Concept in Definition ABC

It is popularly known as Fordism to the Mode of production chain or series that Henry Ford appropriately imposed, one of the world's most popular automakers, founder of the mega-company Ford.

Chain production mode imposed by the automobile entrepreneur Henry Ford, in the 20th century, and which would revolutionize the market for its ability to reduce costs, produce more and bring luxury goods closer to the lower classes accommodated

The aforementioned production system created by Ford debuted with the production of Ford Model T in 1908; It was about one highly specialized and regulated combination and general organization of work from assembly lines, special machines, higher wages and greater number of employees.

Division of work and assembly chain

The system consisted of the division of labor in an important way, that is, it was segmented as much as possible production in question, with a worker who would have to repeatedly take over whatever task was assigned to him. assigned.

Each element produced by Fordism was made in stages, which popularized the so-called assembly line.
This enabled low-cost, large-scale production for the company. A true commercial success for those times.
Basically, Fordism allowed that goods considered luxury, such is the case of a car, destined and produced for the elite, could now also be acquired by the popular and middle classes of the society.
This lower cost favored the product being assigned an accessible value to these social segments.
As an inevitable consequence and associated with this, the market expanded in a fantastic way.

This innovative production model was a real revolution in what is inherent to productivity and in the access to the mass market as a consequence of the cost cut that was achieved through its implementation.

It was used first and almost exclusively by the automotive industry during the 20th century, between the 1940s, and approximately until the 1970s.

Workers improve their economic situation

The success of this system, in addition to being reflected as we have already pointed out in the issue of cost reduction and increased production, had a positive impact on the salary improvement of the employees, which were favored in a significant way, and of course, when the employee is happy, he works much more and produces better for the business…

Likewise, this system demanded the hiring of more personnel, a fact that of course benefited the employment rates that They were increased and obviously this ends up having a positive impact on the country's statistics.

As a consequence of the success achieved, it was implemented by other countries in addition to USA , and remained as a model until the seventies of the last century when it was replaced by the Japanese and Korean model: Toyotism.

Superseded by the Japanese model or Toyotism

The new proposal differs from the previous one due to the flexibility it proposes from the management and organization just in time or just in time, as it is called in the original language.

Toyotism, unlike Fordism, does not produce starting from assumptions but from realities: what is needed is produced, in the quantity that is needed and when it turns out to be necessary.

This model promotes the elimination of those costs that are linked to the storage of inputs for production, a fact that inevitably impacts the final price of the product. So it proposes instead that production be governed or moved by real demand, only by producing what was sold.

Fordism turns out to be profitable only in those contexts of a economy developed where it is possible to sell at a relatively low price relative to average wages.

Like a star, Fordism appeared at the beginning of the last century, exhibiting its benefits in terms of specialization, transformation of the scheme current industrial and cost reduction. Fordism thought like this: having a greater volume of units of a product x, thanks to assembly technology. and if the cost is low, there will be a production surplus that will exceed the capacity of consumption of the elite.

Advantages and disadvantages

Two consequences that Fordism brought with it were the appearance of a skilled worker and the North American middle class , also known as the american way of living.

But there are disadvantages and without a doubt one of the most important is the exclusion of the control of production time by the working class, something that did happen before Fordism when the worker, in addition to being the owner of the work force, had the necessary knowledge to carry out the work autonomously, leaving the capitalism out of the control of production times.

Topics in Fordism