Fordism

Fordism

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant information relating to the analysis of Fordism. The word Fordism is used to indicate a specific form of production based mainly on the use of the technology of assembly in order to increase productivity. The term was coined by the American industrialist Henry Ford (1863 - 1947) to describe the success of the automotive industry. His inspiration was related to the theories proposed by compatriot Frederick Taylor (1856 - 1915). Frederick Taylor had a considerable following in the field of ' industrial manufacturing, so as to significantly revolutionize the organization of production on a global level and become one of the mainstays of the economy of the twentieth century, with significant influences on society. The adjective “Fordist” is used to indicate a production system based on the paradigm used by Ford (Wada, 1996).

In this paper, the author will explain Ford's contribution, and describe (critique) both the positive and negative consequences for organizations and their employees. The author will also discuss about the effects of this concept on Toyota.

Discussion & Analysis

Basic Characteristics of Fordism

The two cornerstones of Fordism were the Taylorist industrial paradigm, accompanied by push automation, and the granting of higher wages on average than those recognized by the practice of industrial relations at that time. This second aspect, however, was not the result of some form of philanthropy, but rather was an expression of socio-economic foresight, since it was the introduction of mass production, which is the driving force of the economy of consumption. The two cornerstones were also functionally related: the powerful rationalization of the production cycle had intense subjection of workers to organizational discipline of Fordism, which came to calculate the minimum body movements of the employee (Matthews, 1996).

Ford's Contribution

In the United States, it is a social philosophy which holds that wealth and profit can be achieved with high wages that allow workers to buy the goods they produce. Fordism is a series of industry practices associated with innovations in the manufacturing of American cars from Ford. This process consists in reducing complex operations in to smaller tasks i.e. tasks that are simple to carry out even by inexperienced workers. But the most important innovation was the introduction of the assembly line in 1913, which reduced the time to complete a machine from twenty hours to one hour and a half, thus obtaining a mass production of homogeneous objects (Lipietz, 1987). This led to an increase in production, with the decline in average production costs, to make the product more accessible to the public. It was also a large capital investment that allowed efficiency in the processes. With 10 million products sold, Ford made a fortune and its workers became the highest paid employees in the world. By the promoters of Fordism, Detroit was taken as a model of urban layout optimized for industrial production. The Fordist production system has four key elements (Gilbert, 1992):

It is characterized by a particular ...