The Assembly Line & Mass Production
Explore the assembly line — Henry Ford's revolutionary manufacturing method that made consumer goods affordable and created the modern economy.
The moving assembly line, pioneered by Henry Ford at his Highland Park plant in 1913, was the manufacturing innovation that created mass production, mass consumption, and the modern consumer economy. By breaking complex manufacturing into simple, repetitive tasks performed sequentially by specialized workers, Ford dramatically reduced the time and cost of automobile production.
Before the assembly line, a Ford Model T took over 12 hours to assemble. After its implementation, assembly time dropped to just 93 minutes. Ford passed the savings to consumers: the Model T's price fell from $850 in 1908 to $260 in 1925. Equally revolutionary, Ford introduced the $5 workday in 1914 — roughly double the prevailing wage — reasoning that workers needed to be able to afford the products they made.
The assembly line's impact extended far beyond automobiles. Its principles were applied to every manufacturing industry, dramatically increasing productivity and reducing costs across the economy. Mass production created the consumer society — affordable goods, advertising, installment buying, and the culture of consumption that defines modern life. But it also created monotonous, dehumanizing work that critics from Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times) to social theorists decried as turning workers into appendages of machines.