The introduction of the mass production of consumer goods fundamentally transformed virtually every aspect of American society between 1900 and 1930. Mass production allowed manufacturers to create economies of scale. In other words, they were able to make larger profits from selling more goods at a lower price than by selling goods at the highest price possible. Mass production also emphasized the use of machinery to produce interchangeable parts. These machine-produced parts and products created goods of uniform quality. Prior to the introduction of mass production, goods were frequently created by hand one at a time and varied greatly in quality. The concept of mass production was hardly new. Eli Whitney had adopted it in the manufacturing of flintlock guns in 1798. What was new at the turn of the century, however, was the extent to which American industry was committed to the idea of mass production. When the idea of mass production was joined with new ideas about scientific management, the result was a revolution in the way goods were produced and the economy functioned.
Beginning in the late 1890s, American manufacturers were determined to implement the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor. Often referred to as the father of scientific management, Taylor argued that if manufacturers streamlined their operations, eliminating any waste or inefficiency, they could dramatically reduce the time it took to produce goods. This in turn would enable them to reduce the cost of the products. Taylor and his team of university-trained experts used stopwatches to time every aspect of the production process and then recommended ways to improve efficiency. At the same time, Taylor encouraged manufacturers to break down the production process into repetitive tasks. The performance of these tasks required some skill, but it did not require workers to understand or master the entire process.
The introduction of scientific management to mass production resulted in numerous advantages. Mass-produced
Ford's first moving assembly lines at Highland Park (Hulton/Archive)
Goods often had interchangeable parts. This made it easier for consumers to repair broken items. In addition, the division of work into isolated and repetitive tasks allowed employers to exert greater control over the entire production process and the workforce. Prior to the widespread use of mass production, skilled artisans, who often took years to learn their craft, produced goods. Watchmakers, for example, created an entire watch step-by-step. Control over the pace and quality of the work was largely in the watchmaker’s hands. When watches began to be mass-produced, workers used machines. Responsible for producing only one part of the watch, they now repeated the same task over and over. The loss of specialized skill and knowledge, often referred to as deskilling, weakened the position of skilled workers.
Automobile manufacturer Henry Ford perfected the mass production system. Obsessed with mass-producing affordable automobiles, Fords spent years streamlining and routinizing his assembly line production process. Instead of having workers assemble one car at a time, Ford employees assembled the car in the stages, as conveyor belts brought the automobile through various workstations. After years of experimentation, the opening of the Highland Park plant in 1910 was the culmination of Ford’s efforts and set a new standard other manufacturers quickly attempted to imitate. The results were startling. With the opening of the Highland Park plant, the time it took to produce a finished Model T Ford dropped from 12 hours to an hour-and-a-half. Ford now turned out 600 new Model Ts a day. The result was that Ford was able to sell a high-quality automobile at a lower price than his competitors. By 1921, the company controlled 55 percent of the automobile market. Other manufacturers rushed to follow suit, forever altering the way goods were produced.
The widespread use of mass production transformed the economy. Consumers could now afford to purchase high-quality products at affordable prices. The Model T Ford, for example, was well built and sold for only $850 when it was introduced in 1908. As Ford continued to streamline production and manufacture and sell more cars, the price of the Model T continued to drop until it cost only $290 in 1927, making it affordable to all classes. In some ways, mass-produced goods helped create a more homogeneous society. Customers who bought a Model T got the same black, four-cylinder, no-frills automobile in Maine as they did in Michigan. Mass production also changed the American workplace. The pace of work increased dramatically as machine operators performed routine tasks over and over. Industrial jobs became faster-paced and more tedious. Finally, companies that mass-produced their goods were able to realize an advantage over their competitors and to quickly dominate entire industries.
Further reading: Robert Asher and Ronald Edsford, eds., Autowork (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995); David A. Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technologies in the United States (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984).
—Robert Gordon
World History
