Henry Ford vs. assembly line balancing

Abstract

Ford’s Assembly Line at Highland Park is one of the most influential conceptualisations of a production system. New data reveal Ford’s operations were adaptable to strongly increasing and highly variable demand. These analyses show Ford’s assembly line was used differently than modern ones and their production systems were more flexible than previously recognised. Assembly line balancing theory largely ignores earlier practice. It will be shown that Ford used multiple lines flexibly to cope with large monthly variations in sales. Although a line may be optimised to yield the lowest cost production, systems composed of several parallel lines may yield low cost production along with output and product flexibility. Recent research on multiple parallel lines has focused on cost effectiveness without appreciating the flexibility such systems may allow. Given the current strategic importance of flexibility, it should be included in such analyses as an explicit objective.

Keywords:

• assembly line balancing
• empirical study
• flexible flow shop
• flexible manufacturing
• capacity planning

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the financial support of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and the Benson Ford Research Centre and the archivists of the Ford Motor Company for granting access to their records.