...Henry Ford Biography Assignment Econ 220 – Entrepreneurship Instructor: Geoff Malleck Submitted By: Salvatore Curcio ID#20300001 Jenna Ortwein ID#20383970 Matthew Montgomery ID#20338248 Fatima Munir ID# 20239890 Kyle Georges ID# 20298815 “People can have the Model T in any colour--so long as it's black.” - Henry Ford “All Fords are exactly alike, but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again. A young man ought to get that idea about himself; he should look for the single spark of individuality that makes him different from other folks, and develop that for all he is worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of him; their tendency is to put it all in the same mold, but I say don't let that spark be lost; it is your only real claim to importance.” - Henry Ford What made Henry Ford… ------------------------------------------------- Questions & Answers Question: From a very young age, what characteristics and events were significant in foreshadowing Henry Ford was a truly innovative engineer with a love for machinery? Answer: When Ford received his first watch at the age of 13, unlike most adolescents, he took the watch apart to analyze the mechanical components of it. Ford was seen to all people as inherently curious, which was a key characteristic for engineering the fuel powered vehicle. Another significant event that peaked Ford’s interest...
Words: 2583 - Pages: 11
...Henry Ford grew up on a small farm near Dearborn, Michigan. As Henry grew up, he spent most of his free time tinkering, and finding out exactly how things work. A pastime that developed thinking and logic abilities. But being a farmer's boy, he had little spare time, for there were always chores to be done. By twelve years of age, Henry was doing a man's work on the farm and had begun repairing machinery for neighbouring farmers. His father pleased when Henry would repair a harness, reset a tool handle, or make some hinges for furniture but he was not pleased however, when his son repaired things for neighbours, as he often did, without charging them a cent. It was one day when Henry saw a steam engine powering a farming machine that he dreamed that one day he would build a smaller engine that would power a vehicle and do the job that horse's once did. Shortly after Henry turned thirteen, his mother died. Henry became very discontent with living on the farm but he stayed for another three years. When he was sixteen he finished his studies at the district school. Against his father's will, Henry moved to Detroit, ten miles away. In Detroit, Henry worked eleven hours a day at James Flower & Brothers' Machine Shop for only $2.50 a week. As this was not enough to pay for board and room, Henry got an evening job at Magill's Jewelry Shop for $2 each week, at first only cleaning and winding the shop's large stock of clocks. Soon though, he was repairing them also. After three...
Words: 1439 - Pages: 6
...The Leadership of Henry Ford "The great need of the world has always been for leaders. With more leaders we could have more industry. More industry, more employment and comfort for all." –Henry Ford Introduction Henry Ford was the creator of one of the largest automobile manufacturing companies, influencing society in a number of ways and forever changing the face of the auto industry. One of the reasons for his success was the high priority he placed on his employees’ satisfaction. While Ford had much strength he also had weaknesses that held the company back and threatened to destroy it at times. Ford was a notable member of society and a great peace promoter. Ford’s business style and leadership skills throttled him to success. Background Henry Ford was born in 1863 to farmers in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford grew up living on the farm and attending school, neither of which he was satisfied with (“Henry Ford: The Innovator”)....
Words: 1842 - Pages: 8
...Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863 to parents William and Mary Ford. He was the first of the six children that the Ford family had. He was born in what is now Dearborn, MI and lived with his family on their farm. They weren’t rich but they weren’t a poor family. They were considered to be a prosperous family. Henry grew up enjoying his childhood where they went to get his education in a one-room school and did his daily chores on the farm. He wasn’t a big fan of doing farm work; he was more of a tinker with anything that he could. When he was little he loved to take things apart and put them back together. The one thing that got him started was receiving a watch from his father. He quickly took it apart and put it back together. He wanted to see how things worked; it truly fascinated him to learn this. The neighborhood friends and family would bring their watches to Henry to fix for them. He liked dealing with the watches but the one thing that he wanted to do was deal with working on or with machines. In 1879, Henry left the farm at the age of sixteen to work in the nearby city of Detroit. He occasionally returned home to help his family with the farm. He was an apprentice machinist and in 1882 he finished his apprenticeship and became a full-fledged machinist. He was hired by Westinghouse to demonstrate and operate their steam engines on farms that were near the factory, he did all this during the summers. At winter-time he returned home to help work on the...
Words: 824 - Pages: 4
...Henry Ford An Entrepreneurial Biography Throughout the birth of the automotive industry there were many attempts by assorted firms to create the first everyday automobile. However, this resulted in a vehicle that could only meet the expense of by the upper class. Due to the structure and strategy used by these firms the costs of mass producing their vehicles were too expensive for the average American to afford. It was not until an American named Henry Ford, revolutionized the automobile industry in the early 1900’s with his invention of the assembly line and his desires to produce a simple yet affordable automobile for the everyday American citizen. This biography will outline and examine the current industry, competitors and market trend at the time of the Henry Ford’s venture. As well by exploring Ford’s biography, we will be able to identify relevant concepts such as the Elevator Pitch, the 10x rule, the need for pain, competitive advantage, and the “3 C’s of leadership” used throughout Henry Ford’s prosperous career as an entrepreneur. During the early stages of the automobile industry, the number of firms that entered the market industry grew steadily from 1895 to 1907, peaking at 82 in 1907. (Klepper, 2001) It was apparent that this was a highly competitive market as the U.S was in the midst of the industrial revolution and to become successful a company would have to establish a competitive edge over...
Words: 1685 - Pages: 7
...Nacido el 30 de junio de 1863 en Dearborn, Michigan y muere en 1947. Henry Ford demostró desde muy joven unas condiciones poco comunes para la mecánica. Al terminar sus estudios secundarios en Dearborn, se trasladó a Detroit para trabajar como aprendiz de mecánico, aunque no mucho después regresaría a su pueblo, ganándose la vida como mecánico de máquinas de vapor; volvió a instalarse en Detroit en 1891 y entró a trabajar como mecánico en la Edison Illuminating Company, de la que llegaría a ser ingeniero jefe. En esos años inició la construcción, en su tiempo libre, del que sería su primer «coche sin caballos», que culminó en 1896. Se trataba de un vehículo de cuatro ruedas arrastrado por un motor de dos cilindros y cuatro tiempos, refrigerado con agua y sin marcha atrás. Este modelo no aportó ninguna novedad mecánica respecto a los que en Europa fabricaban Daimler o Benz. Su importancia vendría después, con la construcción en serie, y gracias a sus prestaciones, economía y robustez, virtudes destinadas a satisfacer las necesidades de la clase media. Henry Ford fue asentando su fama de mecánico conduciendo con éxito sus propios coches de carreras. Modificó de una forma radical las costumbres y los hábitos de consumo de la sociedad, gracias a su innovadora forma de entender la producción industrial. Por una parte, fue capaz de producir automóviles económicos y fiables, al alcance de un gran número de consumidores; por otra, transformó los métodos de trabajo de la industria, para...
Words: 348 - Pages: 2
...Henry Ford: Changing Management xxxxxxx xxxxxxx Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Background Information 1 The Mass Production of the Automobile 2 Labor Innovations 4 Ford’s Management Style ...............................................................................................................5 Conclusion 7 References 9 Introduction “More than a carmaker, more than an innovator, his company’s centennial is a reminder of Ford’s vast influence” (Wicks 2003). This line here is how many people perceived Henry Ford. Ford started one of the biggest car companies and changed the business world with the start of this company. Ford is said to have started the Modern Age with his production of motor vehicles. Ford changed how factories produce their products with the start of the assembly line. The assembly line helped Ford be the first person to ever mass-produce a product. This was unheard at that time and changed the way companies produced their products. Not only did Ford help change the way products are produced, but how employees are paid. Ford was the first to double his employees pay and it made companies begin to change the way they viewed their employees. Ford was able to make a successful company that was on top of the automobile industry for many years and changed the way the industry functioned as a whole. Background Information Henry Ford was born in Township, Michigan to William...
Words: 2616 - Pages: 11
...HENRY FORD : THE GREAT INNOVATOR Henry Ford : The Great Innovator Henry Ford, the man who gave America wheels, the creator of the first automobile assembly line had humble beginnings. At the age of 16, he ran away from his home in Michigan and changed quite a few jobs. He was a gregarious and well liked. He loved exploring and tinkering with devices. Henry Ford displayeddedication and conscientiousness. He put up a huge amount of effort and persisted with his dream of an automobile. He had a larger amount of drive and passion within him to realize his dream. Also by the implementation of the assembly line and then the moving assembly line shows us how organized and how good a planner Ford was. On the Myers-Briggs type Indicator (MBTI), individuals are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I), Sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F) and judging or perceiving (J or P). Henry Ford is believed to be an ISTJ which stands for introverted, sensing, thinking and judging. Introversion is how he directed his energy and related to his employees and also the world around him. Sensing is how he focused on the details rather than thinking about abstract information. Thinking is how he made his decisions based on logic thinking and not on personal feelings. Judging is how he oriented himself with his organization and employees and how he planned things out well in advance. He experimented with petrol driven engines and horseless carriages for...
Words: 1146 - Pages: 5
...I INTRODUCTION Ford, Henry (1863-1947), American industrialist, best known for his pioneering achievements in the automobile industry. Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, and educated in district schools. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16. From 1888 to 1899 he was a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1896, after experimenting for years in his leisure hours, he completed the construction of his first automobile, the Quadricycle. In 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Company. II AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTION In 1913 Ford began using standardized interchangeable parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant. Although Ford neither originated nor was the first to employ such practices, he was chiefly responsible for their general adoption and for the consequent great expansion of American industry and the raising of the American standard of living. By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity, had resulted in a monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely because of the unpleasant monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas assigned to workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage then standard in the industry, raising it from about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased stability in his labor force and a substantial reduction in operating costs. These factors, coupled with...
Words: 730 - Pages: 3
...Henry Ford At the beginning of this semester, I chose Henry Ford from the American History as the subject of my research project. I chose Henry Ford as the subject because I learned something about him when I was a high school student. And I have a car of Ford, but I didn’t remember anything about Henry Ford now. Therefore, I decided to choose Henry Ford as the subject of my research project because I want to know more detail about Henry Ford and his company. After I chose the topic, I read the tips and guidelines of the research project carefully. Then, I started to research the project of Henry Ford. First of all, I used Google to search the information about Henry Ford. I found some websites which introduce the life and achievements of Henry Ford. After I got some general information of Henry Ford, I started to do my PPT. I divided the PPT into four parts, which were overview, early life, Ford Motor Company, and later years. As required, the first page of my PPT is title page. I found a picture of Henry Ford and put it on the title page with the topic. For the second page, I decided to use it to introduce Henry Ford roughly. The second page is an overview of Henry Ford. Then, I talked about the childhood of Henry Ford on the third page. I thought that the childhood was an important period for Henry Ford after I read the resources which were from the internet. The childhood influenced Henry Ford a lot and lay the foundation of mechanical ability and leadership for Henry...
Words: 542 - Pages: 3
...Henry Ford was an American industrialist, best known for his pioneering achievements in the automobile industry. From humble beginnings he was able to create a company that would rank as one of the giants of American and World industry long after his death. There is no doubt that Henry Ford was a successful business man. The Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford's legacy, has left its mark on every continent in the world. However, Ford didn't gain his success solely on his innovation in the automobile industry. He was a friend to the middle class public as well as the workers in his factories. For this he was rewarded with financial success by the same people he looked out for. Moreover, he repeatedly gave back to society through donations, philanthropic foundations, and the creation of organizations that would help to educate and benefit the people. Henry Ford was a man who gained world-wide business success through his innovative ideas, brilliant management skills, and down-to-earth tactics. Henry Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, and educated in district schools. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16. From 1888 to 1899 he was a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, after experimenting for several years in his leisure hours, he completed the construction of his first gasoline engine. His first automobile was completed in 1896. The body was a small crude...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
...MGNT 4110 Leadership in Organization Leader Analysis Paper: Henry Ford As stated many times, leadership is a process towards achieving a goal. That process requires people who are interacting in the effects of influence. Leadership also requires one primary factor, which is the leader who is doing most of the influencing. The people that a leader influences are considered followers. Many question the view of leadership and how people can interpret if a leader is effective or the proper candidate for the environment or organization he/she is leading. Not all leadership is positive. This paper focuses on Henry Ford and his approach as a leader. Henry Ford can be considered the brilliant and innovative individual who founded the Ford Motors Company that we know today. Ford Motors Company is an automobile manufacturing company founded June 16, 1903. Henry Ford’s idea was to create a reliable source of transportation that fit the needs of the consumer but could also be built in the most effective and efficiently manner. Ford conceptualized a way to mass produce automobiles through his creation of the assembly line. Henry Ford grew up in the Dearborn, Michigan area on a prosperous family farm in the early nineteenth century. He became an apprentice machinist at sixteen. Henry did not completely turn his back on the family farm and provided periodical assistance while he worked with steam engines and on farm machine repair. His talent for engineering and machinery lead him to...
Words: 1588 - Pages: 7
...In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. This event signified a conscious decision on Ford's part to dedicate his life to industrial pursuits. His promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893 gave him enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on internal combustion engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle-the Quadricycle. The Quadricycle had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat, and had only two forward speeds with no reverse. Although Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine, he was, however, one of several automotive pioneers who helped this country become a nation of motorists. After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer. The infant company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford realized his dream of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908. This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, immediately becoming a huge success. ...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...Henry Ford The 1920’s was a period when the world war ended. This was an era where people started to celebrate. Everyone hopped onto there feet and began to dance to music to celebrate the end of the war. This was an year that Henry Ford made success in his career. Henry Ford was born the 30th of July 1863 on a farm in Wayne County, Michigan. The first job Ford had when he left the farm was at Flowers Brothers Machine Shop. He was into machinery so he wants to pursue his career into it. He salary for the job was $2.50 per week which wasn’t a bad pay for them back then. Henry was married to a women name Clara Bryant in the year of 1888. Clara gave birth to a baby boy name Edsel Bryant Ford. Ford entered one of the cars he manufactured...
Words: 365 - Pages: 2
...Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863. He was one of eight children. Henry and his family lived on a farm in Dearborn, Michigan. His father was a farmer and wanted Henry to take over the family farm, but Henry had on interest in the farm or farming. Henry’s parents left Ireland and settled in Detroit in the 1840’s due to the potato famine and his education was limited due to this, but he was very good at machinery. Henry Ford was the creator of the Ford Model To car in 1908. He was the first person to build the gasoline powered horseless carriage. He said,1 “Quality means doing it the right way when no one is looking!” He gathered together $10,000 and went on to establish the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He married a girl named Clara Bryant...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
