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{{Short description|Manufacturing process}}
{{Refimprove|date=January 2008}}
] ] on final assembly line 3 in the ] plant]]
]'s car assembly line]]


An '''assembly line''', often called ''progressive assembly'', is a ] process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechanically moving parts to workstations and transferring the unfinished product from one workstation to another, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than having workers carry parts to a stationary product.
An '''assembly line''' is a ] process in which parts (usually ]) are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods. The assembly line developed by ] between 1908 and 1915 made assembly lines famous in the following decade through the social ramifications of ], such as the affordability of the ] and the introduction of high wages for Ford workers. However, the various preconditions for the development at Ford stretched far back into the 19th century, from the gradual realization of the dream of ], to the concept of reinventing workflow and job descriptions using analytical methods. Ford was the first company to build large ] around the concept. Mass production via assembly lines is widely considered to be the catalyst which initiated the modern consumer culture by making possible low unit-cost for manufactured goods. It is often said that Ford's production system was ingenious because it turned Ford's own workers into new customers. Put another way, Ford innovated its way to a lower price point and by doing so turned a huge potential market into a reality. Not only did this mean that Ford enjoyed much larger demand, but the resulting larger demand also allowed further ] to be exploited, further depressing unit price, which tapped yet another portion of the ]. This bootstrapping quality of growth made Ford famous and set an example for other industries.


Assembly lines are common methods of assembling complex items such as ]s and other ] equipment, ] appliances and ].
==Concept==
] assembly line as of 2008]]
Consider the assembly of a car: assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps); only one of these steps can be done at a time. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time. If engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes 5 minutes, and wheel installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes.


Workers in charge of the works of assembly line are called '''assemblers'''.<ref name="Spherion">{{cite web | title=Assembler Job Description - How to Become an Assembly Worker | website=Spherion | url=https://www.spherion.com/job-seekers/career-resources/careerboost-blog/assembler-job-description_194/ | access-date=2020-03-07 | archive-date=2020-09-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925120133/https://www.spherion.com/job-seekers/career-resources/careerboost-blog/assembler-job-description_194/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously. When one station is finished with a car, it passes it on to the next. By having three stations, a total of three different cars can be operated on at the same time, each one at a different stage of its assembly.


==Concepts==
After finishing its work on the first car, the engine installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the second car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station and be fitted with wheels. After the engine has been installed on the second car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the third car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car’s engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the hood station; meanwhile, subsequent cars (if any) can be moved to the engine installation station.
] assembly line as of 2008]]
Assembly lines are designed for the sequential organization of workers, ]s or machines, and parts. The motion of workers is minimized to the extent possible. All parts or assemblies are handled either by ]s or motorized vehicles such as ], or ], with no manual trucking. Heavy lifting is done by machines such as ] or forklifts. Each worker typically performs one simple operation unless job rotation strategies are applied.


According to ]:
Assuming no loss of time when moving a car from one station to another, the longest stage on the assembly line determines the throughput (20 minutes for the engine installation) so a car can be produced every 20 minutes, once the first car taking 35 minutes has been produced.


{{blockquote|The principles of assembly are these:
== History ==
]
=== Overview: a culmination of many efforts ===
The assembly line concept was not "invented" at one time by one person. It has been independently redeveloped throughout history based on logic. Its exponentially larger development at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th occurred among various people over decades, as other aspects of technology allowed. The development of toolpath control via ], ], and ]s (such as the ] and ]) during the 19th century provided the prerequisites for the modern assembly line by making ] a practical reality. Before the 20th century, most manufactured products were made individually by hand. A single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product. They would use their skills and tools such as ] and knives to create the individual parts. They would then assemble them into the final product, making cut-and-try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together (]). The transition to other methods began as creativity and logic took advantage of the opportunities that the aforementioned machining developments presented. Thus, before the modern assembly line took shape, there were prototypical forms in various industries, as outlined below.


(1) Place the tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing.
=== The Terracotta Army (circa 215 BC)===
The ] commissioned by the first Chinese Emperor ] is a collection of about 8000 life-sized clay soldiers and horses buried with the emperor. The figures had their separate body parts manufactured by different workshops that were later assembled to completion. Notably, each workshop inscribed its name on the part they manufactured to add traceability for quality construction.


(2) Use work slides or some other form of the carrier so that when a workman completes his operation, he drops the part always in the same place—which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand—and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his own.
=== Venetian Arsenal (1500s)===


(3) Use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances.<ref name="Ford1922">{{Harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922}}, p. 45 (on line version), p. 80 (print version)</ref>}}


Designing assembly lines is a well-established mathematical challenge, referred to as an assembly line balancing problem.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Scholl| first1 = A. | last2 = Christian| first2 = B. | year = 2006 | title = State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing | journal = European Journal of Operational Research | volume = 168| issue = 3| pages = 666–639 | doi=10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.022
At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the ] employed some 16,000 people who apparently were able to produce nearly one ship each day, and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly-built ] with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis not seen again until the ].
}}</ref> In the simple assembly line balancing problem the aim is to assign a set of tasks that need to be performed on the workpiece to a sequence of workstations. Each task requires a given task duration for completion. The assignment of tasks to stations is typically limited by two constraints: (1) a precedence graph which indicates what other tasks need to be completed before a particular task can be initiated (e.g. not putting in a screw before drilling the hole) and (2) a cycle time which restricts the sum of task processing times which can be completed at each workstation before the work-piece is moved to the next station by the conveyor belt. Major planning problems for operating assembly lines include ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Slack| first1 = N. | last2 = Brandon-Jones| first2 = A. | last3 = Johnston | first3 = R. |date= 2013 |title= Operations Management |publisher= Pearson |isbn=9780273776291}}</ref>


==Simple example==
=== Block production at Portsmouth: Brunel, Maudslay, et al. (1800-1820s) ===
]
Probably the first linear and continuous assembly line of post-Renaissance times were the ] created in 1801 by ] (father of ]), with the help of ] and others, for the production of ] for the ]. This assembly line was so successful it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at ] in ], and still containing some of the original machinery.
Consider the assembly of a ]: assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps); only one of these steps can be done at a time. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time. If ] installation takes 20 minutes, ] installation takes five minutes, and ]s installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes.


In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously. When a station is finished with a car, it passes it on to the next. By having three stations, three cars can be operated on at the same time, each at a different stage of assembly.
=== Eli Whitney (1780s-1820s) ===
] is sometimes credited with developing the ] of manufacturing in 1801, using the ideas of ], ], and interchangeable parts to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner. But Whitney's contribution was mostly as a popularizer rather than "the inventor" of repeatability. He was probably inspired by several others (including ]), or at least by the contemporary zeitgeist that was building around such ideas. ] had tried to bring a French mechanic (who was almost certainly Blanc) and his methods to America in 1785, but the project never went anywhere.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roe|1916|p=129-130}}.</ref> A few years later, Whitney and his American contemporaries succeeded in introducing the relevant concepts (interchangeable parts, toolpath control via machine tools and jigs, transfer of skill to the equipment, allowing use of semi-skilled or unskilled machine operators) to American firearm manufacture.


After finishing its work on the first car, the engine installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the second car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station and be fitted with wheels. After the engine has been installed on the second car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the third car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car's engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the hood station; meanwhile, subsequent cars (if any) can be moved to the engine installation station.
=== Meatpacking industry (1860s)===
The meatpacking industry of Chicago is believed to be one of the first industrial assembly lines (or dis-assembly lines) to be utilized in the United States starting in 1867. Workers would stand at fixed stations and a pulley system would bring the meat to each worker and they would complete one task. Henry Ford and others have written about the influence of this slaughterhouse practice on the later developments at Ford Motor Company (see below at ]).


Assuming no loss of time when moving a car from one station to another, the longest stage on the assembly line determines the ] (20 minutes for the engine installation) so a car can be produced every 20 minutes, once the first car taking 35 minutes has been produced.
=== Firearms, clocks, et al. (1860s-1890s) ===
The Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and North America, but perhaps most especially in ] and ], led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably ]s, ]s, ],<ref name = "xovodv">Georgano 1985.</ref> ]s, ]s, ]s and ]s, ]s, and ]s, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as ] and ] had not yet been named.


==History==
=== Ransom E. Olds (1890s-1900s) ===
Before the ], most manufactured products were made individually by hand. A single ] or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product. They would use their skills and tools such as ] and ] to create the individual parts. They would then assemble them into the final product, making cut-and-try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together (]).
] patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his ] factory in 1901, becoming the first company in America to mass-produce automobiles.<ref>http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm</ref> This development is often overshadowed by the independent redevelopment of assembly-line work at Ford Motor Company a few years later (see below), which introduced the ramifications of the method to a wider audience.


] was practiced by ], ] and other ancient civilizations. In Ancient Greece it was discussed by ] and ].<ref>{{Citation |last=Sturn |first=Richard |title=Division of Labor: History of the Concept |date=2015-01-01 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080970868030786 |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition) |pages=601–605 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |access-date=2023-09-30 |place=Oxford |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5}}</ref> ] discussed the ] in the manufacture of ] at length in his book '']'' (published in 1776).
=== Ford Motor Company (1908-1915) ===
The assembly line developed for the Ford Model T had immense influence on the world. Despite oversimplistic attempts to attribute it to one man or another, it was in fact a composite development based on logic that took 7 years and plenty of intelligent men. The principal leaders are discussed below.


The ], dating to about 1104, operated similar to a ]. Ships moved down a canal and were fitted by the various shops they passed. At the peak of its ] in the early 16th century, the Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who could apparently produce nearly one ship each day and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly built ] with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis. Although the Arsenal lasted until the early Industrial Revolution, production line methods did not become common even then.
The basic kernel of an assembly line concept was introduced to ] by William "Pa" Klann upon his return from visiting a Chicago slaughterhouse and viewing what was referred to as the "disassembly line", where animals were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over caught his attention. He reported the idea to ], soon to be head of Ford production, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put the idea forth to ], but Pa Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum{{Fact|date=October 2007}} and elsewhere, making him an important contributor to the modern automated assembly line concept. The process was an evolution by trial and error of a team consisting primarily of ], the factory superintendent; ], Martin's assistant; ], draftsman and toolmaker; ]; and ]. Some of the groundwork for such development had recently been laid by the intelligent layout of ] placement that ] had been doing at Ford up to 1908.


===Industrial Revolution===
In 1922 Ford (via his ghostwriter Crowther) said of his 1913 assembly line, "I believe that this was the first moving line ever installed. The idea came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef."<ref>{{Harvnb|Ford|1922}}, .</ref>


The ] led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably ]s, ]s, ],<ref name = "xovodv">] 1985.{{full citation needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> ]s, ], ]s, and ]s, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as ] and ] had not yet been named.
], in his 1956 memoir ''My Forty Years with Ford'', presented a different version of development that was not so much about individual “inventors” as a gradual, logical development of industrial engineering:


] was the first manufactured product to become fully automated, at the ] in the early 19th century.]]
"What was worked out at Ford was the practice of moving the work from one worker to another until it became a complete unit, then arranging the flow of these units at the right time and the right place to a moving final assembly line from which came a finished product. Regardless of earlier uses of some of these principles, the direct line of succession of mass production and its intensification into automation stems directly from what we worked out at Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1913. Henry Ford is generally regarded as the father of mass production. He was not. He was the sponsor of it."<ref>{{Harvnb|Sorensen|1956|p=116}}.</ref>


The automatic ] ] built by ] in 1785 was called the beginning of modern ] by Roe (1916). Evans's mill used a leather belt bucket elevator, ]s, canvas belt conveyors, and other mechanical devices to completely automate the process of making flour. The innovation spread to other mills and breweries.<ref>{{harvnb|Roe|1916|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref>
As a result of these developments in method, Ford's cars came off the line in three minute intervals. This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.<ref name = "xovodv"/> It was so successful, ] became a bottleneck. Only ] would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying ] ] was developed in 1926.<ref name = "xovodv"/> In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.<ref name = "xovodv"/>


Probably the earliest industrial example of a linear and continuous assembly process is the ], built between 1801 and 1803. ] (father of ]), with the help of ] and others, designed 22 types of machine tools to make the parts for the rigging ] used by the ]. This factory was so successful that it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at ] in ], and still containing some of the original machinery.<ref>Coad, Jonathan, ''The Portsmouth Block Mills : Bentham, Brunel and the start of the Royal Navy's Industrial Revolution'', 2005, {{ISBN|1-873592-87-6}}.{{page needed|date=November 2019}}</ref>
Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "]," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take-off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.


One of the earliest examples of an almost modern factory layout, designed for easy material handling, was the ]. The factory grounds were bordered by the ] and the ]. The buildings were arranged in a line with a railway for carrying the work going through the buildings. ] were used for lifting the heavy work, which sometimes weighed in the tens of tons. The work passed sequentially through to erection of framework and final assembly.<ref>{{harvnb|Musson|Robinson|1969|pp=491–5}}</ref>
Ford at one point considered suing other car companies because they used the assembly line in their production, but decided against, realizing it was essential to creation and expansion of the industry as a whole.


], pictured in 1839, one of the earliest factories to use an almost modern ], workflow, and material-handling system]]
In the ], its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, ] was the first native European manufacturer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke by not being able to compete; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared.<ref name = "xovodv"/>


The first flow assembly line was initiated at the factory of ], Leiston Works in ] in the ] of ] for the manufacture of ]s. The assembly line area was called ']' on account of its length and was fully operational by early 1853. The ] was brought up from the foundry and put at the start of the line, and as it progressed through the building it would stop at various stages where new parts would be added. From the upper level, where other parts were made, the lighter parts would be lowered over a balcony and then fixed onto the machine on the ground level. When the machine reached the end of the shop, it would be completed.
== Sociological problems ==
<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.industriouseast.org.uk/index.php?pageId=147&anchor=164&filter=gb |title= Long Shop Museum |access-date= 2012-12-17 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150601151902/http://www.industriouseast.org.uk/index.php?pageId=147&anchor=164&filter=gb |archive-date= 2015-06-01 |url-status= dead }}{{full citation needed|date= December 2014}}</ref>


===Interchangeable parts===
] work has explored the ] and ] that many workers feel because of the repetition of doing the same specialized task all day long.<ref> , ], in '']'', Vol. 6, No. 3 (Summer, 1965), pp. 518-519 {{en icon}}</ref> Because workers have to stand in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day, ] are a possible pathology of ]. ] also proved dangerous. When it was not too high, workers were often prohibited from talking. ], a skilled worker at the ], recalled that beside being prohibited from speaking, the semi-skilled workers had only 25 centimeters in which to move.<ref> (Autogestion Lessons), interview with ] {{fr icon}} </ref> Industrial ] later tried to minimize physical trauma.


During the early 19th century, the development of ]s such as the ], ], and ], and of toolpath control via ] and ], provided the prerequisites for the modern assembly line by making ] a practical reality.<ref>Beetz, Kirk H. "Assembly Line." Dictionary of American History, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, 3rd ed., vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003, pp. 334–336. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3401800294/GVRL?u=tamp44898&sid=GVRL&xid=da247923. Accessed 19 Jan. 2021.</ref>
== See also ==

{{commonscat|Assembly lines}}
===Late 19th-century steam and electric conveyors===
*]

*]
Steam-powered ]s began being used for loading and unloading ships some time in the last quarter of the 19th century.<ref name="Wells1890">{{harvnb|Wells|1890|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> Hounshell (1984) shows a {{circa|1885}} sketch of an electric-powered conveyor moving cans through a filling line in a canning factory.

The ] industry of ] is believed to be one of the first industrial assembly lines (or disassembly lines) to be utilized in the United States starting in 1867.{{sfn|Nibert, 2011|p=200}} Workers would stand at fixed stations and a pulley system would bring the meat to each worker and they would complete one task. Henry Ford and others have written about the influence of this ] practice on the later developments at Ford Motor Company.{{sfn|Patterson, 2002|pp=71–79}}

===20th century===

] assembly line was the first.<ref name=swan>{{cite web |url=http://www.caranddriver.com/features/fords-assembly-line-turns-100-how-it-really-put-the-world-on-wheels-feature |title=Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Really Put the World on Wheels |first=Tony |last=Swan |publisher=] |date=April 2013 |access-date=26 March 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419222733/http://www.caranddriver.com/features/fords-assembly-line-turns-100-how-it-really-put-the-world-on-wheels-feature |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Weber2013/>]]
]. Ford tested various assembly methods to optimize the procedures before permanently installing the equipment. The actual assembly line used an ] to mount the body.]]
]
]
]
]
According to Domm, the implementation of mass production of an automobile via an assembly line may be credited to ], who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the ].<ref name="michigan yesterday">{{harvnb|Domm|2009|p=29}}</ref> Olds ] the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his ] factory in 1901.<ref>{{cite web |first= Phil |last= Ament |url= http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm |title= Assembly Line History: Invention of the Assembly Line |publisher= Ideafinder.com |access-date= 2011-10-15 |archive-date= 2018-01-17 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180117205321/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm |url-status= live }}</ref>

At ], the assembly line was introduced by William "Pa" Klann upon his return from visiting ] in Chicago and viewing what was referred to as the "disassembly line", where carcasses were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over without moving to another station caught his attention. He reported the idea to ], soon to be head of Ford production, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put the idea forth to ], but Pa Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum<ref>{{citation |last= Klann |first= W. C. |date= n.d. |title= Reminiscences |id= Accession 65, Box 21, Folder 10 |publisher= Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village Archives}}</ref> and elsewhere, making him an important contributor to the modern automated assembly line concept. Ford was appreciative, having visited the highly automated 40-acre ] ] handling facility around 1906. At Ford, the process was an evolution by trial and error<ref name=Weber2013>{{cite web|url=http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/91581-the-moving-assembly-line-turns-100 |title=The Moving Assembly Line Turns 100 |last=Weber |first=Austin |publisher=Assembly Magazine |date=2013-10-01 |access-date=2017-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826161557/http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/91581-the-moving-assembly-line-turns-100 |archive-date=2016-08-26 |url-status=live |quote=The assembly line ... was the result of a long period of trial and error. The assembly line wasn't a planned development; rather, it emerged in 1913 from a dynamic situation. People such as Carl Emde, William Klann and William Knudsen all played key roles in early automation efforts at Ford's Highland Park factory. Two individuals were essential to the success of the moving assembly line: Clarence Avery and Charles Sorensen. constant redesign of the Model T. Many components was tweaked regularly to make the vehicle easier to assemble. In 1913 alone, Ford made more than 100 design changes every month. Continuous experimentation was the rule rather than the exception at Ford's Highland Park plant. Ford engineers were constantly redesigning and tweaking jigs and fixtures, and planning new machine tools or fixing old ones, to achieve higher production. }}</ref> of a team consisting primarily of ], the factory superintendent; ], Martin's assistant; ]; ], draftsman and toolmaker; ]; and ]. Some of the groundwork for such development had recently been laid by the intelligent layout of ] placement that ] had been doing at Ford up to 1908.

The moving assembly line was developed for the ] and began operation on October 7, 1913, at the ],<ref>{{cite news|date=October 7, 2013|title=Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Changed Manufacturing and Society|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-assembly-line-turns-100-changed-society-article-1.1478331|newspaper=]|access-date=August 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130021237/http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-assembly-line-turns-100-changed-society-article-1.1478331|archive-date=November 30, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/moving-assembly-line-at-ford|title=Moving Assembly Line at Ford|publisher=]|work=This Day in History|access-date=September 2, 2016|archive-date=September 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915141050/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/moving-assembly-line-at-ford|url-status=live}}</ref> and continued to evolve after that, using ].<ref name=Weber2013/> The assembly line, driven by ], reduced production time for a ] to just 93 minutes<ref name="michigan yesterday"/> by dividing the process into 45 steps.<ref name=Weber2008>{{cite web|url=http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/85803-how-the-model-t-was-assembled |title=How the Model T Was Assembled |last=Weber |first=Austin |publisher=Assembly Magazine |date=2008-09-02 |access-date=2017-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306031306/http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/85803-how-the-model-t-was-assembled |archive-date=2016-03-06 |url-status=live }}</ref> Producing cars quicker than paint of the day could dry, it had an immense influence on the world.

In 1922, Ford (through his ghostwriter Crowther) said of his 1913 assembly line:

{{blockquote|I believe that this was the first moving line ever installed. The idea came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef.<ref>{{harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922|p= 81}}</ref>}}

], in his 1956 memoir ''My Forty Years with Ford'', presented a different version of development that was not so much about individual "inventors" as a gradual, logical development of ]:

{{blockquote|What was worked out at Ford was the practice of moving the work from one worker to another until it became a complete unit, then arranging the flow of these units at the right time and the right place to a moving final assembly line from which came a finished product. Regardless of earlier uses of some of these principles, the direct line of succession of mass production and its intensification into automation stems directly from what we worked out at Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1913. Henry Ford is generally regarded as the father of mass production. He was not. He was the sponsor of it.<ref>{{harvnb|Sorensen|Williamson|1956|p=116}}.</ref>}}

As a result of these developments in method, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals or six feet per minute.<ref>{{harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922|loc=Chapter IV}}{{page needed|date=March 2017}}</ref> This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.<ref name = "xovodv"/> It was so successful, ] became a bottleneck. Only ] would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colours available before 1914, until fast-drying ] ] was developed in 1926.<ref name = "xovodv"/>

The assembly line technique was an integral part of the diffusion of the automobile into American society. Decreased costs of production allowed the cost of the Model T to fall within the budget of the American middle class. In 1908, the price of a Model T was around $825, and by 1912 it had decreased to around $575. This price reduction is comparable to a reduction from $15,000 to $10,000 in dollar terms from the year 2000. In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.<ref name = "xovodv"/>

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of ]. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "]", and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take-off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.

In the ], its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany and Ford Japan 1925; in 1919, Vulcan (Southport, Lancashire) was the first native European manufacturer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke by not being able to compete; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared.<ref name = "xovodv"/>

The massive demand for military hardware in World War II prompted assembly-line techniques in shipbuilding and aircraft production. Thousands of ] were built making extensive use of prefabrication, enabling ship assembly to be completed in weeks or even days. After having produced fewer than 3,000 planes for the United States Military in 1939, American aircraft manufacturers built over 300,000 planes in World War II.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} ] pioneered the use of the powered assembly line for aircraft manufacturing. Other companies quickly followed. As ] (having worked at Ford,<ref name=Weber2013/> GM and the National Defense Advisory Commission) observed, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2012|pp=176–91}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Parker|2013|pp=5–12}}</ref>

==Improved working conditions==
In his 1922 autobiography,<ref name="Ford1922"/> Henry Ford mentions several benefits of the assembly line including:
* Workers do not do any heavy lifting.
* No stooping or bending over.
* No special training was required.
* There are jobs that almost anyone can do.
* Provided employment to immigrants.

The gains in ] allowed Ford to increase worker pay from $1.50 per day to $5.00 per day once employees reached three years of service on the assembly line. Ford continued on to reduce the hourly work week while continuously lowering the Model T price. These goals appear altruistic; however, it has been argued that they were implemented by Ford in order to reduce high employee turnover: when the assembly line was introduced in 1913, it was discovered that "every time the company wanted to add 100 men to its factory personnel, it was necessary to hire 963" in order to counteract the natural distaste the assembly line seems to have inspired.<ref>{{cite web|last=Crawford |first=Matthew |title=Shop Class as Soulcraft |url=http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft |work=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601015022/http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft |archive-date=2013-06-01 }}</ref>

==Sociological problems==
] work has explored the ] and ] that many workers feel because of the repetition of doing the same specialized task all day long.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor= 4105309 |title= Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry |author-link= Bob Blauner |first= Robert |last= Blauner |journal= ] |volume= 6 |issue= 3 |date= Summer 1965 |pages= 518–519|doi= 10.2307/3101830 |s2cid= 111540061 }}</ref>

] expressed in his ] the belief that, in order to achieve job satisfaction, workers need to see themselves in the objects they have created, that products should be "mirrors in which workers see their reflected essential nature". Marx viewed labour as a chance for people to externalize facets of their personalities. Marxists argue that performing repetitive, specialized tasks causes a feeling of disconnection between what a worker does all day, who they really are, and what they would ideally be able to contribute to society. Furthermore, Marx views these specialised jobs as insecure, since the worker is expendable as soon as costs rise and technology can replace more expensive human labour.<ref>Marx, Karl. "Comment on James Mill," ''Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844'': 1844.</ref>

Since workers have to stand in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day, ] are a possible pathology of ]. ] also proved dangerous. When it was not too high, workers were often prohibited from talking. ], a ] at the ], recalled that besides being prohibited from speaking, the semi-skilled workers had only 25 centimeters in which to move.<ref>{{cite interview|url = http://www.mouvements.asso.fr/spip.php?article52|title = Leçons d'autogestion|trans-title = Autogestion Lessons|language = fr|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070707192357/http://www.mouvements.asso.fr/spip.php?article52|archive-date = 7 July 2007}}</ref> Industrial ] later tried to minimize physical trauma.

==See also==
{{Portal|Companies|Business and economics}}
* '']'', a 1936 film featuring ] character (played by ]) struggling to adapt to assembly line work
*'']'', a documentary film about the 1984 UAW/CAW contract negotiations shows working life on the floor of the GM Oshawa Ontario Car Assembly Plant
*] and ]s, involving ] and ]-influenced production


==References== ==References==
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{{reflist}}


== Bibliography == ===Footnotes===
{{Reflist|30em}}
* {{citation | last = Ford | first = Henry; with Crowther, Samuel | authorlink = Henry Ford | year = 1922 | title = My Life and Work | publisher = Garden City Publishing Company, Inc | location = Garden City, New York, USA | url = http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/7213 }} Various republications, including ISBN 9781406500189. Original is public domain in U.S.

* {{citation | last = Georgano | first = G. N. | title = Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930 | year = 1985 | publisher = Grange-Universal | location = London}}.
===Works cited===
* {{Hounshell1984}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last= Nibert |first=David |editor1=Steven Best|editor2=Richard Kahn|editor3=Anthony J. Nocella II|editor4=Peter McLaren|editor1-link= Steven Best|editor4-link=Peter McLaren |date=2011|title=The Global Industrial Complex: Systems of Domination|chapter=Origins and Consequences of the Animal Industrial Complex |publisher=] |page=208 |isbn=978-0739136980|ref={{sfnRef|Nibert, 2011}} }}
* {{cite book |last= Borth |first= Christy |year= 1945 |title= Masters of Mass Production |publisher= Bobbs-Merrill Company |location= Indianapolis }}
* {{cite book |first= Robert W. |last= Domm |year= 2009 |title= Michigan Yesterday & Today |publisher= Voyageur Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HQdTa9ZXlVAC&pg=PA29 |isbn= 9780760333853 |access-date= 2020-10-17 |archive-date= 2020-08-19 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200819115556/https://books.google.com/books?id=HQdTa9ZXlVAC&pg=PA29 |url-status= live }}
* {{cite book |last1= Ford |first1= Henry |last2= Crowther |first2= Samuel |author-link= Henry Ford |name-list-style= amp |year= 1922 |title= My Life and Work |publisher= Garden City Publishing |location= Garden City, NY |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7213/pg7213.html |isbn= 0-405-05088-7 |access-date= 2021-04-21 |archive-date= 2021-04-13 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210413151731/http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7213/pg7213.html |url-status= live }}
* {{cite book |last= Herman |first= Arthur |year= 2012 |title= Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II |publisher= Random House |location= New York |isbn= 978-1-4000-6964-4 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/freedomsforgehow00herm }}
* {{cite book |last1= Merson |first1= John |year= 1990 |title= The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World |publisher= The Overlook Press |location= Woodstock, NY |isbn= 0-87951-397-7 |quote=A companion to the PBS Series ''The Genius That Was China''. |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers }}
* {{cite book|author=Charles Patterson|title=Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust |year=2002|publisher= Lantern Books|isbn=978-19-300-5199-7 |ref={{sfnRef|Patterson, 2002}}}}
* {{cite book |last1=Musson |first1=Albert Edward |last2=Robinson |first2=Eric |title=Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution |date=1969 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-0370-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0c-8AAAAIAAJ |language=en |access-date=2020-10-17 |archive-date=2021-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524053357/https://books.google.com/books?id=0c-8AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last= Nye |first= David E. |title= America's Assembly Line |publisher= MIT Press |year= 2013}}
* {{cite book |last= Hounshell |first= David A. |year= 1984 |author-link= David A. Hounshell |title= From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States |publisher= Johns Hopkins University Press |location= Baltimore |isbn= 978-0-8018-2975-8 |lccn= 83016269 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/fromamericansyst0000houn }}
* {{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Dana |title=Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II |date=2013 |publisher=Dana T. Parker |isbn=978-0-9897906-1-1 |edition=Illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlsnngEACAAJ |language=en |access-date=2020-10-17 |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806202400/https://books.google.com/books?id=tlsnngEACAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{Roe1916}} * {{Roe1916}}
* {{cite book |last= Wells |first= David A. |year= 1890 |title= Recent Economic Changes and Their Effect on Production and Distribution of Wealth and Well-Being of Society |publisher= D. Appleton and Co. |location= New York |isbn= 0-543-72474-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/recenteconomicc01wellgoog }}
* {{citation | last = Sorensen | first = Charles E.; with Williamson, Samuel T. | authorlink = Charles E. Sorensen | year = 1956 | title = My Forty Years with Ford | publisher = Norton | location = New York | id = {{OCLC|912748}} }}. Various republications, including ISBN 9780814332795.
* We-Min Chow (1990). ''Assembly Line Design''. * {{cite book |ref=none |author= We-Min Chow |year= 1990 |title=Assembly Line Design: Methodology and Applications |publisher=Taylor & Francis}}
* {{cite book |last1= Sorensen |first1= Charles E. |last2= Williamson |first2= Samuel T. |author-link= Charles E. Sorensen |name-list-style= amp |year= 1956 |title= My Forty Years with Ford |publisher= Norton |location= New York |lccn= 56010854}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Assembly lines}}
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*
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{{Industrial Revolution}}
== External links ==
{{History of technology}}
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{{Interwiki conflict}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{technology}}


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Latest revision as of 13:26, 20 November 2024

Manufacturing process
An Airbus A321 on final assembly line 3 in the Airbus Hamburg-Finkenwerder plant
Hyundai's car assembly line

An assembly line, often called progressive assembly, is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechanically moving parts to workstations and transferring the unfinished product from one workstation to another, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than having workers carry parts to a stationary product.

Assembly lines are common methods of assembling complex items such as automobiles and other transportation equipment, household appliances and electronic goods.

Workers in charge of the works of assembly line are called assemblers.

Concepts

Lotus Cars assembly line as of 2008

Assembly lines are designed for the sequential organization of workers, tools or machines, and parts. The motion of workers is minimized to the extent possible. All parts or assemblies are handled either by conveyors or motorized vehicles such as forklifts, or gravity, with no manual trucking. Heavy lifting is done by machines such as overhead cranes or forklifts. Each worker typically performs one simple operation unless job rotation strategies are applied.

According to Henry Ford:

The principles of assembly are these:

(1) Place the tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing.

(2) Use work slides or some other form of the carrier so that when a workman completes his operation, he drops the part always in the same place—which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand—and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his own.

(3) Use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances.

Designing assembly lines is a well-established mathematical challenge, referred to as an assembly line balancing problem. In the simple assembly line balancing problem the aim is to assign a set of tasks that need to be performed on the workpiece to a sequence of workstations. Each task requires a given task duration for completion. The assignment of tasks to stations is typically limited by two constraints: (1) a precedence graph which indicates what other tasks need to be completed before a particular task can be initiated (e.g. not putting in a screw before drilling the hole) and (2) a cycle time which restricts the sum of task processing times which can be completed at each workstation before the work-piece is moved to the next station by the conveyor belt. Major planning problems for operating assembly lines include supply chain integration, inventory control and production scheduling.

Simple example

Motor assembly line at Willys-Overland Company, Toledo, Ohio, 1920

Consider the assembly of a car: assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps); only one of these steps can be done at a time. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time. If engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes five minutes, and wheels installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes.

In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously. When a station is finished with a car, it passes it on to the next. By having three stations, three cars can be operated on at the same time, each at a different stage of assembly.

After finishing its work on the first car, the engine installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the second car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station and be fitted with wheels. After the engine has been installed on the second car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the third car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car's engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the hood station; meanwhile, subsequent cars (if any) can be moved to the engine installation station.

Assuming no loss of time when moving a car from one station to another, the longest stage on the assembly line determines the throughput (20 minutes for the engine installation) so a car can be produced every 20 minutes, once the first car taking 35 minutes has been produced.

History

Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufactured products were made individually by hand. A single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product. They would use their skills and tools such as files and knives to create the individual parts. They would then assemble them into the final product, making cut-and-try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together (craft production).

Division of labor was practiced by Ancient Greeks, Chinese and other ancient civilizations. In Ancient Greece it was discussed by Plato and Xenophon. Adam Smith discussed the division of labour in the manufacture of pins at length in his book The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776).

The Venetian Arsenal, dating to about 1104, operated similar to a production line. Ships moved down a canal and were fitted by the various shops they passed. At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who could apparently produce nearly one ship each day and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly built galley with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis. Although the Arsenal lasted until the early Industrial Revolution, production line methods did not become common even then.

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably textiles, firearms, clocks and watches, horse-drawn vehicles, railway locomotives, sewing machines, and bicycles, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as industrial engineering and logistics had not yet been named.

The pulley block was the first manufactured product to become fully automated, at the Portsmouth Block Mills in the early 19th century.

The automatic flour mill built by Oliver Evans in 1785 was called the beginning of modern bulk material handling by Roe (1916). Evans's mill used a leather belt bucket elevator, screw conveyors, canvas belt conveyors, and other mechanical devices to completely automate the process of making flour. The innovation spread to other mills and breweries.

Probably the earliest industrial example of a linear and continuous assembly process is the Portsmouth Block Mills, built between 1801 and 1803. Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel), with the help of Henry Maudslay and others, designed 22 types of machine tools to make the parts for the rigging blocks used by the Royal Navy. This factory was so successful that it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth, and still containing some of the original machinery.

One of the earliest examples of an almost modern factory layout, designed for easy material handling, was the Bridgewater Foundry. The factory grounds were bordered by the Bridgewater Canal and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The buildings were arranged in a line with a railway for carrying the work going through the buildings. Cranes were used for lifting the heavy work, which sometimes weighed in the tens of tons. The work passed sequentially through to erection of framework and final assembly.

The Bridgewater Foundry, pictured in 1839, one of the earliest factories to use an almost modern layout, workflow, and material-handling system

The first flow assembly line was initiated at the factory of Richard Garrett & Sons, Leiston Works in Leiston in the English county of Suffolk for the manufacture of portable steam engines. The assembly line area was called 'The Long Shop' on account of its length and was fully operational by early 1853. The boiler was brought up from the foundry and put at the start of the line, and as it progressed through the building it would stop at various stages where new parts would be added. From the upper level, where other parts were made, the lighter parts would be lowered over a balcony and then fixed onto the machine on the ground level. When the machine reached the end of the shop, it would be completed.

Interchangeable parts

During the early 19th century, the development of machine tools such as the screw-cutting lathe, metal planer, and milling machine, and of toolpath control via jigs and fixtures, provided the prerequisites for the modern assembly line by making interchangeable parts a practical reality.

Late 19th-century steam and electric conveyors

Steam-powered conveyor lifts began being used for loading and unloading ships some time in the last quarter of the 19th century. Hounshell (1984) shows a c. 1885 sketch of an electric-powered conveyor moving cans through a filling line in a canning factory.

The meatpacking industry of Chicago is believed to be one of the first industrial assembly lines (or disassembly lines) to be utilized in the United States starting in 1867. Workers would stand at fixed stations and a pulley system would bring the meat to each worker and they would complete one task. Henry Ford and others have written about the influence of this slaughterhouse practice on the later developments at Ford Motor Company.

20th century

Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first.
1913 Experimenting with the mounting body on Model T chassis. Ford tested various assembly methods to optimize the procedures before permanently installing the equipment. The actual assembly line used an overhead crane to mount the body.
Ford Model T assembly line c. 1919
Ford Model T assembly line c. 1924
Ford assembly line c. 1930
Ford assembly line c. 1947

According to Domm, the implementation of mass production of an automobile via an assembly line may be credited to Ransom Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash. Olds patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his Olds Motor Vehicle Company factory in 1901.

At Ford Motor Company, the assembly line was introduced by William "Pa" Klann upon his return from visiting Swift & Company's slaughterhouse in Chicago and viewing what was referred to as the "disassembly line", where carcasses were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over without moving to another station caught his attention. He reported the idea to Peter E. Martin, soon to be head of Ford production, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put the idea forth to Henry Ford, but Pa Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum and elsewhere, making him an important contributor to the modern automated assembly line concept. Ford was appreciative, having visited the highly automated 40-acre Sears mail order handling facility around 1906. At Ford, the process was an evolution by trial and error of a team consisting primarily of Peter E. Martin, the factory superintendent; Charles E. Sorensen, Martin's assistant; Clarence W. Avery; C. Harold Wills, draftsman and toolmaker; Charles Ebender; and József Galamb. Some of the groundwork for such development had recently been laid by the intelligent layout of machine tool placement that Walter Flanders had been doing at Ford up to 1908.

The moving assembly line was developed for the Ford Model T and began operation on October 7, 1913, at the Highland Park Ford Plant, and continued to evolve after that, using time and motion study. The assembly line, driven by conveyor belts, reduced production time for a Model T to just 93 minutes by dividing the process into 45 steps. Producing cars quicker than paint of the day could dry, it had an immense influence on the world.

In 1922, Ford (through his ghostwriter Crowther) said of his 1913 assembly line:

I believe that this was the first moving line ever installed. The idea came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef.

Charles E. Sorensen, in his 1956 memoir My Forty Years with Ford, presented a different version of development that was not so much about individual "inventors" as a gradual, logical development of industrial engineering:

What was worked out at Ford was the practice of moving the work from one worker to another until it became a complete unit, then arranging the flow of these units at the right time and the right place to a moving final assembly line from which came a finished product. Regardless of earlier uses of some of these principles, the direct line of succession of mass production and its intensification into automation stems directly from what we worked out at Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1913. Henry Ford is generally regarded as the father of mass production. He was not. He was the sponsor of it.

As a result of these developments in method, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals or six feet per minute. This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower. It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colours available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926.

The assembly line technique was an integral part of the diffusion of the automobile into American society. Decreased costs of production allowed the cost of the Model T to fall within the budget of the American middle class. In 1908, the price of a Model T was around $825, and by 1912 it had decreased to around $575. This price reduction is comparable to a reduction from $15,000 to $10,000 in dollar terms from the year 2000. In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism", and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take-off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.

In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany and Ford Japan 1925; in 1919, Vulcan (Southport, Lancashire) was the first native European manufacturer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke by not being able to compete; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared.

The massive demand for military hardware in World War II prompted assembly-line techniques in shipbuilding and aircraft production. Thousands of Liberty ships were built making extensive use of prefabrication, enabling ship assembly to be completed in weeks or even days. After having produced fewer than 3,000 planes for the United States Military in 1939, American aircraft manufacturers built over 300,000 planes in World War II. Vultee pioneered the use of the powered assembly line for aircraft manufacturing. Other companies quickly followed. As William S. Knudsen (having worked at Ford, GM and the National Defense Advisory Commission) observed, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."

Improved working conditions

In his 1922 autobiography, Henry Ford mentions several benefits of the assembly line including:

  • Workers do not do any heavy lifting.
  • No stooping or bending over.
  • No special training was required.
  • There are jobs that almost anyone can do.
  • Provided employment to immigrants.

The gains in productivity allowed Ford to increase worker pay from $1.50 per day to $5.00 per day once employees reached three years of service on the assembly line. Ford continued on to reduce the hourly work week while continuously lowering the Model T price. These goals appear altruistic; however, it has been argued that they were implemented by Ford in order to reduce high employee turnover: when the assembly line was introduced in 1913, it was discovered that "every time the company wanted to add 100 men to its factory personnel, it was necessary to hire 963" in order to counteract the natural distaste the assembly line seems to have inspired.

Sociological problems

Sociological work has explored the social alienation and boredom that many workers feel because of the repetition of doing the same specialized task all day long.

Karl Marx expressed in his theory of alienation the belief that, in order to achieve job satisfaction, workers need to see themselves in the objects they have created, that products should be "mirrors in which workers see their reflected essential nature". Marx viewed labour as a chance for people to externalize facets of their personalities. Marxists argue that performing repetitive, specialized tasks causes a feeling of disconnection between what a worker does all day, who they really are, and what they would ideally be able to contribute to society. Furthermore, Marx views these specialised jobs as insecure, since the worker is expendable as soon as costs rise and technology can replace more expensive human labour.

Since workers have to stand in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day, repetitive stress injuries are a possible pathology of occupational safety. Industrial noise also proved dangerous. When it was not too high, workers were often prohibited from talking. Charles Piaget, a skilled worker at the LIP factory, recalled that besides being prohibited from speaking, the semi-skilled workers had only 25 centimeters in which to move. Industrial ergonomics later tried to minimize physical trauma.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. "Assembler Job Description - How to Become an Assembly Worker". Spherion. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  2. ^ Ford & Crowther 1922, p. 45 (on line version), p. 80 (print version)
  3. Scholl, A.; Christian, B. (2006). "State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing". European Journal of Operational Research. 168 (3): 666–639. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.022.
  4. Slack, N.; Brandon-Jones, A.; Johnston, R. (2013). Operations Management. Pearson. ISBN 9780273776291.
  5. Sturn, Richard (2015-01-01), "Division of Labor: History of the Concept", in Wright, James D. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 601–605, ISBN 978-0-08-097087-5, retrieved 2023-09-30
  6. ^ G.N. Georgano 1985.
  7. Roe 1916
  8. Hounshell 1984
  9. Coad, Jonathan, The Portsmouth Block Mills : Bentham, Brunel and the start of the Royal Navy's Industrial Revolution, 2005, ISBN 1-873592-87-6.
  10. Musson & Robinson 1969, pp. 491–5
  11. "Long Shop Museum". Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  12. Beetz, Kirk H. "Assembly Line." Dictionary of American History, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, 3rd ed., vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003, pp. 334–336. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3401800294/GVRL?u=tamp44898&sid=GVRL&xid=da247923. Accessed 19 Jan. 2021.
  13. Wells 1890
  14. Nibert, 2011, p. 200.
  15. Patterson, 2002, pp. 71–79.
  16. Swan, Tony (April 2013). "Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Really Put the World on Wheels". Car and driver. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  17. ^ Weber, Austin (2013-10-01). "The Moving Assembly Line Turns 100". Assembly Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2017-03-26. The assembly line ... was the result of a long period of trial and error. The assembly line wasn't a planned development; rather, it emerged in 1913 from a dynamic situation. People such as Carl Emde, William Klann and William Knudsen all played key roles in early automation efforts at Ford's Highland Park factory. Two individuals were essential to the success of the moving assembly line: Clarence Avery and Charles Sorensen. constant redesign of the Model T. Many components was tweaked regularly to make the vehicle easier to assemble. In 1913 alone, Ford made more than 100 design changes every month. Continuous experimentation was the rule rather than the exception at Ford's Highland Park plant. Ford engineers were constantly redesigning and tweaking jigs and fixtures, and planning new machine tools or fixing old ones, to achieve higher production.
  18. ^ Domm 2009, p. 29
  19. Ament, Phil. "Assembly Line History: Invention of the Assembly Line". Ideafinder.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  20. Klann, W. C. (n.d.), Reminiscences, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village Archives, Accession 65, Box 21, Folder 10
  21. "Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Changed Manufacturing and Society". New York Daily News. October 7, 2013. Archived from the original on November 30, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  22. "Moving Assembly Line at Ford". This Day in History. The History Channel. Archived from the original on September 15, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  23. Weber, Austin (2008-09-02). "How the Model T Was Assembled". Assembly Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  24. Ford & Crowther 1922, p. 81
  25. Sorensen & Williamson 1956, p. 116.
  26. Ford & Crowther 1922, Chapter IV
  27. Herman 2012, pp. 176–91
  28. Parker 2013, pp. 5–12
  29. Crawford, Matthew. "Shop Class as Soulcraft". The New Atlantis. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01.
  30. Blauner, Robert (Summer 1965). "Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry". Technology and Culture. 6 (3): 518–519. doi:10.2307/3101830. JSTOR 4105309. S2CID 111540061.
  31. Marx, Karl. "Comment on James Mill," Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844: 1844.
  32. "Leçons d'autogestion" [Autogestion Lessons] (Interview) (in French). Archived from the original on 7 July 2007.

Works cited

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