The Moving Assembly Line: A Blueprint for the Future
  • Home Page
  • Historical Context
    • Timeline of Important Events
    • The World in 1913
    • Early Means of Mass Production
  • The Moving Assembly Line
    • The Swift Meatpacking Plant
    • Gradual Implementation and Experimentation
    • How It Worked
  • General Impact and Legacy
    • Five Dollar Workday
    • The Public Responds Feverishly
    • Negative Impact
    • Long-Term Impact and Legacy
  • Annotated Bibliography
The Public Responds Feverishly

The general public's response to the Model T and the moving assembly line that made it all possible was overwhelmingly positive. Additionally, due to significant drops in production times, prices for the Model T were slashed from around $900 to $295. Now, people  didn't only aspire to purchase an automobile;  they were actually able to buy one. Therefore, Ford was able to dominate the automobile industry by satisfying the public's thirst for a cheap and durable car. This superiority displayed by Ford Motor Company in the market share would not have been possible without the innovation of the moving assembly line.

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"...by 1916 the price of the Model T had fallen to $360 and sales were more than triple their 1912 level." ~history.com
Several Model T advertisements demonstrating the massive drop in price

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"It cut the man-hours  required to complete one Model T from 12-1/2 hours to under 93 minutes. The staggering increase in productivity effected by Ford's use of the moving assembly line allowed him to drasticly reduce the cost of the Model T, thereby accomplishing his dream of making the car affordable to ordinary customers." ~history.com

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Model Ts became part of the family and a staple of family photographs

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American Machinist article on the drop in production time for the Model T.

"The efficiency of the assembly line showed America that the automobile was a strong machine that was well built and it hit the market running. Everyone who could afford one bought one and the rest dreamed and saved for one."
~socyberty.com
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Motorists tested their beloved Model Ts and were often delighted to never find their performance limits

An excerpt of a CarDataVideo that illustrates Ford's time reduction

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"Thus, in a broad sense the buying impact of Ford Motor Company is felt throughout the world as throughout the United States." 
~Richard Bak

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One day's output of Model Ts

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Enlightened Ford owners found ingenious applications of this versatile automobile

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Model Ts dominated the roadways

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By Jeff McGillivray, Josh Liotta, and Nate Dorow - Senior Division