Introduction

Many entrepreneurs have significantly contributed to the American economy. Henry Ford remains one of the most famous American entrepreneurs whose contribution was recognized not only in America but in the whole world. Born in Michigan by William and Ford on 30th July 1863, Henry contributed immensely in the automobile sector. His contribution to the development of mass production in the automobile industry cannot go unnoticed. Although the first vehicle was invented in Europe, only a handful of those automobile were produced. However, Henry Ford was determined to ensure that everyone had access to cheap cars, and he pursued his dream the furthest he could (Geisst, 2006). Armed with his engineering skills and entrepreneurial capabilities, Henry was able to change the automobile sector to the best. Some of his ideas and concepts are used in the modern production of cars.

Henry Ford analysis

Henry was born and brought up by prosperous farmers and grew up just like other boys of his age. However, he had a great imagination and also immensely fascinated by technology. This made him spend most of his times inspecting watches and trinkets to understand how such things worked. He developed a passion for constructing things at a tender age, and this contributed to his lack of interest in school. Henry failed to see the reason for staying in school and getting a degree. He had a special interest in the machinery used by his father in his farming and carefully monitored the vigorous chores of a farmer. Henry moved to the city of Detroit at the age of 16 where he worked as an apprentice machinist. During his stay at Detroit, he kept working and learning about a variety of machines.

Henry was however fired from factories of Detroit due to his hard work. This forced him to go back to his father where he continued helping him on the farm. He also worked as a saw miller, but this did not deter him from pursuing his dream.  He later abandoned farming and employed as an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. His hard work in this company led to his promotion to the chief engineer. This boosted his confidence and also offered an opportunity for his experiments (Hitt, Hoskisson & Ireland, 2009). Continuous experimentation resulted in assembling of the combustion engine.  His completion of steam engine helped Henry in designing and constructing his first “horseless carriage.” It was a Quadricycle that looked like a bike with an engine on it.  This was a great achievement at this time and laid a foundation for great future ahead.

Just like any other entrepreneur, Henry had several challenges as he tried to establish himself as one of the most successful businessmen. His first establishment was Detroit Automobile Company founded in 1899. This was the first car plant in Detroit where he worked as the chief engineer. It is, however essential, to understand that the company collapsed less than a year after its establishment. In 1901, Ford decided to venture automobile racing where he also achieved milestones of success.  Ford had a great desire in automobile assembly and in 1903, Ford Motor Company was established. He acted as the president and chief engineer of the company and strived a lot to ensure that he would be successful this time round. Ford Motor Company grew so fast and by 1906, Henry was the primary shareholder of the company.

Ford Motor Company produced model A of vehicles that were sold for the first five years of the company.  After this production, Henry was determined to make cars that would be very cheap for anybody earning a decent salary. Henry had a dream that every American should be able to drive a car. As a result, the Model ‘T’ was unveiled in October 1908. The vehicle became very popular with the Americans where sales reached the one million mark within seven years.      By 1920, the sale of this vehicle had reached fifteen million marks, and this was a great achievement. During the introduction of the vehicle, each went for $1,200. However, this dropped to $295 as a result of the standardization of the vehicle. More than half of car-owning Americans were driving this model of vehicle ten years after its invention. This vehicle became very familiar to Americans of different social status due to its varied usability at both rural and urban areas. It is believed that an average of 9,190 cars was produced every day in the Ford factory. By 1910, for the motor company had conquered America but had failed in other parts of the world (Pelfrey, 2006). To fulfill his objective, Henry Ford decided to model T to other regions of the world such as Africa, Turkey, India, Mauritius, and Japan among other destinations. He also produced airplanes used by the air force during the First World War.

The sales of this model made Ford the richest American and most people tried to copy his idea. The increased demand of the vehicle made it necessary for Henry to devise ways through which the production process would be substantially increased. He understood the importance of employee motivation and decided to increase employee wages to five dollars per day and reduced the working hours to eight hours per day. This was an important step forward since this number of hours, and daily wages were not prevalent in the American factories. By so doing, Ford was seen as more humanitarian.

Besides better enumeration, Ford believed in hard work and applied this policy equally to himself and his workers. The demand for the vehicles made the entrepreneur always to think of ways of improving and accelerating the production process.   He had strong faith in his workers and ensured that they worked very hard every day to meet the desired levels of production. This however had adverse effects as many of the employees quit the job after few months citing monotony and exhaustion as the reasons behind. Rate of staff turnover was very high at Ford Motor Company despite being the highest paying factory.

Henry Ford’s innovativeness as an entrepreneur is clearly evidenced by his introduction of mass production in the automobile industry. He introduced a system that would enable the production of several car units within the shortest time possible. The mass production involved precise manufacturing, the division of labor, standardized and interchangeable parts. The workers at the factory assembled cars as they traveled along an assembly line. This assembly line was a distinct aspect in the automobile industry (Hitt, Hoskisson & Ireland, 2009). The assembly line did not only increase the rate of production but also decreased the production costs and enhanced specialization. It is reported that by 1920, Henry Ford was able to produce a car after every ten seconds. Mass production technique became very popular with other companies in America. This resulted in many industries adopting this technique leading to mass production of cheap goods that were easily affordable to a majority of ordinary Americans.

Raising of employees pay and shortening the daily working hours was another significant contribution of Ford to the American economy. Although this did not initially augur well with the competitors, they eventually followed suit making American employees enjoy the better working environment. It is, however, essential to understand that the company lost its place to General Motors and Chrysler Corporation by 1936 (Snow, n.d.). The slump of the company is as a result of management issues at the enterprise. Henry Ford retired from the management of the company in 1945 allowing his grandson to take charge. Henry Ford died in 1947 at his home in Michigan after an illustrious life and contribution towards American economy.

To sum it up, the entrepreneurship ideas and concepts introduced in the American economy by Ford are indispensable. Most of the ideas used by Ford were created and initially used at the company before being copied by other entrepreneurs. For instance, mass production technique will remain one of the most important ford’s contributions to American entrepreneurship. Many industries have used this technique in their production leading to the massive production of affordable goods for the American people. In conclusion, a good entrepreneur is one who has the urge and ambition to work, and make the success from their creations. Ford’s desire for automobile mass production has resulted in the promotion of American economy to the middle-class level (Serwer, 2015). Henry Ford will forever be remembered as not only the creator of one of the greatest car companies of its time but the inventor of one of the best cars ever made, the Model T.

References

Geisst, C. (2006). Encyclopedia of American business history. New York: Facts On File.

Hitt, M., Hoskisson, R., & Ireland, R. (2009). Strategic management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Pelfrey, W. (2006). Billy, Alfred, and General Motors. New York: AMACOM.

Serwer, A.(2015). American enterprise. Smithsonian Institution

Snow, R. I invented the modern age.

 
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