|
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which
interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create an end product.
The assembly line was first introduced by Eli Whitney to create muskets
for the U.S. Government.
Henry Ford later introduced the moving assembly line for his automobile factory
to cut manufacturing costs and deliver a cheaper product.
History of the Assembly Line
Until the 1800s, craftsmen would create each part of a product individually, and
assemble them, making changes in the parts so that they would fit together - the so-called English System of manufacture.
Eli Whitney invented the American System of manufacturing in
1799, using the ideas of division of labour and of engineering tolerance, to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable
manner.
This linear assembly process, or assembly line, allowed relatively unskilled laborers to add simple parts to a product. As all
the parts were already made, they just had to be assembled.
While originally not of the quality found in hand-made units, designs using an assembly line process required less knowledge
from the assemblers, and therefore could be created for a lower cost.
History of the Moving Assembly Line
Ford assembly line, 1913
Henry Ford installed the World's first moving assembly line on December 1, 1913, as one of several innovations
intended to cut costs and permitting mass production. The idea was an
adaptation of the system used in the meat processing factories of Chicago, and the conveyor belts used in grain mills. By bringing the parts to the workers considerable time
was saved.
Pre Industrial Revolution
Although Whitney was first to use the assembly line in the industrial age, the idea of interchangeable parts and the assembly line was not new, though it was
little used.
The idea was first developed in Venice several hundred years earlier, where ships
were produced using pre-manufactured parts, assembly lines, and mass production; the Venice Arsenal apparently
produced nearly one ship every day, in what was effectively the world's first factory.
See Also
|