The Ford Motor Company

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the Ford Motor Company from the first automobile sold in 1903 by Henry Ford to its shutdown in 1921 and its revival during the Great Depression. It looks at the ups and downs of the industry up until World War II and examines Henry Ford's methods for an effective production line and employee motivation and how he went from one of the highest paying employers in the business to one of the lowest.

From the Paper:

"This illusion was shattered with the onset of the postwar recession. New-car sales slackened with the general decline in purchasing power. The Ford Motor Company closed its plants "for inventory" on Christmas Eve 1920 and remained closed until 1 February 1921, while the company disposed of "stocks on hand." Unlike most of his competitors, ford maintained full production up to the shutdown of his plants, curtailing only the purchase of raw materials. The strategy implemented at Ford was foremost to turn the huge inventory of raw materials that had been bought at inflated prices into a reservoir of finished cars, then to stop production until those cars were disposed of at a profit and raw-material prices had declined."

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