CHAPTER4
Managing Processes
The moving assembly line was tried out at Ford’s Highland Park plant in April 1913. The initial experiment involved the production of the flywheel magneto, which previously had been made by a single worker. Working alone, the worker could produce between 35 and 40 pieces in a nine-hour day, with each magneto taking around 20 minutes. Ford, in Tayloristic fashion, identified 29 separate operations in the assembly process. Introducing an assembly line in which each operation was handled by a different worker reduced the assembly time to 13 minutes and 10 seconds. Then Ford raised the height of the line eight inches and cut the time to seven minutes. Further experimenting with the speed of the line cut it down to five ...
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