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Fordism

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Introduction
The Fordist model was the economic and social system which dominated the industrial world from the 1920s to the 1970s, and became dominant in advanced capitalism during postwar reconstruction; it was a system of mass production that began in 1914, when Henry Ford, owner of The Ford Motor Company, discovered
that the mass production of standardized goods on a moving assembly line could
reduce the cost of making motor cars, making it affordable for the average consumer
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It was a new way of organizan the working process based on the concept of an assembly line within a single production unit, based not only on mass production but
also on mass consumption
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However, there were some problems with this production system, one of these being the monotony of the job, which resulted in productivity problems from the
workers
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If too little was produced, the company lost market share
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The fordist model finally reached an end in the early 1980s when the mass production organization in Fordism regime was challenged by the automobile company
known as Toyota, which introduced a new production system known as Toyotism
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But he had other interests
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He read about these in magazines, copied some of their ideas and convinced a small group of friends and colleagues to help him
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A second, more sophisticated car followed in 1898
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The two
first companies failed
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The success of these cars attracted additional financial
backers, and on June 16, 1903, Henry incorporated his business venture, the Ford
Motor Company
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The automobile was an amazing invention, but it was essentially
an expensive toy, a plaything for the rich
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He summed it up in a statement that appeared in 1913 in the
company magazine, Ford Times:
“I will build a motor car for the great multitude
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It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that
modern engineering can devise
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”
This was the Model T, introduced on October 1, 1908, which was simple and light,
yet powerful enough to drive on the country's primitive roads
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5
percent of American roads were classified as “surfaced,” which usually meant covered with gravel
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Drivers changed speeds by means of brakes (usually called

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bands) that stopped or released shafts connected to the gears
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Ford ads
said that having the steering wheel on the left allowed the driver to judge more accurately the distance between the driver’s car and one passing in the opposite direction, and gave the driver a better view of oncoming or overtaking traffic when
passing or turning left
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It had many parts made
of light, strong vanadium alloy steel
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The mass production of this automobile lowered its unit price, making it affordable, and he sold 18 million Model T Ford at a price that dropped from $950 to
$250 over 15 years (in 1909, Ford produced 14,000 vehicles, sold at $950 each, at
the time a regular worker would have to work many years to afford such a car, and
in the first half of the 1920s, average annual production exceeded 2 million vehicles and the price was $250
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He had the
bright idea of transforming the production
of cars from a handicraft style to mass
production
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The mass automobility facilitated the growth of vast new suburbs with their attendant schools, retail stores and industries
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In addition to

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this, the automobile filled deep, abiding desires that most people barely knew they
had—desire for rapid, unfettered mobility; for control of something powerful; and
for ownership of something valuable, modern and complex
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Another difference was that Fordism recognized workers as part of the potential
market for the product, it recognized that workers are also consumers, and as a
consequence of such production processes, Ford was able to cut down the price of
his Model T to one tenth of a price of the standard craft built car, he was able to deliver just-on-time parts and assemblies with precise timing, and he reduced the
production time of a complete chassis from 728 minutes to 93 minutes and by 1927
Ford was turning out a Model T every 24 seconds, he also paid workers a minimum wage of $5 a day, more than double the average for the motor industry at that
time and he reduced the working day from nine hours to eight, operating the plant
24-hours-a-day with a three-shift system
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But less
often understood is just how that happened
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It reversed the historical relationship between wages and skill
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The master craftsman always made
more money than the journeyman
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Unfortunately, this process led to a devaluing of education on the part of many
workers and their children
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Innovations:
Fordism was based on the standardization of products, which required nearly perfect interchangeability of parts
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Ford engineers set up a line to assemble an important component called the magneto piece by piece
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By July 1914, assembly time for a complete car had dropped from 150 minutes to
26 1/2 minutes
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These ideas brought in by Ford to improve production implied major innovations
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This was the result of the application of very
advanced technology
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The second innovation was the adoption of a scientific means of measuring operation times, this consisted of the identification of a series of techniques to break
down the work process into simple operations and the time needed to carry out
each individual operation
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Previously, the workers themselves had to know how
long a given operation would take
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Ford applied these ideas so well, and organized the new plant so efficiently, that
production increased from 10,660 in the Model T’s first year of production to
182,000 cars in 1912, while the price dropped from $850 to $550
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Even though their job was tedious, they had a sense of
security, especially with a system of industrial unions bargaining for their wages
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Workers did not move during their shift, their tasks involved
standing next to an assembly line and performing repetitive movements
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Workers got bored very
quickly, there was no initiative or challenge in any of their working days
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Additionally, the managers could control the speed of the assembly line, therefore the
tasks always required high levels of concentration
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Another problem with Fordism was, that it was very difficult to forecast demand
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On the other hand, if too
much was produced compared to the quantity demanded, stock had to be stored at
high cost or sold at discount
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Demand became more unstable and
fragmented
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Besides, it turned out that the reversal of the wage/skill relationship was not permanent
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They wanted workers who were educated, engaged and who could do a variety of
different jobs in the manufacturing process
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S
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The consequences for anyone seeking an entry-level job at an auto plant were profound
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It
became instead an “opportunity turnstile,” open only to those with sufficient education and skill
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Workers responded by joining industrial unions based not on craft skills but on common employment in an industry
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It represented a real technological and marketing
breakthrough, but in other areas Fords continued to lag behind their competitors
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By
the time Henry Ford died in 1947, his great company was in serious trouble, and a
new generation of innovators, led by his grandson Henry Ford II, would work long
and hard to restore it to its former glory
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A new era: ‘Post-Fordism’
Post-Fordism can be defined as “a pattern of industrial organisation in which
skilled and trusted labour is used continuously to develop and customise products
for small markets
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Companies started using new machines that were multi purpose and it was easy and economical to switch from making one product to another
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This flexible technology gave rise to flexible specialisation, one of the main signs
of post-Fordism
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” (Kumar, 1995)

Consequences:
• Products changed dramatically
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• It was the end of homogeneous markets
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Companies were trying
to differentiate their products
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• Product life became shorter
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If a
new product proved successful, it was easy to widen its distribution
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• Organsation of labour changed
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The hierarchy between employees flattened and
production generally depended on all categories of workers who often worked in
teams
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Work was more
self-regulated, workers didn’t have managers behind their backs, constantly
telling them what to do
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This independence led to employees having to work mentally as well as physically
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” (Murray, 1989)

Benefits:
Post-Fordism brought on new ways of looking at consumption and production
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This shift brought a change in how the market was
viewed from a production standpoint
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Mass markets became less important while markets for luxury,
custom, or positional good became more significant
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The changes in production with the shift from Fordism to post-Fordism were accompanied by changes in the economy, politics, and prominent ideologies
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Mass marketing

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was replaced by flexible specialization, and organizations began to emphasize
communication more than command
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Politically, class-based political parties declined
and social movements based on region, gender, or race increased
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Cultural and ideological changes included the rise in individualist modes of thought
and behavior and a culture of entrepreneurialism
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Prominent ideologies that arose included fragmentation and pluralism in values, post-modern eclecticism, and populist approaches to culture
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Owing to the concept that Ford has implemented, this makes it possible today for
any company around the world to sell large quantities of products by adressing the
problems of quality and delays ,for instance, it’s a continuos process
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Fordism brought a great deal of advantages for the companies, such as the expenditures are financed by the benefits of selling a lot of products at very affordable
price
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On the other hand we can also be aware of the situation in Mexico, that this system, which increases the amount of products, is carried out by worsening the conditions of the workers and also comitting the overexploitation of the environment
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Bibliography
D
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Kanigel; The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency
http://news
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co
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stm
http://www
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com/topic/Fordism
https://www
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org/glossary/terms/f/o
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123helpme
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asp?id=165090
http://referaty
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sk/cudzie-jazyky/anglictina/17745/?print=1
http://www
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edu/1737400/FORDISM_POST-FORDISM_AND_THE_FLEXIBLE_SYSTEM_OF_PRODUCTION



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