Once upon a time…
Almost a century ago, the then billionaire John D Rockefeller (founder of Standard Oil) financed Henry Ford in the mass production of the internal combustion engine and the car factory that Ford started in 1908.. clearly this was a good match and a profit zone from two fronts for Rockefeller. Initially they had to overcome the patents applied to both the engine and the steering wheel held by the inventor, George B Selden
By 1909 the Ford Model T had a steering wheel, and in 1914 Ford announced the $5 a day pay for workers to man the assembly lines – growth was exponential, the workers ‘managed’ by Ford’s ‘Service Department’ headed by Harry Bennett from 1930 until Henry Ford died in 1947
In 1941 the US government gave Ford $200 million to build a bomber factory at Willow Run – known locally as ‘Will it run” the factory only produced 8,000 bombers during the entire war, not the one an hour quoted by Ford – was there a conflict of interest? Ford factories existed in both Germany and France – and Standard Oil supplied the fuel….
Recommended reading – ‘Ford: An unconventional biography of the Men and their times’ – Herdon)
No comments yet.