When anyone thinks of the Model T, it certainly isn't considered a car which changed the world. It is true. But, Ford recently did commemorate the Model T for being the car which was first built using the vehicle assembly line. Well, also, it did sort of change the world.
These innovations could have been achieved by another company with another car as well. But it was in April of 1913 when Charlie Sorensen helped Ford take the first steps towards the moving line which used conveyor belts for streaming components past its workers who all performed one or two tasks. This process is what made automobiles so much more affordable because they were able to sell them for a cheaper price which changed the landscape and destiny of America (and the world!).
Picking up steam
It didn't take too long for Ford to apply this concept to every aspect of production for the Model T. The engine assembly time was reduced from its initial ten hour period to less than four hours. Completion time too was reduced from twelve hours to just six. By December 1913, completion time was reduced to just 2.3 hours.
In 1912, output at Ford was at 68,773 a year. But this number was dwarfed by the figures from the moving assembly line. The process produced 170,211 cars in 1913 and in 1917 managed to produce 735,020 cars.
Even when the assembly line was in its infancy, the production of the Model T had been ramped up quite a bit. In 1913 the Ford plant at Highland Park was producing 1,000 complete chassis' in a single day. This figure doubled by 1916 thanks to the assembly line. In 1926, they hit an all-time high at 9,000 in just a single day.
It did pay off
The mission from Ford here was to try and build a car for the masses. The key obviously was economies of scale and how the car could be made affordable to as many customers as possible.
On release, the car wasn't the cheapest around though starting at $825. With extras, the price went up to as much as $950. Sorry, there was no A/C or smart phone connection! But with production soaring, the prices fell. By 1917, the price of the car was at $360 and it bottomed out in 1925 at $290. Wow! That is how much a suit costs now. That slightly below many laptops as well.
But, the innovations on the assembly line certainly didn't go unnoticed. Visitors were welcome at Ford's facility and competitors soon began adopting similar techniques as well. So when you think about it really was Ford who actually put the whole world on wheels.
The future
Even today, Ford is still trying to create advanced techniques of manufacture which will help shape our future. They are trying to develop a technology which will help them form sheet metal parts rapidly for low volume production uses. This technology is called F3T and is going to lower the delivery times involved as far as prototype stamping molds are concerned from 2-6 months to 3 business days.
Apart from this, Ford is also looking further into 3D printing capabilities which will help them create production representative 3D parts for testing prototypes. They will be able to create various versions of the same part simultaneously and deliver the prototypes to engineers for testing within days instead of months.
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