案例库 · 工程与运营 · 技术决策 · 1913–1927
这条还没译成中文，下面是英文原文。
Ford moved the chassis past workers, and the Model T fell from $850 to under $300
By pulling a Model T chassis past stationary workers, Ford cut build time and dropped the price until it became a car for the masses.
Ford Motor Company
那一手
At $850, the Model T was out of reach for most Americans, and Ford's goal was a car for the 'great multitude'. The only way to get there was to build it far faster, so he looked not at the worker but at the work.
Inspired by Chicago meat-packers moving carcasses from worker to worker, Ford broke assembly into fixed steps and in early 1913 put the flywheel magneto on a moving belt, dividing it into 29 operations for 29 men. Assembly time fell from 20 minutes to 13 and then to five. On October 7, 1913 the chassis went on the line, so every major component moved.
A motor and rope pulled the chassis past stationary workers and parts, so nobody walked and everyone repeated one motion. Within a year a Model T took 93 man-minutes. By 1916 the price had fallen to $360 and sales were triple their 1912 level; the line eventually turned out a car every 24 seconds and the price dropped below $300.
为什么管用
- The product moves, so no worker wastes time walking.
- Specialised stations let each person perfect one motion.
- Throughput rises without hiring proportionally more people.
- Lower unit cost expands the market to buyers who could not pay more.
可以搬走什么
Reorganise around the flow of work rather than the worker; when the product moves and each station is specialised, throughput rises faster than adding more hands.
后来呢
The moving assembly line cut Model T cost so far that Ford produced more than 15 million before the model ended in 1927, nearly half the world's cars sold to that point. It spread to factories worldwide and defined mass production, but the same relentless flow also made work repetitive and drove Ford's famously high turnover.
资料来源
- Moving assembly line debuts at Ford factory
- Henry Ford's moving assembly line celebrated 100 years later
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