Business Report on Ford
Executive Summary
This will be a formal business report on Ford Motor Company. This will
summarize the operations and history of Ford. Ford is a large company with a lot of
moving parts. Ford is a company that designs and manufactures automobiles from
prototype to finished product for business or personal transportation needs. Ford is also
responsible for the sale and marketing of their products through many different avenues
to generate revenue. Ford has been in business for over a hundred years and has an
interesting future outlook with the changing automotive industry; this will also discuss
this in the report.
History of Ford Motor Company
Founder Henry Ford along with twelve other early investors officially
incorporated Ford Motor Company in in 1903. However, Henry Ford created his first
gasoline-powered automobile in a small workshop behind his house in 1896. Henry Ford
actually attempted to start a business making his cars two times before officially founding
Ford Motor Company in 1903. The operations in the early days of Ford were drastically
different than they are today.
Operations in the Early Days
When Ford first opened up shop they were produce all cars by hand. All of the
parts they used to create these cars were custom ordered from outside companies. Due to
this Ford was only able to produce a few vehicles per day. This caused the vehicle prices
to be high. This also made it difficult for Ford to catch on in popularity with the public.
In 1908, five years after officially starting the Ford Motor Company, Ford released the
first Model T. Fords original goal was to create an affordable and reliable car available
to the general public. The Model T was that car.
The Model T
Within the next few years almost half of all cars in America were the Model T.
By this time Ford clearly could not continue to produce cars at the rate of two or three a
day. This meant Ford had to change its operations method and switch to mass
production. What mass production meant for Ford was the introduction of massive
production plants and beginning to use interchangeable parts. Standardized
interchangeable parts led Ford to introduce the first moving assembly line for cars. With
the assembly line, it was imperative for Ford to insure the quality of the cars remained the
same. In an attempt to keep production steady and high quality, Ford more than doubled
the wages of his line works and shortened their work day from nine hours to eight.
As demand continued to increase for the Model T, Henry Ford was determined to
build and even bigger manufacturing plant that had a steel mill, and glass factory in
house. After several disagreements with the share holders Henry Ford eventually bought
out all the shareholders and built the massive plant. With the creation of the new plant
Ford stopped procuring the Model T and began producing the Model A. Around this
time Ford began to feel pressure from major competitors such as Chevrolet and
Plymouth.
Design Process
The design process of automobiles is an extensive process that takes several
factors into consideration. When Ford is designing its several different models of cars
they must consider both cost and quality. They must carefully examine cost and quality
in order to create a finished product that is both reliable and competitive against other
brands. Fords first design flop was with the Model A. What was supposed to be a new
and improved vehicle from the Model T turned out to be outsold by both Chevrolet and
Plymouth.
The modern design process for Ford is much more complex than the early days.
What once was a small design team working to improve the current model vehicle or
