Editing Ford Model T (section)

===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.

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| 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.