Henry Ford revolutionized not just the car world, but the world of manufacturing and commerce thanks to his revolutionary assembly line process, which churned out cheap cars and made modern transportation available to the general public. And those innovations also did something else: They made Ford incredibly rich. How rich? And exactly how did Ford manage to build a worldwide empire by selling cars at a lower price than his competitors? The answers may surprise you.
Before Henry Ford became Henry Ford, he got his start working as an engineer for the Detroit-based Edison Illuminating Company. It was there that he first put the "Motor" in "Motor City" when he built what he called The Quadricycle, a "gasoline-powered horseless carriage" which he kept in a shed.
In 1903, he founded Ford Motor Company and in 1908, he rolled out the first Model T, or "Tin Lizzie." The paradoxical beauty of the Model T was that it was ugly and cheap. According to The Daily Beast, investors wanted the company to crank out high-end luxury cars, the kind of cars most regular people just couldn't afford. But Ford believed he would make more money selling cheap cars to the masses.
Boy, was he right. His gamble paid off handsomely, and by the time Ford quit cranking out Model T's, he had sold a whopping 15 million of them. In 1913, Ford changed the face of industry with his famous assembly line, which later enabled his company to pump out one car every 24 seconds.
As part of his streamlined assembly line process, Ford implemented some benefits beginning in 1914, including the creation of the 5-day, 40-hour work week. Previously, employees had worked six days a week, for a 48-hour work week. Ford changed that, while also raising wages to a then-unheard of $5 a week, apparently understanding that better rested and compensated workers would be more efficient and productive workers. Keep watching the video to see here's how much money Henry Ford would be worth today!
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Big business, big payday | 0:26
The 40-hour work week | 1:25
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