Industrialism

Henry Ford was one of America’s biggest and most famous business magnates and industrialists. He came with the idea of making one standard model car. This was the Ford Model T. The famous quote he told everyone when telling about the car was “you can have any color as long as it’s black” (H. Ford, 1922). He invented the assembly line. People would work in shifts doing just the same thing whole day long. For example a person would just put on the left-front wheel of the car. Working in an assembly line instead of working just car by car would save lots of time. By selling only one standard model all the parts that had to be assembled to the car would be the same. This made it easier for all the workers in the factory because they knew what should fit where. Ford was also the inventor of the five-dollar wage and the five-day workweek. By doing this he made sure that people would like to start there day at the factory. Because in that time people would work 48 hours a week. When he changed it to a 40 hour week, people where having more leisure time and would put more effort in their work. The efficiency numbers raised.

Ford started with the attention for his workers. Over the years other people also started to give there workers more attention and created solutions for safer workspaces. The consequence was that people started to work harder and more efficient. In addition less people got injured or died in factories. Work conditions also got more attention.

21th century

A factory and all of its systems need some maintenance and inspections once in a while. In the 18th century people had to risk their lives when doing maintenance work. The same could be said about the machines that had to be checked for damage once a month.

Today al of these things can be easily fixed or checked via digital solutions. Workers can just check for problems on tablets or computers. These tablets and computers are connected with the machines in the factory. An example of a solution used in factories nowadays is the Mobile inspections App. The number of people who died or got injured in factories nowadays dropped heavily compared to the past. Technology saves lives.