American Experience

The Ford Assembly Line

Clip: Season 25 Episode 2 | 2m 59s

Inspired by the moving lines used at meat-packing plants, Ford’s factory tested an assembly line in the flywheel magneto department. Rather than having one person build a coil at a time, the supervisor broke down the individual tasks into a sequence driven by a conveyor. The new system reduced the time it took to make a magneto from twenty minutes to thirteen minutes, ten seconds.

Aired: 01/29/13

Rating: NR

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