Henry Ford

“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.”—Henry Ford

This was Henry Ford's vision.

Henry Ford was nearly 40 when he founded Ford Motor Co. in 1903. At the time, “horseless carriages” were expensive toys available only to a wealthy few. Yet in just four decades, Ford’s innovative vision of mass production would not only produce the first reliable, affordable “automobile for the masses,” but would also spark a modern industrial revolution. While most other automakers were building luxury-laden automobiles for the wealthy, Ford had a different vision. His dream was to create an automobile that everyone could afford.

To achieve affordability, Henry Ford took advantage of economics of scale. Ford reasoned that if each worker remained in one assigned place and performed one specific task, they could build automobiles more quickly and efficiently. To test his theory, in August 1913, he dragged a chassis by rope and windlass across the floor of his Highland Park plant—and modern mass production was born. At peak efficiency, the old system had spit out a finished Model T in 12 and a half working hours. The new system cut that time by more than half. Ford refined and perfected the system, and within a year it took just 93 minutes to make a car. Because of the more efficient production, Ford was able to cut hundreds of dollars off the price of his car. Cutting the price enabled Ford to achieve his two aims in life—to bring the pleasures of the automobile to as many people as possible, and to provide a large number of high-paying jobs.

Henry Ford was a visionary, able to fight past conventional thinking and achieve his dreams. In the process he was able to create jobs for thousands of Americans and enabled the average man to afford his very own vehicle, previously a luxury only the rich could afford.

Resource: http://www.entrepreneur.com