Introduction
Henry Ford was a man of innovation and unique ideas and was born on 30th July 1863 and was used to live in Spring wells Township, Michigan which was located in Detroit. He was not only an American Industrialist but also a great business magnate. He was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and as well as the chief developer of the assembly mode of mass production and was responsible for the revolution of the automobile industry. Henry Ford invented ‘Fordism’ which is basically producing inexpensive goods and good wages for the workers. He built a company that was based on mass production and assembly lines of cars. After the evaluation of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the well-known and popular in the world and also one of the richest man owners. He was known for providing high wages for workers and producing cars at inexpensive costs.
History
Henry Ford with its 11 associate investors founded Ford Motor Company in 1903. He built his first car in 1896 but at the same time, it was only an experimental one. Once the Ford Motor Company was formed, in 1903 the first Ford car was developed at the Mack Avenue plan. Later, within 10 years in 1908, a more updated version of the car was introduced by him to the public, and the model was named as Ford Model T.
People started a huge demand for the car once they realized how useful and how greatly it would facilitate their life. Henry Ford introduced the world’s first assembly line of cars to satisfy the huge demand of the people. The industry’s first US branch was established in 1911 and also opened the production plant for overseas of the company. In 1908 first international sales branch of the company was opened in Paris. Half of the American’s started using Ford vehicles by 1923.
The Ford Motor Company is ranked as number two in its industry and listed on number two as an industrial corporation of the world. Ford has different segments of cars, it made luxurious cars as well as a car which was affordable to middle-class people and it also produces cars named as Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lincoln, Volvo, etc.
Expansion
In early 1906 Henry Ford took 58.5 percent of the stock of the company. Edsel Ford the son of Henry Ford became the president of the company but due to his death in 1943, Henry Ford had to return to his presidency.
Again in 1945, he held the company to the hands of his grandson Henry Ford II. He started re-organizing the company and its tangled system of all its finance by hiring new talented young managers who would reinvigorate the corporate culture of the company. Henry Ford II continued guiding the company as the chairman of the board and as the chief executive officer.
Ford acquired Jaguar in 1989 it was a British manufacturer of luxury cars and Aston martin in 1993 followed by Hertz corporation in 1994, Volvo in 1999, and land rover in 2000 later Ford purchased a share of the Mazda Motor Corporation.
Strategies
In today’s business world all the strategies and lessons which were practiced by Henry Ford are still very useful and relevant.
1. Know your Market
“If I had simply asked people what they wanted, they would have asked me for faster horses!” – Henry Ford
Ford used to offer solutions to problems, which customers were not even aware of. Henry Ford before building up an automobile he wanted to know about what customers can expect from a car, how much money they would invest for a car and he conducted extensive research on which segment of people would purchase the cars. Till the time he launched Model T, he was aware that he has potential buyers holding a large market and what kind of features would attract the customer as well as how much it should be charged.
2. Efficiency is king
“It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.” – Henry Ford
Ford Motor Company introduced an assembly line for mass production in a lesser time. He used to pay healthy wages to his workers which resulted in quality production and retaining employees. These two were the most important function for the ultimate efficiency. The improved and upgraded production allowed affordability for the customers as prices were dropped from $800-$350. This also helped in increasing the wages of the workers from $2.34-$5 per day.
3. Focus on quality
“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.’ – Henry Ford
It’s always been seen the owner of a particular brand always gets excited about his product and hurry to launch. Ford believes in studying his product a lot of times before launching it to the audience. He always wanted to be 100% sure about his product before selling it to the consumers.
4. Nothing is practically hard
“There are no big problems; there are just a lot of little problems.” – Henry Ford
He believed if you want to achieve something you will do it anyway. No work in this world is there which can’t be done. Everything has a process and needs the patience to solve it; every task should be broken into small pieces and should be done one followed by the other. This is the philosophy, which was followed by Ford Motor company. Ford went step by step he first started with product development, after that he focused on pricing, and lastly by advertising and marketing.
5. Keep employees happy
‘There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.’- Henry Ford
Employees’ satisfaction plays a major role in a company’s success. Ford looked after all his employees’ needs like a suitable work environment and offered compensation, doubled their salary, and making them feel like they are the asset of the company.
It’s always seen that employees are happier when they earn handsome money. Ford also offered his employees to afford Ford cars for themselves and this helped building more trust, commitment, and long-term bonds with the company.
Conclusion
Henry Ford the successful entrepreneur and one of the richest Persons passed away on April 7th, 1947 at Dearborn Michigan, his death was due to cerebral hemorrhage. He did a lot for society, he established the Ford Motor Company which produced cars for not only the rich people but also for the common people. Ford also introduced the assembly line for mass production in less time to fulfill the huge demand of the people. His innovations and ideas are still used by today’s business world to increase the efficiency of their manufacturing products in a short time. He also gave a lesson to society to pay respect to your workers and pay the number of earnings they deserve so that they become loyal to the company and give their best efforts which will ultimately help in accomplishing the company’s achievements, goals, and higher margins of profit.
