The moving assembly line instituted at Ford’s Highland Park plant propelled the Model T to new heights, changing manufacturing and society in the process.
The Model T was the ninth car produced by the young Ford Motor Company, but as we all know, it was far and away the company’s – and the industry’s – most significant. Today, as Ford prepares for another Model T moment, the company’s new Universal EV Platform and Production System share several similarities with the Universal Car and the moving assembly line that helped propel it to popularity.
I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best [people] to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise.
Henry Ford
Ford Motor Company founder
The moving assembly line that replaced the original stationary assembly method – teams of workers previously assembled the Model T and other automobiles by hand, moving from vehicle to vehicle to complete their specific tasks – brought extraordinary efficiency. In Ford’s case, the time needed to produce a complete Model T was drastically reduced, from more than 12 hours to less than two hours. The revamp also cut labor costs per vehicle by more than 50%.
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Model T production at Ford’s Piquette Plant, seen here in this 1908 photo, was much more tedious, as workers went from station to station to complete assembly.
The change was immediately reflected in production numbers, as Ford went from delivering some 82,000 Model Ts in 1912, the last year before the introduction of the moving assembly line, to 585,000 in 1916. Annual production reached 1.5 million units by 1923.
Methodical planning and production
Other changes that helped speed assembly time included the subassembly of engines and other parts, a tactic piloted with the production of parts, including fly wheel magnetos. Operational changes, including the vertical integration of resources such as wood, iron, and glass, as well as their transportation via railroads and shipping lines, along with the standardization of the Model T’s body color to black, also helped push the pace of production. Simplicity trickled down to the car’s parts count, which included less than 1,000 unique parts per car, which was two to three times fewer than competitors’ vehicles.
Reaching the masses
The improvements reduced the cost of production for Ford, savings which were famously passed on to customers. The Universal Car – known for its low cost, reliability, and capability on primitive roads – went from $600 to just $360 between 1912 and 1916. It would cost just $260 by the end of its production run in 1927, making it attainable for the common household, and Ford built 15 million of them by the time it was replaced by the Model A.
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Subassemblies, like this one for the Model T’s fly wheel magneto, were key to enabling the speed improvements brought by the moving assembly line.
In addition to the lower up-front cost, the Model T had a low cost of ownership and was famously easy to repair, with replacement parts being widely available thanks to the ubiquity of the vehicle and the precision in the Ford manufacturing operation that ensured standardized parts fit each model-year vehicle.
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Varnish is sprayed on the body of the vehicles at Ford’s Highland Park Plant in this 1915 photo. Laborers famously flooded the plant for a chance to work for the company’s $5 daily wage as the assembly line greatly increased the number of workers needed.
Ford’s introduction of the $5 work day in 1914 accompanied the introduction of the transformational assembly line, bringing more laborers to operate the specialized machinery that kept things humming. The move is also credited with helping establish the American middle class thanks to the higher wages that enabled factory workers to afford the Model Ts they were sending out into the world.
Fit to a ‘T’
Like the new Ford Universal EV Platform, the Model T featured one basic chassis with what would be nine body style options, including Sedan, Coupe, Touring, Roadster, and Runabout, through its run. Similar to the Model T, the new Ford EV platform will underpin both pickups and cars. It also reduces the total parts count by 20%, and the number of workstations in Louisville Assembly Plant by 40%, which both contribute to a 15% reduction in assembly time.
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Ford’s new Universal EV Production System is an evolution of the traditional assembly line that simplifies vehicle assembly for safety, quality and speed.
The new platform and production system will also evolve the moving assembly line by reorganizing into a tree formation, with 33 subassemblies running down their own separate “branches” simultaneously before joining the vehicle’s front and rear with the structural battery, which is preassembled with seats, consoles, and carpeting, at the end of the line. The efficiencies created through the new approach are also reflected in the vehicle’s starting price. When the company’s midsize electric truck, the first assembled on the new platform, debuts in 2027, its target starting MSRP of $30,000 is roughly the same as the Model T, when adjusted for inflation.
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Ford ultimately produced 15 million Model Ts by the time it was replaced by the Model A.
The Model T was already well on its way to becoming the most successful Ford product to date, but the introduction of the moving assembly line catapulted the vehicle into the history books and helped realize Henry Ford’s vision of a car for the masses while also setting a new standard for industrial efficiency, as well a new standard of living for the workers who helped make it a reality.
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