The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work Henry Ford's Universal Code for World-Class Success

Henry Ford's industrial innovations were directly responsible for the transformation of the United States into the most productive, affluent, and powerful nation on Earth. My Life and Work describes exactly how Ford did this in terms of not only manufacturing science, but also economics and organizational behavior. This holistic approach, and its validation by world-class results, make Ford's original work the best business leadership book ever written. The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work: Henry Ford's Universal Code for World-Class Success updates this original with modern perspectives that explain and organize Ford’s thought process explicitly. My Life and Work is not a mechanistic or industry-specific formula that practitioners can follow like work instructions in a factory, but rather a holistic synergy of impartial laws of economics, science, and human behavior—a synergy that Ford called the universal code. This universal code simultaneously delivered high profits, high wages, and low prices in every industry to which Ford applied it. It also realized unprecedented improvements in industries ranging from coal mines to railroads, and even healthcare as practiced in the Henry and Clara Ford Hospital. This annotated edition introduces Ford’s universal code along with vital economic, behavioral, Lean manufacturing, and customer service principles. It contains almost all the material of the original, plus more than 30 percent new content that reinforces Ford’s timeless principles. Readers who understand and internalize Ford’s universal code can easily overcome the self-limiting paradigms that afflict today’s organizations. These include, for example, the belief that healthcare is a zero-sum game in which escalating costs are the price of quality. The book illustrates the basic elements of what is now called the Toyota Production System as well as the organizational and human relations principles needed to gain buy-in and engagement from all participants.

Beginning of BusinessFord’s Inspiration: The Steam-Powered Road EngineClocks: The Inspiration for the Synchronized Moving Assembly LineHorses as a Wasteful Source of TransportationFord on Nyet Engineers and Other Wet BlanketsHow Reciprocating Motion Eliminates WasteMaterial Selection in Design for ManufacturingWhat I Learned about BusinessOvercome Paradigms to Achieve ResultsCustomer Satisfaction Is a Key Selling PointStocks and Bonds Are Dangerous Business Illusions Pay Attention to the Work, and Money Will Take Care of ItselfThe Role of Reliability in Customer SatisfactionContinuous Improvement (Kaizen) Overcome Ingrained Habits to Achieve Continuous Improvement Preconceived Ideas and Paradigms Are Obstacles to Success Reduce Costs and Improve Quality to Expand a MarketA Cost Accounting System Is Not a Suicide Pact Managerial or Engineering EconomicsStarting the Real BusinessCharge the Lowest Price Possible, and Not What the Market Will BearFord and Auto RacingRole of Supply Chain Management Transportation Is a Major Source of WasteRecognition of Customer Requirements Quality and Reliability Are Key Selling Points Do Not Add Unnecessary MiddlemenSecret of Manufacturing and ServingMaterial Selection and Design for Reliability (DFR)Standardization Holds Down CostsWork for Continuous Cost Reduction Improve the Productivity of the Individual Worker The Importance of ReliabilityGetting into ProductionThe Birth of the Assembly Line Basic Job Design Principles Subdivision of Labor Ergonomics and the Adjustable Height Skillet How to Run a Balanced Factory at (Almost) 100% CapacityThe Introduction of Cellular ManufacturingIgnore the Nyet EngineersKeep the Work in Continuous Motion, Avoid Batch OperationsSubdivide the Job to Eliminate Waste MotionAutomate Jobs and Reduce Material Transfer DistancesFord’s Keynotes of ProductionMachines and MenBreak Down Organizational Barriers Authority Is Not Leadership The Law of the SituationFord’s Hiring PracticesDo Not Allow the Cost Accounting System to Run the FactoryFrontline Workers Are the Best Guardians against Waste (Muda) Visual Controls and Error-ProofingTerror of the MachineCharacteristics of the Ideal Industrial LeaderRepetitive Motion Injury and Job RotationEmployment of Disabled WorkersRules and Regulations Skills InventoryReduce Material Transportation DistancesKey Safety PrinciplesWagesCapital and Labor Are Partners, Not AdversariesThe Business Must Create the WagesLow Wages Stem from WasteThe Role of Wages in National ProsperityThe Five Dollar Work DayWhy Not Always Have Good Business?Seasonal IndustriesEconomic DepressionsWage Cuts: Proof of Managerial Incompetence Opportunity Cost of Not Doing BusinessWhat Is the "Industrial Idea"?How Cheaply Can Things Be Made? Speculation and BubblesHow to Achieve Zero InventoryBenchmarkingUse Lower Prices to Drive Lower CostsFancy Office Buildings Are Evidence of WasteStandardization and Cost ReductionMaintainability and Reliability as Selling PointsIdentify and Eliminate WasteFind a Use for EverythingHow to Lose the LudditesTake Profits Out of Waste, Not Employees or CustomersMoney and GoodsFinance Begins in the Shop and Not the Bank Borrowing (and Government Subsidies) Cannot Cure Bad BusinessBeware of ComplacencyDysfunctional Effects of a Focus on DividendsWages Come before Dividends Waste Includes the Cost of Idleness Inventory: "Everything Has to Move In and Move Out"Money: Master or Servant?"Housecleaning" Does Not Mean LayoffsTransportation and Cycle TimeBorrowing Cures the Symptoms But Not the DiseaseThe Role of the National Financial System Finance Should Serve Industry Money Is Not WealthWhy Be Poor?Put the Job First and Money SecondWaste Is the Primary Barrier to Production and ServiceHoarding as a Form of WasteSeasonal Work and Cyclical IndustriesThe Obsolescence of the CityThe Role of Energy in Wealth CreationThe Proper Role of CapitalTractor and Power FarmingThe Mechanization of AgricultureWasteful Transportation in AgricultureWhy Charity?Industry Can Make Charity UnnecessaryIndustry Removes the Need for CharityThe Henry Ford Trade SchoolThe Henry and Clara Ford HospitalNo Free LunchThe Role of Self-RelianceRailroadsHow Ford Turned DT&I Around A Lesson in Waste Recognition Avoid Wasteful TransportationThings in GeneralManufacturing an End to WarThe Danger of PropagandaEducation Must Be PracticalDemocracy and IndustryThe Fallacies of Class WarfareLabor Unrest and Strikes Should Be Unnecessary Productivity Creates High-Wage Jobs Strikes Always Fail The Employer’s Duty to Address Root Causes of Labor Dissatisfaction Sloganeering Is Not LeadershipThe Employer and the Mandate of Heaven GroupthinkThe Right Leader Is the One Who Can Do the JobWhat We May ExpectProsperity Should Be within Everybody’s Reach Focus on Service, and Profits Will Take Care of Themselves A Restatement of Ford’s Basic PrinciplesLook for Multiple Product UsesThe Role of the Individual in the Advancement of IndustryStandardization as the Servant and Not the MasterThe Need for Sustainable ManufacturingConclusionReferencesIndex