Freeman 4

mass production="the modern method by which great quantities of a single standardized commodity are manufactured" (Ford's definition)
this already existed

steps of mass production:

1. textile factories
2. interchangeable parts
3. assembly line
4. automation
5. robots
   

• interchangeable parts (depends on precision manufacturing and specialized machine tools)
  
• continuous flow via a moving conveyor belt

reduced the labor time for final assembly of a car from 12.5 hours to 93 minutes

workers hated it

• pace of work was controlled by the pace of the conveyor belt
• Charlie Chaplin on factory work
• turnover rate reached 370 percent

Ford introduced the Five Dollar Day in Jan. 1914

• doubling of usual pay for unskilled workers who met rules
• required to learn English, marry, and live in ways that fit American middle class standards (this only lasted until 1921)
  
• reduction of hours from 9 to 8, six days a week
• now workers got paid enough to be able to buy more things
  

New design for larger factories, Albert Kahn

• reinforced concrete allowed larger open floor area
• machines could be organized logically because after 1919 Ford gave up on shafts to power machinery from a central engine--electric motors in each machine instead
• one story buildings were metal framed rather than reinforced concrete
  
• Ford emphasized vertical integration--made the parts for his cars and even smelted the metal

Ford's emphasis on low cost eventually got him into trouble--the Model T became outdated
his focus on low cost became a problem--didn't give the variety consumers wanted
how to make mass production more flexible?
unions came in primarily after WWII

artists were attracted to this new world, sometimes saw the workers, sometimes only the architecture