The Henry Ford timeline

The 30th of July marks the birth of American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford. By introducing his Ford Model T, the first vehicle that middle-class Americans could afford, he turned the automobile from an expensive eccentricity into a practical conveyance. Going on to develop the assembly line, he also enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, a phenomenon that would be called Fordism.

To honor the one who is revered as one of America’s leading businessmen and a major contributor to building the country’s economy during its vulnerable early years, we have created the Henry Ford Timeline, which summarizes his life and work.

At 16, the young Ford would leave home to start working as an apprentice machinist. By the time he turned 33, he was already an accomplished engineer devoting his personal time to experiments on gasoline engines. On October 1, 1908, Ford introduced the Model T which quickly became a huge commercial success due to its durability, flexibility and affordability. Ten years later, nearly half of the Americans were driving one.

By constantly exploring ways to decrease costs while improving the quality of his vehicles, Henry Ford also introduced the $5 wage for an eight-hour workday to keep the best workers loyal to his company. This meant increasing his employees’ salary by more than double of what they were previously earning. Thus, he became renowned not only for his profits, but also for his commitment to a revolutionary vision: the production of a cheap automobile made by skilled workers with steady wages.

The Henry Ford chronology was created with Office Timeline, a simple and efficient plugin for PowerPoint that allows users to quickly generate professional-looking timelines, Gantt charts and other similar project visuals. The image is free to copy and share, and you can easily restyle and update it using the free 14-day trial of the tool.