At the Highland Park plant in Michigan, Henry Ford's engineers introduced in 1913 the first moving assembly line for a complex product, the Model T car. The time to build a chassis fell from over 12 hours to about 93 minutes, and the price of the car dropped from 850 dollars in 1908 to under 300 dollars by the mid-1920s. In January 1914 Ford doubled wages to five dollars a day, cutting high turnover. Over 15 million Model Ts were made by 1927. The method of mass production transformed industry and made the car affordable to ordinary families.
Before and after
- 1913Rise of Suprematism
- 1913Rise of Constructivism
- 1913The Little Mermaid
- 1913Founding of Parma Calcio 1913
- 1913Ford introduces the moving assembly line
- 9 January 1913Birth of Richard Nixon
- 2 February 1913Construction of Grand Central Terminal
- 4 February 1913Birth of Rosa Parks
- 12 March 1913Founding of Canberra
More in Science & technology
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- 1771Discovery of oxygen
- 1772Discovery of nitrogen
- 1789Discovery of carbon
- 1825Discovery of aluminium
- 18 August 1868Discovery of helium
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.