Assembly

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[[Image:Hyundai car assembly line.jpg|thumb|Modern car assembly line.]]

An ''assembly line'' is a [[manufacturing]] process in which interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create a finished product much faster than conventional methods. The best known form of the assembly line, the moving assembly line, was created by [[Henry Ford]]. The idea of the assembly line was taken from the idea of "disassembly lines" by his engineers. Ford was the first businessman to build [[factory|factories]] around that concept. It is widely considered to be the catalyst which initiated the modern consumer culture.

== History ==
[[Image:A-line1913.jpg|thumb|right|1913 Ford Model T assembly line.]]
While the idea was not new, being used in the manufacture of firearms during the [[American Civil War]] and in the Connecticut [[clockmaking|clock industry]],<ref>Georgano, G. N. ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)</ref>
until the twentieth century, a single craftsman or team of craftsmen would normally create each part of a product individually and assemble them together into a single item, making changes in the parts so they would fit and work together (the so-called [[English System]]).

The first linear & continuous assembly line was created in 1801 by [[Marc Isambard Brunel]] (father of [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]) for the production of blocks for the [[Royal Navy]]. This assembly line was so successful it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth, and still containing some of the original machinery.

[[Eli Whitney]] is sometimes credited with developing the [[American system of manufacturing|armory system]] of manufacturing in 1801, using the ideas of ''[[division of labor]]'' and of ''[[Tolerance (engineering)|engineering tolerance]]'', to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner, but Whitney's contribution was mostly as a popularizer rather than a true contributor to repeatability. (He was one of the first to use interchangeable parts, and the first to do so in the making of firearms.)

[[Ransom Eli Olds|Ransom Olds]] patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his [[Olds Motor Vehicle Company]] factory in 1901, becoming the first company in America to mass-produce automobiles, contrary to the Ford myth. The assembly line was introduced to [[Ford Motor Company]] by Mike Campion upon his return from visiting a Chicago slaughterhouse{{Fact|date=October 2007}} and viewing what was referred to the "disassembly line" where animals were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over caught his attention. He reported the idea to Peter E. Martin, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put the idea forth to [[Henry Ford]], but William "Pa" Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum and elsewhere, making him the father of the modern automated assembly line concept. The process was an evolution by trial and error of a team consisting primarily of [[Peter E. Martin]], the factory superintendent; [[Charles E. Sorensen]], Martin's assistant; [[C. Harold Wills]], draftsman and toolmaker; [[Clarence W. Avery]]; and [[Charles Ebender]]. When the first car was completed using the assembly line, in front of the media, onlookers, Henry Ford himself, it was Pa Klann who drove it proudly off the line. Much has been written about the original layout of the assembly line at Ford. In an article published by Fortune Magazine, June 1944 [[Henry Ford]] now says he and [[Peter E Martin]] did it.

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three minute intervals. This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.<ref>Georgano.</ref> It was so successful, [[paint]] became a bottleneck. Only [[Japan black]] would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying [[Durco]] [[lacquer]] was developed in 1926.<ref>Georgano. This is the source of Ford's [[apocryphal]] remark, "any color as long as it's black".</ref> In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.<ref>Georgano.</ref>

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "[[Fordism]]," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.

Ford at one point considered suing other car companies because they used the assembly line in their production, but decided against, realizing it was essential to creation and expansion of the industry as a whole.

In the [[automotive industry]], its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, [[Citroen]] was the first native European manufactuer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared.<ref>Georgano.</ref>

== Sociological problems ==

Some [[sociology|sociological]] theories assume that workers must feel [[Social alienation|alienated]] because of the repetition of the same specialized task all day long <ref> [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-165X)6%3A3%3C518%3AAAFTFW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry], [[Bob Blauner|Robert Blauner]], in ''[[Technology and Culture]]'', Vol. 6, No. 3 (Summer, 1965), pp. 518-519 {{en icon}}</ref>. Because workers have to stand in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day, [[Repetitive strain injury|repetitive stress injuries]] are a possible pathology of [[occupational safety]]. [[Industrial noise]] also proved dangerous. When it was not too high, workers were often prohibited from talking. [[Charles Piaget]], a skilled worker at the [[LIP factory]], recalled that beside being prohibited from speaking, the semi-skilled workers had only 25 centimeters in which to move <ref> [http://www.mouvements.asso.fr/spip.php?article52 Leçons d'autogestion] (Autogestion Lessons), interview with [[Charles Piaget]] {{fr icon}} </ref>. Industrial [[ergonomics]] later tried to minimize physical traumatisms.

Another problem often faced was low pay; while workers did not need to be skilled, due to the simplistic nature of the work, the pay usually was not enough to compensate for the dangerous nature of these jobs, and workers were often poor immigrants struggling to sustain themselves and their families. The inadequate pay often led to strikes, which were responded to with further injustices (such as simply replacing all of the striking workers with more desperate immigrants.)

== See also ==
*[[Chevrolet]]
*[[Industrial Engineering]]
*[[Henry Ford]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* We-Min Chow. ''Assembly Line Design'' (1990)

== External links ==
*[http://www.assembly-line-balancing.de Homepage for assembly line optimization research]

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[[Category:History of science and technology in the United States]]
[[Category:Manufacturing]]
[[Category:Production and manufacturing]]

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