Ford chose to try to reduce the price even further by investing his money back into his factories by altering them into assembly lines. Once the assembly lines were in place and running in 1913 the price dropped even further to $575 causing Ford sales to reach 48% of the automobile market by 1914. The affordability of the Model T changed society forever. No longer were personal automobiles a luxury item they had become a commonality among the masses. Then on January 5, 1914 Ford shocked the world, doubling the current wage of $2.34 for employees; he offered $5 a day. The idea was that this would attract valuable, experienced employees who require less training. He was correct. The turnover rate dropped significantly productivity was on the rise and training cost were down. Initially not all of Ford’s employees received the $5 a day raise. They first had to complete six months of employment with the company and be approved by Ford’s Social Department. Ford wanted upstanding citizens; he disapproved of activities such as gambling, heavy drinking and not properly taking care of family matters. The Social Department was created to investigate workers backgrounds and social behavior to ensure they would meet Ford’s standards and be productive additions to his workforce. The majority of Ford employees cleared the Social Departments investigations and received the $5 a day. This pay raise benefited all auto workers and gave a boost to the slow economy. Other auto manufacturer followed suit and raised wages to retain and compete for the most experienced and productive workers.
Soon thereafter, World War I was center stage and Ford was passionately involved. “Henry Ford was a populist and folk hero to be taken seriously. He had been a protester of World War I. In 1915, he had commissioned and personally sailed to Europe on a Peace Ship. He was called naive by the media and politicians, but many had admired Henry Ford for his efforts to stop the carnage” (Wicks, 2003). The peace efforts of Ford and company failed and by 1918 his factories were producing much needed supplies and equipment for the soldiers. Then years later WWII began and Ford again was torn between his beliefs and his country. Nevertheless, once again after the attacks on Pearl Harbor Ford began modifications to existing production plants and immediately began constructing new plants to produce greatly needed military equipment, much the same as he had done during World War I but on a much larger scale. “Early in 1942, Ford assembled the last passenger car it produced for more than three years. During the war, the company had essentially one customer” (McDonough, 2003). Stretching over a mile long and specifically designed to produce B-24 Liberator Bombers Willow Run was the largest plant built for the war efforts. The plant produced its first bomber in May 1942 and by the end of the war had produced 86,865 aircraft, 57,851 airplane engines, thousands of engine superchargers and generators, and 4,291 military gliders. Various other Ford plants in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada produced a variety of other military vehicles such as tanks, four-wheel-drive trucks and autos, and engine-powered landing craft. The Willys-Jeep was another product of the war that Ford was primarily responsible for creating. In all, Ford plants produced in excess of one million vehicles for the military allied forces during WWII.
Henry Ford’s mass production of automobiles through utilization of assembly lines impacted society financially as well as militarily. Ford doubled the wages of auto workers during a slow economic period and produced much needed military planes, vehicles, and supplies for America and allied forces during World War I and World War II. Henry Ford revolutionized the auto industry and significantly impacted society.

References

(2005). Eye Witness to History. In Henry Ford Changes the World, 1908.

www.eyewitnesstohistory.com

McDonough, J. (2003). The Brand That Changed America. Advertising Age, Vol. 74 (Issue 13), para.pF-4, 8p. Retrieved from http://adage.com

Wicks, F. (2003). The remarkable Henry Ford. Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 125 (Issue 5), p50, 6p. Retrieved form https://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds