Assembly Line

An assembly line conjures up images of massive conveyors rapidly churning out endless product units, but most assembly lines start much smaller than that, and growing manufacturers should know the pros and cons before choosing to adopt this production method. Here's a broad look at what assembly lines do well and where they struggle.

What was the assembly line?

In 1913, Henry Ford created the first moving assembly line. A mechanical process that adds parts to an object as it is moved through a system. It allows for faster manufacturing time than by-hand created products. The Model T was moved through a conveyor system as workers attached different parts to it. Using these steps enabled the car to be created at much faster speeds and helped boost the number of cars created per work day.

How did the assembly line look?

This is an image of how the assembly line took place during the manufacturing of the Model T and how efficient it was. Since it was a moving piece of machinery, it allowed workers to add identical parts to each new car. Each car was created exactly alike so that all parts worked for each car. This made for faster creation, faster repairs, and cheaper prices.

What was it like before the Assembly Line?

Before the assembly line was created, it took many workers over 12 hours of hard labor to create one Model T. Because of the cost of labor involved, the price of cars was very high and the average citizen could not afford to own one. After the assembly line, workers were able to produce Model T's very easily. It was much cheaper, efficient, and less time consuming. Each Model T only took about 93 minutes to completely assemble; a drastic difference to the prior time period. Because of the cheaper cost of producing each car, the price dropped for the citizen trying to buy it.

The Importance of the Assembly Line

The assembly line was important during this time due to its purpose in mass production. But, to this day is still used as the main form of manufacturing and is a big factor in commerce around the globe. It allowed vehicles to be produced less expensively for both the consumer and the company. It saved the companies money by helping them pay less for their labor per vehicle produced. It allowed the consumer to have a vehicle as part of their everyday life. The ease of production also led to companies charging less for their vehicles and that is what allowed more consumers to obtain a vehicle. Also workers gained advantages too! They gained a raise and their total pay became $5 an hour.

Source: https://hfordassemblyl.weebly.com/