Ford


Ford
Ford (Ford Motor Company officially) is an American car manufacturer, based in Dearborn, Michigan.

History
This June 16, 1903, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company with a capital of U.S. $ 150,000, including $ 28,000 U.S. pocket.

The factory is located in a former factory cabs from Detroit, she had a difficult start. But Henry Ford's full of ideas: in five years, he created 19 different models. The company imports of rubber for Leopold's Congo, the manufacture of tires and engine parts.

Success came in 1908 with the arrival of the famous Ford T August 12, 1908. This model will be sold for more than 15 million copies worldwide. The success of the Ford T was such that demand will exceed supply. Ford did not even need to advertise in 1917-1923.

To produce the Model T, Henry Ford had set up a new working method called directly inspired by Taylorism Fordism, itself named OST (scientific management). This method will spread rapidly in all industries transformation.

To address the relative saturation of the market resulting in a widespread dissemination of the Model T, Henry Ford developed the principle of renewal options for its cars. New versions of the Ford T appear, sometimes with minor changes compared to previous versions, so that the market is regularly stimulated by this fad. Criticized for its imports of rubber Congo (forced labor), Ford looks to Brazilian and Indonesian production.

The success of the Model T Ford allows to expand considerably in the United States, but also in Asia (1909), South America, Europe (1911) and Australia (1925), new production sites and assembly are emerging. This rapid development is accompanied by a single wage for the time: $ 5 for eight hours work a day in 1914.

During the First World War, Ford produced submarines, tanks, airplanes and ambulances to the Allies. The company started later in the production of trucks and tractors (Fordson) in 1917. Monitor aircraft production in 1925 (Tri-Motor airplane), unfortunately halted by the economic depression that afflicts the United States after the 1929 crisis. In 1919, Henry Ford retires and passes power to his only son, Edsel, while continuing to pay close attention to the company.

In the 1920s, Fordism, and its corollaries - mechanization, improved working conditions and economic development - make Henry Ford a folk hero in Russia and Ford vehicle sales increased tenfold between 1922 and 1925.

At the same time, he bought the Dearborn Independent newspaper he transforms into anti-Semitic platform. He later compiles his articles in the book The International Jew, translated into several languages, and inspired the writings of Adolf Hitler. " Thus, Henry Ford is the only American mentioned in Mein Kampf and was the only one to have his portrait in the office of Hitler (Read The American Axis by Max Wallace).

On 1 January 1925, Ford released its 10 millionth car.

In 1927 Ford decided to substitute the legendary Model T Ford and Ford launches A. Ford expands to a greater extent in Europe, especially in Bordeaux, France in 1925 at Dagenham, England in 1929, then in Cologne, Germany in 1930. These two sites will become the headquarters of Ford Europe.

In 1932, Ford will be the first manufacturer to market a V8 engine, while the Soviet GAS company based in the same year his factory, with full technical support from Ford (assembly line, engine supply, organizing, introducing Fordism, sending aid workers, personnel training, etc..) three years after the signing of the agreement between the Corporation of Detroit and the Soviet government. Initially, the Ford plant was located in Berlin and was sold to the USSR.

The GAS is the first car of the new society, a replica of the Ford GAZ A and AA, AA assembled replica of Ford's first truck, whose life goes beyond World War II. These models are Ford licensed products.

The relationship between Henry Ford and Sergei Dyakanov, first director of GAS were close and good, professional and personal. This earned the friendship from the Soviet authorities in his country suspicious of intelligence with other countries and drift right-handed (at the time of the Great Purge), and to be arrested, charged, tried and killed on July 18 1938 by the NKVD, spying for foreign governments. On January 18, 1937, Ford released its 25 millionth car.

During the Second World War, Ford is committed to the war effort "ally" by building bombers, jeeps, aircraft engines, main battle tanks for the military-industrial complex United States of America] . In 1939, Edsel, the son of Henry Ford founded the brand of luxury cars Mercury.

Ford plants in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics produce a large number of trucks and other vehicles to the Red Army, while the German factory (Werke), and the plant at Poissy in France produced a large number of vehicles soldiers used by the Nazis during the Second World War. Ford denied these allegations, however, there is evidence that the company had begun to exploit the labor of forced laborers and prisoners of war even before the establishment of this highly profitable operation by the Nazi government. Identical charges were brought against several U.S. companies with operations in Europe during the conflict. But none has so inspired the Nazis.

The company president, Edsel Ford, died prematurely in May 1943. This will replace Henry Ford until his eldest grandchild, Henry Ford II, took over in September 1945. Henry Ford never saw the revival of its brand, he died April 7, 1947 at the age of 83 years. Surprisingly, the Nazi past and anti-Semitic Henry Ford was overshadowed in many biographies. Henry Ford embodies such a model of industrial success that some prefer to hide the rough edges of the coarser a man who remains one of the "inventors" of the American anti-Semitism.

The Ford Motor Company is in a critical situation: the models are old, the company lost several million dollars per month. Henry Ford II began to arrange and decentralize the company to enable it to cope with fierce competition. Forty-four manufacturing plants, eighteen assembly plants, thirty-two centers of distribution of spare parts and thirteen research and development are built. The Ford Credit Company (finance department) was created in 1959, Motorcraft (spare parts) in 1961.

The famous Ford Mustang released in 1964 on the U.S. market.

In January 1956, Ford Motor Company opened its capital to the public. The shareholders are the number of 700,000 today [when?]. Between 1950 and 1970, the company will experience a new phase of global development. At European level, many facilities are in place, with, after the creation of Ford France, one of Ford Europe in 1967.

See also Car

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