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| .157-158 Williamson's ''The Humanoids'', Vonnegut's ''Player Piano'', Dick's ''Autofac'' |
America's Assembly Line
David E. Nye, 2023 / 670.43 NYE Tigard Library
Henry Ford sponsored the modern electrically-powered conveyor assembly line with specialized single-function workstations, and the five day work week. Ford also appreciated and hired and groomed expertise, both in his engineers and his line workers.
Ford also paid high wages, providing workers with the means to purchase automobiles and other mass-produced products. Competitors adopted the same procedures to compete for workers and for product sales.
- 023 Ford's 1920's Time Study Department subdivided work into quickly-learned small operations of two minute duration (4 workers in parallel for 8 minute operations).
- 024 Almost 8000 different jobs in the factory. 1000 heavy, 3300 ordinary, 3600 light (employing the weak or disabled). Blind one-legged workers seldom quit.
- 025 Electric drive produced more accurate (thus interchangeable) parts than mechanical drive
- 025 machines grouped by work sequence, not type
- 025 strong building construction permitted heavy machinery on upper floors
- 026 in-house production of parts
027 adequate lighting improved efficiency and accuracy at the 1911 Highland Park factory
- 028 1909 Model T assembled in 12 hours, 1914 in 93 minutes
029 1926 Model T < $300, or $5000 in 2024 dollars
034 Winslow Taylor 1911 The Principles of Scientific Management
047 Albert Kahn architect of Highland Park and 1917 River Rouge plants
- 053 workers felt indispensable and empowered by powerful machinery, took pride in the larger accomplishment
059 synchronized swimming, Rockettes (yuck)
063 Life in a Technocracy: What it Might Be Like Harold Loeb 1933
- 069 WW1, lightweight high clearance Model T better on bomb damaged roads:
- You exasperating puzzle Hunka Tin,
- I've abused you and I've flayed you,
- But by Henry Ford who made you
- You are better than a big car, Hunka Tin.
070 Henry Ford's 1922 book My Life and Work ("... World" error in "Assembly Line"
- 071 1924 Ford plant in Copenhagen profitable, most European plants not
- 076 Taylor and Ford books popular in Soviet Union, but peasants unskilled
- 096-125 Critique
096 1937 Battle of the Overpass photo
111 Joel Dinnerstein Swinging the Machine 2013: African-American music adopted these factory sounds and rhythms.
- 127-134 World War 2 production in US
138 Marshall Plan 1948, Germany world's 2nd industrial power in 5 years
139 Arthur Schlesinger Jr. The Vital Center 1949
139 Economic Cooperation Administration 1948
- 147 Increased wages, longer hours
148 Harvey Swados essay The Myth of the Happy Worker
150 Joseph Eichler California tract homes
153 David Reisman's The Lonely Crowd 1950
157-158 Williamson's The Humanoids, Vonnegut's Player Piano, Dick's Autofac
