Evolution of the Ford Motor Company

Introduction

On July 30^, 1863, Henry Ford who is behind one of the most famous automobile company was born in spring Wells Township. His early childhood was spent in the farm which is seven miles away from west Detroit. He studied in the school till the sixth grade and left the school and his farm to the Detroit city. After leaving without his father’s consent he started working in the Michigan Car Company where streetcars manufacturing was done. Later Henry’s father supported him and helped him becoming the machinist by arranging his admission at James Flower & Brothers Machine Shop. He learned about the heavy industry while working for Detroit Dry Dock Company. By 1882, Henry started operating the steam traction in his own farm for all the neighboring farmers and also learned all the repairing of the engines which were mainly from the Westinghouse Company (“The Birth Of Ford Motor Company – Henry Ford Heritage Association”).

Discussion

It was the year 1888 when henry met Clara and married her in the month of April in same year. After the marriage he started working in the farm which was inherited to him by his father and the work was mainly related to housekeeping. Henry was clearly not interested in the work on farming as his father done throughout his life and wanted him to work the in the same way. So, he only spent his two years of time there on the farms cutting the woods from the lands by using the steam engine and this work was mainly given by neighbors. Henry and Clara spent the great amount of time building the apartment in those farms by working hard which was their honeymoon home. Even though they have spent great amount of effort, it was shocking for Clara that Henry wished to move back to Detroit to work night shift for Edison Illuminating for only $40 per month. The position was worth leaving everything behind because Henry saw the learning it will give him related to electrical engineering. He soon left for Detroit and joined Edison which was quite benefited him due to his hard work because they offered him a position to run the steam engine at main power plant of Edison for $75 per month. The engine which were run by gasoline intrigued Henry and later motivated him to create his own which was a crude engine built in December 1893. That engine used by both the husband and wife in their home kitchen. Through his experience with these type of engines he came to know the principles of engine run by gasoline (“Ford – New Cars, Trucks, Suvs, Crossovers & Hybrids | Vehicles Built Just For You‎ | Ford.Com”).

During his time at Edison, Henry earned their trust which bought him plenty of time for his own work. He started experimenting with various type of engine and building his own which were run by gasoline. Henry’s friends helped in designing those engines and in 1896 he successfully created the first vehicle which he named as “Quardricycle“. During the same summer, Henry was lucky enough to be invited by his boss at the meeting in executive office. The office was in Manhattan where Henry got the chance to discuss his own vehicle with the owner of Edison Illuminating Company, Mr. Thomas Edison. Mr. Edison praised his work and asked him to continue his work because it will contribute greatly in the future. But the boss of Henry was against his idea because he wanted to build something run by electricity rather gasoline. These remarks from his boss never stopped Henry to stop working and in the mean while he continued working on his vehicle for improved version. During that time, Henry started taking it seriously to manufacture an automobile which will be run by gasoline. Despite of financial constraints, Henry built his second ford vehicle in the year 1898. Henry was considering starting his own business but the only problem was finance through which he would be able to start his own vehicle business. Mr. William H. Murphy was the one who solved Henry’s problem and accepted the offer to give financial help to Henry for his own business because Mr. William was impressed by Henry’s work (Su, Xuming and David, 16).

Henry Ford started the Detroit Automobile on 15 August, 1899 with the position of superintendent and with the funds of Mr. William and Henry’s friends. Henry left his job at Edison Illuminating Company despite of promising salary from them. It was the year 1900, when the Detroit Automobile Company delivered it first product which was a delivery Wagon. Henry had many manufacturing an engineering problems and the start and also the pressure from stakeholders who emphasized on the number of products should be launched so that they could earn maximum profit quickly. Henry produced many vehicles at that time but apart from one at a time, others were not as good in quality wise as it should be because it was out of reach from Henry’s capacity. With the final check of $75, the company was dissolved due to these mentioned problems and after that he also received a letter from his friend warning him regarding the legal issues. The matter was related to Selden plant which Henry himself knew that he will face this problem (McMahon, 26).

Henry was again started to make new strategies which will help him getting in the market. With the help of his friends he planned to build racing automobiles because his main skill was to build high power engines and racing cars will help him getting the market share. A 2-clinder light weighted racer car was built by Henry which cost around $5000. This racer car received quite appreciation and Henry sold that car in $1000 which gave the message of his victory. This is when Henry Ford Company came into being in the year 1901. Henry was the founder and Chief Engineer of the company owned the one0sixth of the company. The gal of the company was to build light weight racing cars and the rate will be $1000. Murphy who helped him al long was concerned when Henry started working on big cars because it was Murphy who financed the first racing car. After being neglected by Henry, Murphy bought a consultant of mechanical engineering to look into the matter (Harmon, 40).

It was the year 1902, when Tom Cooper contacted Henry for building him two racing cars. Tom was a rich champion of bicyclist. After this agreement, Henry left the company to Murphy and agreed that they can use his name. Henry wanted to work on something else but Murphy wanted something else. Later, Murphy changed the name of Henry Ford to Cadillac Automobile and reorganized the whole company according to his own requirement. In the same year, Henry and Tom Cooper arranged a space when they can work. The two cars which Henry started building was 999 for ford and for cooper it was Arrow. They hired ten employees and gave them ten cents an hour. Their main motivation was the Manufacturers’ Challenge cup which was the first race. The 999 was built first and it was 80 to 100 horsepower which was fastest at that time and all of them who worked on it resisted driving it. They hired Barney who was willing to drive in the race and they won it which gave the ford a big name (Johnson, 13).

During the preparation for the race, Henry was in contact with Alexander Malcomson who was the famous coal dealer. He will be the one with who Henry will start the Ford & Malcomson Company which will later become the Ford Motor Company. The success in the race earned enough name to Henry that the company soon went public and the share rate during that time was set $10 each. The progress earned them enough name and money that they expended the company by its operations. They also faced few of the problem even those didn’t stop them to grow and become the leader of automotive industry (González-Crespo, 1401).

Conclusions

Now, the successful automotive manufacturers in the world are Ford Motor Company. Started with many struggles and limited finances. Henry had to leave the luxury of farms and even the best job of Edison. The problems with friends and business partners were also major barriers. But Henry was motivated enough not to just to complete his dream but also to achieve the title of successful automotive manufacturers. He studied in the school till the sixth grade and left the school and his farm to the Detroit city because of his dream. Henry was clearly not interested in the work on farming as his father done throughout his life and wanted him to work the in the same way. So, he only spent his two years of time there on the farms cutting the woods from the lands by using the steam engine and this work was mainly given by neighbors. Henry and Clara spent the great amount of time building the apartment in those farms by working hard which was their honeymoon home. Even though they have spent great amount of effort, it was shocking for Clara that Henry wished to move back to Detroit to work night shift for Edison Illuminating for only $40 per month. The small amount of salary was enough for him to work what he always wanted to work.

Works Cited

“The Birth Of Ford Motor Company – Henry Ford Heritage Association.” Henry Ford Heritage Association. N.p., 2018. Web. 6 Mar. 2018.

“Ford – New Cars, Trucks, Suvs, Crossovers & Hybrids | Vehicles Built Just For You‎ | Ford.Com.” Ford.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 6 Mar. 2018.

Su, Xuming, and David Wagner. “IV. 6 Integrated Computational Materials Engineering Development of Carbon Fiber Composites for Lightweight Vehicles–Ford Motor Company.” Lightweight Materials 2016 Annual Report (2017): 177.

McMahon, Brian. The Ford Century in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, 2016.

Harmon, Paul. “The scope and evolution of business process management.” Handbook on business process management 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2015. 37-80.

Johnson, Timothy S. Making the Invisible Hand Visible: Ford Motor Company, Industrial Film, and the Rise of Economic-Organizational Rhetoric. Diss. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014.

González-Crespo, S., and J. M. Vazquez. “Ford Motor Company in Cadiz 1929-1923.” Procedia Manufacturing 13 (2017): 1397-1404.