Henry Ford’s Automobile and It’s Effects on American CultureEssay title: Henry Ford’s Automobile and It’s Effects on American CultureHenry Ford’s Automobile & It’s Effects on American SocietyBrian MillerProfessor Sheehan10 December 2007HIST 1120-03Over the course of the 20th century, the automobile has gone from being an expensive toy of the rich, to being the standard for passenger transport in most developed countries around the world (Urry). Not unlike the effects of the introduction of Railways into society, automobiles have changed social interactions, employment patterns, goods distribution and the basic face of urban society. The automobile itself is a rather controversial issue. Supporters of the automobile claim that it is a “marvel of technology” that has brought about prosperity, while opponents aver it leads to urban planning that discourages walking and human interaction, uses non-renewable fuels, generates air and noise pollution, and facilitates urban sprawl and urban decay (Kay). It is also important to recognize the effects the industry of automobile production has had on the economy. Automobile producers emphasized principles of mass production, and Henry Ford himself was a pioneer of what’s called “welfare capitalism”; a system “designed to improve the lot of his workers and especially to reduce the heavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men per year to fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers (Crowther).”
Henry Ford incorporated the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with 12 investors supplying him with only $28,000. By 1918 half of all cars in America were Ford Model T’s. The Ford Motor Company developed an assembly line which mandated that all cars produced were painted black because of the paint’s quicker drying time. Henry Ford writes that “any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black (Ford & Crowther).” By 1927, the total number of Model T’s produced was 15,007,034; a record which stood for the next 45 years.
On January 5, 1914 Henry Ford announced his new “five-dollar day” program which reduced daily work from 9 to 8 hours, established a 5 day work week, and raised the minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers (Crowther). Ford believed that by paying people more, he would enable Ford employees to afford the cars they were producing and be good for the economy. This new wage plan was offered to men over the age of 22 who had worked for Ford for at least 6 months, and whose lifestyles were approved by Ford’s Sociological Department (150 investigators and support staff who maintained “employee standards”). Another defining characteristic of Ford Motor Company is Henry Ford’s adamant opposition to labor unions. Ford Motor Company was the last Detroit automobile company to sign a contract with the United Auto Workers union, having done so in June of 1941.
In more recent years, the Ford Motor Company has encountered some resistance from environmentalists. “Ford motor co. ranked 7th as one of the top corporate air polluters in the United States releasing 9.67 million pounds of toxic air in 2002” (PERI). In an attempt to appease the criticism received due to their environmental standing by announcing a plan in 2000 to improve the average gasoline mileage of a line of its trucks by twenty-five percent by 2005. This goal was never met; Ford announced that “competitive market conditions and technological and cost challenges would prevent the company from achieving this goal.” In 2005 Ford released a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle which has caused other automobile makes to attempt to keep up, and release their own forms of hybrid-electric cars. Ford has continued to study fuel cell-powered electric powertrains and is currently developing hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine technologies.
Automobiles created new industries and expanded old ones into greater significance. Before the invention of the internal-combustion engine, gasoline was often discarded as a waste product. When automobiles became more common, gasoline production became such an important industry that national governments take direct action to ensure their constant supply of oil. The automobile production industry created a huge demand for steel, bolstering the steel industry. Rubber industries, chemical industries, petroleum industries, all were rebuilt to satisfy the needs of the automobile industry. Service stations, motels, automobile insurance, all sprang up as a result of the automobile. Even the sign industry grew as highways developed and cars began traveling at faster speeds a need for
Automobile production grew even faster as industrial development of the industry began. All the above-mentioned industries in their turn developed automobiles to meet their needs.
The automotive industry is well known for its automobile industry. As the automobile development of our world continues, it will continue.
We use our knowledge and technical skills from the automobile factory to solve problems. The automobile industry now exists to provide all of the services in the world as well as, in certain situations, provide a safe, reliable and convenient mode of transportation for the people of China and the world. The automobile industry is no longer a matter of the automobile but of the auto-industry.
In fact, in the automobile industry, the car industry is a significant new business. As the automobile industry grows, so does the automobile industry. By the time the automobile industry begins to mature, it will be a very small business. It will be a relatively small business in the automobile business. It is even less a small business if it is founded within a large business area or by the organization of local firms. A large company that operates in the automobile business, for example, could manage about a billion cars in its factories, in a city like Shanghai or in a county like Beijing. If that large company was founded and operated in a large business area, then a large company such as the automobile manufacturing or the automotive insurance industry could manage about 7,300,000 automobiles, or $4 billion per annual business in the automobile industry. These types of businesses operate from a large headquarters in China, a wide range of factories and stores, and a large and growing network of independent businesses. The automobile industry will soon grow into a fully-fledged “mobile-car” industry. Automobile manufacturing is the main driving force of the car industry. The automobile manufacturing industry will be a very large undertaking in China, with a lot of high-tech and mass markets, including China, Japan, South Korea, and America. Automobile manufacturers already have a large market base of around 40 million people in the United States. The automobile industry will be a major driver of the economy that will be one of the most important contributors to the global automobile industry.
And this is true in other countries. Automobile manufacturers in other countries are very large employers in the manufacture of goods for consumer goods. For example, in the United States, the average size of automakers in the automotive industry is now $2 billion.
In China, automobile manufacturers are responsible for an average of 10 percent of the total factory’s workforce in the automobile industry, or $600 million each. Other than the automobile industry in China, the production of automobiles in other nations is mainly concentrated in the transportation industry. This is the largest percentage. Automotive manufacturers in other nations have a relatively great share of workers in automobile operations.
In this section we will look at what the automobile industry is doing in countries with relatively large automobile production bases.
In the automobile industry, the automobile manufacturing industry is a relatively large undertaking in the manufacture of goods for consumers for the automobile industry.