Ford Celebrates 100th Anniversary Of Modern Moving Assembly Line

By Ganesh

Updated: Monday, January 27, 2014, 15:12 [IST]

Its was 100 years back when Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors, developed the modern moving assembly line for manufacturing the Ford Model T. This efficient manufacturing technique was then picked up by almost every other car and two wheeler manufacturer in the world.

Before the moving assembly line was introduced, manufacturing a single car or any machinery took painfully long to build and required more manpower. "One hundred years ago, my great-grandfather had a vision to build safe and efficient transportation for everyone," said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. "I am proud he was able to bring the freedom of mobility to millions by making cars affordable to families and that his vision of serving people still drives everything we do today."

Ford is now carrying forward that legacy by incorporating several modern manufacturing techniques into production of its car. These include Ford Freeform Fabrication technique (F3T) and 3D printing. Apart from fast forwarding manufacturing time these will also make manufacturing prototypes easier.

"Henry Ford's core principles of quality parts, workflow, division of labor and efficiency still resonate today," said John Fleming, Ford executive vice president of global manufacturing. "Building on that tradition, we're accelerating our efforts to standardize production, make factories more flexible and introduce advanced technologies to efficiently build the best vehicles possible at the best value for our customers no matter where they live."

Ford's recent expansions in global manufacturing and production have helped to retain 130,000 hourly and salaried jobs around the world. They also put the company on pace to produce 6 million vehicles in 2013 - approximately 16 vehicles every 60 seconds around the world.

By 2015 Ford Motors will add 14 new manufacturing and assembly facilities, including two in India at Sanand by 2014.

Press Release