TY - GEN
T1 - Henry Ford and the Model T
T2 - ASME 2008 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE2008
AU - Alizon, Fabrice
AU - Shooter, Steven B.
AU - Simpson, Timothy W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very thankful to Rick Benjamin for sharing his Touring 1923 Model T. We dedicate this study to Henry Ford and to all the passionate owners of his flivver. We gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation through Grant Nos. IIS-0325321 and IIS-0325402. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Everyone knows Henry Ford's famous maxim: "You can have any color car you want so long as it's black." While he is recognized as the father of mass production, his contributions extend well beyond that, offering valuable lessons for product platforming and mass customization. While Ford's pioneering production systems are widely known and studied, few realize that Ford's Model T could be viewed as one of the greatest platforms ever created, enabling his workers to customize this model for a variety of different markets. In this paper, we study Ford's Model T in depth and describe insights into Ford's vision and his car: how the platform was built, how it was leveraged, and how the platform was maintained dynamically and with continuous improvements to maximize learning and economies of scale. Finally, we compare Ford's approach to more current approaches to learn from his innovative product line. In some aspects this old car still runs faster than us, and we can learn valuable lessons from the past to avoid future mistakes and improve current practices.
AB - Everyone knows Henry Ford's famous maxim: "You can have any color car you want so long as it's black." While he is recognized as the father of mass production, his contributions extend well beyond that, offering valuable lessons for product platforming and mass customization. While Ford's pioneering production systems are widely known and studied, few realize that Ford's Model T could be viewed as one of the greatest platforms ever created, enabling his workers to customize this model for a variety of different markets. In this paper, we study Ford's Model T in depth and describe insights into Ford's vision and his car: how the platform was built, how it was leveraged, and how the platform was maintained dynamically and with continuous improvements to maximize learning and economies of scale. Finally, we compare Ford's approach to more current approaches to learn from his innovative product line. In some aspects this old car still runs faster than us, and we can learn valuable lessons from the past to avoid future mistakes and improve current practices.
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U2 - 10.1115/DETC2008-49420
DO - 10.1115/DETC2008-49420
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:81155154322
SN - 9780791843291
T3 - Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
SP - 59
EP - 66
BT - ASME 2008 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE2008
Y2 - 3 August 2008 through 6 August 2008
ER -