Editing Ford Model T (section)

==Production==
===Mass production===
[[File:Ford assembly line - 1913.jpg|thumb|right|Ford assembly line, 1913]]

The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the&nbsp;T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. The [[Ford Piquette Avenue Plant]] could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new [[Highland Park Ford Plant|Highland Park complex]]. During this time the Model&nbsp;T production system ([[Vertical integration|including the]] [[supply chain]]) transitioned into an iconic example of assembly-line production.<ref name="hounshell-1984"/><ref name=Abernathy/> In subsequent decades it would also come to be viewed as the classic example of the rigid, first-generation version of assembly line production, as opposed to flexible mass production<ref name="hounshell-1984"/> of higher quality products.<ref name=Abernathy>{{cite journal |last1=Abernathy |first1=William J. |last2=Wayne |first2=Kenneth |title=Limits of the Learning Curve |url=https://hbr.org/1974/09/limits-of-the-learning-curve |journal=[[Harvard Business Review]] |date=1 September 1974 |quote=Ford’s objective was to reduce the price of the automobile and thereby increase volume and market share. <br> "Ford’s long devotion to the experience-curve strategy made the transition to another strategy difficult and very costly" (going from reducing Model&nbsp;T cost to increasing Model A price) "From the time it introduced the Model A, Ford was compelled to compete on the basis of product quality and performance — a strategy in which it was not skilled" <br> The rate of capital investment showed substantial increases after 1913, rising from 11 cents per sales dollar that year to 22 cents by 1921. The new facilities that were built or acquired included blast furnaces, logging operations and saw mills, a railroad, weaving mills, coke ovens, a paper mill, a glass plant, and a cement plant. <br> In its effort to keep reducing Model&nbsp;T costs while wages were rising, Ford continued to invest heavily in plant, property, and equipment. These facilities even included coal mines, rubber plantations, and forestry operations (to provide wooden car parts). By 1926, nearly 33 cents in such assets backed each dollar of sales, up from 20 cents just four years earlier, thereby increasing fixed costs and raising the break-even point. |url-access=limited}}</ref>

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much [[Experience curve effects|faster than previous methods]], reducing production time from {{frac|12|1|2}} hours before to 93 minutes by 1914, while using less manpower.<ref name="Georgano1985">{{Harvnb|Georgano|1985}}.</ref> In 1914, Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model&nbsp;T was a great commercial success, and by the time Ford made its 10 millionth car, half of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923; instead, the Model&nbsp;T became so famous, people considered it a norm. More than 15&nbsp;million Model Ts were manufactured in all, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2&nbsp;million annually,<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Sandler |title=Driving Around the USA: Automobiles in American Life |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Douglas |last=Brinkley |title=Wheels for the world: Henry Ford, his company, and a century of progress, 1903–2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/wheelsforworldhe00brin |url-access=registration |publisher=Viking |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wheelsforworldhe00brin/page/475 475]|isbn=9780670031818 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=My forty years with Ford |first1=Charles E. |last1=Sorensen |first2=David Lanier |last2=Lewis |first3=Samuel T. |last3=Williamson |publisher=Wayne State University Press |page=4}}</ref> more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 (${{Inflation|US|260|1925|fmt=c}} today). Total Model&nbsp;T production was finally surpassed by the [[Volkswagen Beetle]] on February 17, 1972, while the [[Ford F-Series]] (itself directly descended from the Model&nbsp;T roadster pickup) has surpassed the Model&nbsp;T as Ford's all-time best-selling model.

{{external media
| image2=[https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/hbr/7409/74501_C.gif Ford statistics, 1910-1931] }}

Henry Ford's ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model&nbsp;T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model&nbsp;T lost market share and became barely profitable.<ref name=Abernathy/> Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/last-day-of-model-t-production-at-ford |title=Last day of Model&nbsp;T production at Ford|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History]]|access-date=2015-03-28}}</ref><ref name=nac>{{cite web|url=http://www.modelt.ca/background.html |publisher=Frontenac Motor Company|title=The Model&nbsp;T Ford|access-date=2015-03-28|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150315112906/http://www.modelt.ca/background.html |archive-date=2015-03-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/last-model-t-produced-in-1927 |title=Last Model&nbsp;T Produced in 1927|date=June 2011|publisher=Cape Girardeau History and Photos|access-date=2015-03-28}}</ref> and began the [[changeover]]s required to produce the [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|Model A]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Michigan History |url=http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=189&category=business |work=Detroit News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710135903/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=189&category=business |archive-date=2012-07-10 }}</ref> Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued for a short while,<ref>{{cite book|last=Wagner|first=Michael F.|url=http://vbn.aau.dk/files/18846741/Domesticeringen_af_Ford_i_Danmark |title=Domesticeringen af Ford i Danmark|trans-title=The domestication of Ford in Denmark|page=14|publisher=[[Aalborg University]]|location=Denmark|year=2009 |access-date=2014-09-06|quote=Model&nbsp;T production in Denmark stopped in August 1927 for factory recondition.}}</ref> with the final Model&nbsp;T produced at the [[Cork (city)|Cork, Ireland]] plant in December 1927.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://irishmodeltclub.ie/ford-the-cork-connection/#:~:text=The%20T%20began%20production%20in%201908%20and%20continued,at%20Cork%20continued%20on%20until%2031st%20December%201927. | title=Ford – the Cork Connection | date=November 2, 2019 }}</ref>

[[Ford Model T engine|Model T engine]]s continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service the many existing vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model Ts' blocks to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and, famously, the [[Frontenac Motor Corporation|Frontenacs]] ("Fronty Fords")<ref name=nac/> of the [[Chevrolet]] brothers, among many others.

The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of [[vanadium steel]] alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and some Model Ts and their parts are in running order over a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of [[materials engineering]], and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.

In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from [[New old stock|remaining new components]] and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through [[Privately held company|private companies]] as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today.

On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford and his son Edsel drove the 15-millionth Model&nbsp;T out of the factory.<ref name=15million/> This marked the famous automobile's official last day of production at the main factory.

===Price and production===
[[File: Phoenix-Phoenix Police Museum-1919 Ford Model TPolice Cruiser.jpg|thumb|1919 Ford Model{{nbsp}}T Phoenix Police cruiser]]
{{external media
| image1=[https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/hbr/7409/74501_A.gif Ford Model T price/volume curve, 1909–1923]
}}

The moving assembly line system, which started on October 7, 1913, allowed Ford to reduce the price of his cars.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-assembly-line-turns-100-changed-society-article-1.1478331 |title=Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Changed Manufacturing and Society |work=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]] |date=2013-10-07 |access-date=2017-08-27 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131130021237/http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-assembly-line-turns-100-changed-society-article-1.1478331 |archive-date=2013-11-30}}</ref> As he continued to fine-tune the system, Ford was able to keep reducing costs significantly.<ref name=imf>{{cite web|url= https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2017/05/22/Riding-the-Energy-Transition-Oil-Beyond-2040-44932 |title=Riding the Energy Transition : Oil Beyond 2040 |first1=Reda |last1=Cherif |first2=Fuad |last2=Hasanov |first3=Aditya |last3=Pande |publisher= [[International Monetary Fund]] |date=2017-05-22 |access-date=2017-10-07 |page=13 |quote=Vehicle adoption is strongly associated with the ability to offer an affordable price. The large fall in prices in the early 1900s, thanks to the economies of scale and process innovations made by Ford, is closely matched by a rise in motor vehicle registrations.<!-- by [[nominal GDP]] -->}}</ref> As volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to some of the fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles<ref name=Abernathy/> as large supply chain investments increased assets per vehicle. Other factors reduced the price such as material costs and design changes.<ref name=Abernathy/> As Ford had market dominance in North America during the 1910s, other competitors reduced their prices to stay competitive, while offering features that were not available on the Model{{nbsp}}T such as a wide choice of colors, body styles and interior appearance and choices, and competitors also benefited from the reduced costs of raw materials and infrastructure benefits to supply chain and ancillary manufacturing businesses.

In 1909, the cost of the Runabout started at {{US$|825|long=no|year=1909|round=-1}}. By 1925 it had been lowered to {{US$|260|long=no|year=1925|round=-1}}.

The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R. E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford's fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year in which it ended. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913, through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model{{nbsp}}T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920, the figures are for the calendar year.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Production !! Price for<br />Runabout !! Current<br/>equivalent<br/>cost!!Notes
|-
| 1909 || style="text-align:right;"|10,666 || style="text-align:right;"|$825 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|825|1909|fmt=c}}  ||Touring car was $850.
|-
| 1910 || style="text-align:right;"|19,050 || style="text-align:right;"|$900 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|900|1910|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1911 || style="text-align:right;"|34,858 || style="text-align:right;"|$680 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|680|1911|fmt=c}} ||
|-
| 1912 || style="text-align:right;"|68,733 || style="text-align:right;"|$590 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|590|1912|fmt=c}} ||
|-
| 1913 || style="text-align:right;"|170,211 || style="text-align:right;"|$525 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|525|1913|fmt=c}} ||
|-
| 1914 || style="text-align:right;"|202,667 || style="text-align:right;"|$440 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|440|1914|fmt=c}}||  Fiscal year was only 10 months long due to change in end date from September 30 to July 31.
|-
| 1915 || style="text-align:right;"|308,162 || style="text-align:right;"|$390 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|390|1915|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1916 || style="text-align:right;"|501,462 || style="text-align:right;"|$345 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|345|1916|fmt=c}}||<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|1976|pp=41–59}}.</ref>
|-
| 1917 || style="text-align:right;"|735,020 || style="text-align:right;"|$500 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|500|1917|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1918 || style="text-align:right;"|664,076 || style="text-align:right;"|$500 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|500|1918|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1919 || style="text-align:right;"|498,342 || style="text-align:right;"|$500 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|500|1919|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1920 || style="text-align:right;"|941,042 || style="text-align:right;"|$395 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|395|1920|fmt=c}}|| Production for fiscal year 1920, (August 1, 1919 through July 31, 1920). Price was $550 in March but dropped by September.
|-
| 1920 || style="text-align:right;"|463,451 || style="text-align:right;"|$395 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|395|1920|fmt=c}}|| Production for balance of calendar year, August 1 through December 31. Total '1920' production (17 months) = 1,404,493
|-
| 1921 || style="text-align:right;"|971,610 || style="text-align:right;"|$325 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|325|1921|fmt=c}}|| Price was $370 in June but dropped by September.
|-
| 1922 || style="text-align:right;"|1,301,067 || style="text-align:right;"|$319 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|319|1922|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1923 || style="text-align:right;"|2,011,125 || style="text-align:right;"|$364 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|364|1923|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1924 || style="text-align:right;"|1,922,048 || style="text-align:right;"|$265 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|265|1924|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1925 || style="text-align:right;"|1,911,705 || style="text-align:right;"|$260 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|260|1925|fmt=c}}|| Touring car was $290.
|-
| 1926 || style="text-align:right;"|1,554,465 || style="text-align:right;"|$360 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|360|1926|fmt=c}}||
|-
| 1927 || style="text-align:right;"|399,725 || style="text-align:right;"|$360 || style="text-align:right;"|${{Inflation|US|360|1927|fmt=c}}||  Production ended before mid-year to allow retooling for the [[Ford Model A (1927–31)|Model A]].
|}

The above tally includes a total of 14,689,525 vehicles. Ford said the last Model{{nbsp}}T was the 15 millionth vehicle produced.<ref name=15million/>

===Recycling===
Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal briquettes. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to [[Kingsford (charcoal)|Kingsford Charcoal]] after the Iron Mountain Ford Plant closed in 1951 and the Kingsford Chemical Company was formed and continued the wood distillation process. E. G. Kingsford, Ford's cousin by marriage, brokered the selection of the new sawmill and wood distillation plant site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kingsford.com/our-heritage/ |title=Our Heritage |publisher=Kingsford |access-date=2012-12-24}}</ref> Lumber for production of the Model&nbsp;T came from the same location, built in 1920 called the Iron Mountain Ford which incorporated a sawmill where lumber from Ford purchased land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was cut and dried. Scrap wood was distilled at the Iron Mountain plant for its wood chemicals, including [[methanol]] (wood alcohol), with the end by-product being lump charcoal. This lump charcoal was modified and pressed into briquettes and mass-marketed by Ford.<ref name="Chronicle">{{cite journal|last1=Forstrom|first1=Guy|title=The Burning History of the Charcoal Briquette |journal=Historical Society of Michigan|date=Summer 2017|volume=40|issue=2|pages=13–15}}</ref>

===First global car===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:Ford factory LaBoca.jpg|right|The first Ford assembly plant in [[La Boca, Buenos Aires]], c. 1921
File:Feature. Model T Ford BAnQ P48S1P16620.jpg|right|A 1923 Ford T in Canada, photographed in 1948
</gallery>

The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by multiple countries simultaneously, since they were being produced in [[Ford Motor Company of Canada|Walkerville]], Canada, and in [[Trafford Park]], Greater Manchester, England, starting in 1911. After World War I ended in 1918, they were assembled in [[Ford Germany|Germany]], [[Ford Motor Company of Argentina|Argentina]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.autohistoria.com.ar/Historias/Ford%20Historia.htm |title=Historia de Ford en Argentina |trans-title=History of Ford in Argentina |language=es |access-date=2012-12-24 |publisher=Auto Historia |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205133602/http://www.autohistoria.com.ar/Historias/Ford%20Historia.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Japan.  Furthermore, exports from the American factories reached 303,000 in 1925. The heavy losses of horses during the World War made the  Model T attractive as a new power source for European farmers.  They used the Model T to pull plows, tow wagons, and power farm machinery. It enabled them to transport their products to markets more efficiently.{{sfn|Nevins|Hill|1957|pages=355-378}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.autoatlantic.com/Sept08/Sept08_Ford-Model-T-is-100.html |title=Celebrating the Ford Model T, only 100 years young! |work=Auto Atlantic |access-date=2012-12-24 |year=2008 |archive-date=May 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518113244/http://www.autoatlantic.com/Sept08/Sept08_Ford-Model-T-is-100.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Aeroford]] was an English automobile manufactured in [[Bayswater]], London, from 1920 to 1925.  It was a Model&nbsp;T with a distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later was called [[badge engineering]]. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168–214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or [[coupé]].<ref>David Culshaw & Peter Horrobin: ''The Complete Catalogue of British Cars 1895–1975''. Veloce Publishing plc. Dorchester (1999).  {{ISBN|1-874105-93-6}}</ref>