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Henry Ford - The Last Robber Baron?
Henry FordHenry Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and came up with the innovative vision of mass production. The first reliable and affordable automobile for the masses bore his name, the Ford T1; but was Henry Ford a Robber Baron? Did he manipulate or break into his competitors? One thing is for sure: His visions had a big impact on the automobile industry and mass production established in nearly every industry.
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Life before Ford Motors CompanyThe life of Henry Ford didn’t start favored, he grew up with four siblings as a child of immigrants. His father owned a farm, which provided the family with a stable income. At the age of 15, Ford got a pocket watch from his father. Ford learned how to repair watches, and found his crafting talent by dismantling and reassembling the time pieces of his watch. He started to repairing watches from his friends and people of his village. After Ford’s mother died his father wanted him to take over the farm, but Ford refused. “I never had any particular love for the farm – it was the mother on the farm I loved.” Twelve years later, Ford married his wife Clara J. Bryant at the age of 25, supporting the family by farming and running a sawmill. Henry Ford didn’t have any privileged opportunities and had to build his company from the ground.
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Career of Henry FordThe career of Henry Ford started with his employment as an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company and his quick promotion to Chief Engineer. At this point he had enough time and money to experiment on engines on his own. Three years later Ford came up with his first vehicle: The Ford Quadricycle. In the same year, Ford was introduced to Thomas Edison, who approved his vision and encouraged him on designing and building a second, better vehicle. After a failed attempt of building an own company, with the help from Edison and another try, that ended up becoming the Cadillac Automobile Company, Ford partnered up with an area coal dealer. This partnership, “Ford and Malcomson, Ltd.” became the finally succeeding “Ford Motors Company”. “The short successes that can be gained in a brief time and without difficulty, are not worth much.”, a quote from Henry Ford shows, that it wasn’t easy to build a company, even with innovative visions and techniques.
To the left is a picture of Henry ford next to his Quadricycle and the first Model T. |
Succes of Ford Motors CompanyThe start of the big success of Ford Motor Company made the Model T, that came out 5 years later. Henry Ford was always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs in the production of his cars. In this way, he was able to provide his cars for a low price. The technique of mass production established well in his company, what was another reason, why he could have sales on his cars every year, lowering the price. “I will build a motor car for the great multitude.it will be so low in price that no man will be unable to own one.” On his way to the leading Automobile Company Ford never broke into other companies or tried to minimize his competitors. Fair competition was an important value for Henry Ford.
To the right is a picture of the production of the Model T |
Fair competition lead to succesEven if Herny Ford's story started similar than the stories of a lot of the Robber Barons, he wasn't one of them. It took him several tries to actually establish his company. Ford’s success leads back on fair competition and his skills as an engineer. Instead of being a Robber Baron, Ford was a visionary and contributed a lot to the development of the automobile and American industry.
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