The truth about Ford Motor Company.

Ford Motor Company entered the business world on June 16, 1903, when Henry Ford and 11 business associates signed the company's articles of incorporation. With $28,000 in cash, they gave birth to what was to become one of the world's largest mega evil corporations. As with most great enterprises, Ford Motor Company's beginnings were modest. The company had anxious moments in its infancy. Well…

Mass Production on the Line? Or how to screw up more people faster!

Perhaps Ford Motor Company's single greatest contribution to automotive manufacturing was the moving assembly line. First implemented at the Highland Park plant (in Michigan, US) in 1913, the new technique allowed individual workers to stay in one place and perform the same task repeatedly on multiple vehicles that passed by them. The line proved tremendously efficient for Ford but all this was not rosy however, and created many problems with its organisation. i.e.: Social problems, labour problems, monopolistic problems which has made them then and today the greatest psychopathic corporation of all time. Don’t we remember Henry Ford how he handled the problem of a personal needs? The employees were forced to punch out when going to the facilities and punch in again when going back to the production line. This is what can be called abuse of power.

The First Vehicles

Henry Ford insisted that the company's future lay in the production of affordable cars for a mass market. Beginning in 1903, the company began using the first 19 letters of the alphabet to name new cars. In 1908, the Model T was born. 19 years and 15 million Model T's later, Ford Motor Company was a giant industrial complex that spanned the globe. In 1925, Ford Motor Company acquired the Lincoln Motor Company, thus branching out into luxury cars, and in the 1930's, the Mercury division was created to establish a division centered on mid-priced cars. Ford Motor Company was growing. In the 30’s it was an era where corporations were blamed as Frankenstein monsters capable of doing evil. Ford’s managers then and now had become princes of industry, their company akin to feudal fiefdoms. Their managers were given enormous powers. It is still their desire today to attain the same and they view themselves then and today as guardians of all interests which their corporation affects and not only servants of the absentee owners. Owners = Shareholders.

The war period

Ford Motor Company knowingly allowed slave labour at its German subsidiary during the Second World War and backed its European divisions making equipment for the Nazi military. Henry Ford refused a government contract in June of 1940 to build Rolls Royce aircraft engines for England. Why?

Becoming a Global Company?

In the 50's came the chance for the public to own a part of Ford Motor Company. The company went public and, on Feb. 24, 1956, had about 350,000 new stockholders but the founding family maintains control with class B shares that carry disproportionate voting power. In 1958 the Ford Edsel was a flop and was blamed by the Ford executives on its name, styling and launch timing. A 400 million dollar flop. Henry Ford II's keen perception of political and economic trends in the 50's led to the global expansion of FMC in the 60's, and the establishment of Ford of Europe in 1967. The company established its North American Automotive Operations in 1971, consolidating U.S., Canadian, and Mexican operations. It was also the years of the Pinto scandal wherein engineering errors created a bomb on wheels called the Ford Pinto. Rear End collisions caused the fuel tank to explode causing deaths etc. Ford ignored the solutions which were actually inexpensive and let the problem go away without any solutions.

Ford Motor Company started the last century with a single man envisioning products that would meet the needs of people in a world on the verge of high-gear industrialization. Today, Ford Motor Company is a dysfunctional family of automotive brands consisting of: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Volvo. The company is beginning its second century of existence with major problems on their shoulders. In 2000, Firestone tires on Ford Explorer are blamed for roll over and death when in effect the cause was a too high center of gravity, a narrow footprint and due to the reluctances on the part of executives when reported by the engineering department. By closing their eyes and sweeping problems under the rug for more than an hundred years, Henry Ford's heritage is now in the hands of Bill Ford Jr’s the silver spooned beneficiary of the company. In his wisdom since he has taken over the rein as CEO, the stock price on the New York stock exchange as reach a low of all time value… Bringing the company to the edge of the brink of non-existence… And now, after five trying years of running the company founded by his great-grandfather, Bill Ford turned for help on September the 5th 2006. He steps aside as CEO of Ford Motor Company. The automaker's turnaround now depends on new CEO Alan Mulally, 61, former Boeing Co. executive... Billy boy will remain executive chairman...