Assembly Line

History of Development

"An assembly line is an industrial arrangement of machines, equipment and workers for continuous flow of work pieces in mass-production operations.”

HISTORY OF AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLY LINE

There is evidence of the use of assembly lines as early as 608 BC by the Assyrians and later in the 1800s for the manufacturing of food and dismantling of livestock in slaughter houses. But the assembly line gained most popularity and industrial acceptance after Henry Ford’s ingenious idea to use it for the mass production of his T Model automobiles in 1913.

The first cars were hand-built by coach builders. They hired skilled craftsmen to custom build coaches according to the direct desires of their costumers. This is why many companies who hand-build cars are called coach builders today. They soon realized that they could manufacture cars more quickly if they standardized the design and parts instead of fabricating each part individually. Therefore, vehicle components were made from molds and machines and workers would then simply assemble the parts together.

Workers on a flywheel assembly line at the Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park, Michigan plant in 1913. (HowStuffWorks)

Initially, a man named Ransom Eli Olds adopted the assembly line for the manufacturing of automobiles. Olds was the first mass producer of cars in the United States in 1901 to 1904. But Henry Ford took this idea and improved it. He applied the idea of a de-assembly line used in slaughter houses for automobile production. As a result, each worker had only one specific task in the assembly line and would apply the same task to every car passing by. This enabled many Model Ts to be produced at the same time and enabled Ford to produce a car in 93 minutes. By reducing production costs, Ford made cars more affordable for everyone.

“You can have any color you want, so long as it’s black.”

- Henry Ford (1963 – 1947)

MODERN AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLY LINE

Today, many automobile companies, like Toyota, Honda and GM to name a few, still use the basic concept of Ford’s assembly line. The cars arrive to the workers and the workers fulfill their specific tasks. But there are some differences.

Assembly Lines for Different Parts: Many companies pre-order some car parts and then assemble the parts together. Companies may buy brake rotors, transmissions or engines from other suppliers who also use assembly lines or companies may have separate factories for the manufacturing of these parts.

Platform Sharing: In order to efficiently produce many different model cars, automobile companies use the concept of platform sharing. In platform sharing, a company will design different modeled cars to share the same parts. It saves the company money, makes production easier and gives customers what they want. Standardization is an important concept in production with assembly lines and Ford mentions this when he says "You can have any color you want, so long as it's black".

Porche automobile assembly line in Stuttgart, Germany in 2008. (HowStuffWorks)

Automated Assembly Lines: Automated assembly lines are assembly lines that are run by machines instead of humans. Robots complete repetitive tasks while humans may monitor and supervise. This type of assembly line is used in automobile-engine plants. But there are some car companies like Ferrari and Aston Martin who do not use assembly lines and hand build their cars to their customer’s specifications.

MODERN AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLY LINEToday, many automobile companies, like Toyota, Honda and GM to name a few, still use the basic concept of Ford’s assembly line. The cars arrive to the workers and the workers fulfill their specific tasks. But there are some differences.

MODERN AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLY LINE

Today, many automobile companies, like Toyota, Honda and GM to name a few, still use the basic concept of Ford’s assembly line. The cars arrive to the workers and the workers fulfill their specific tasks. But there are some differences.