Today’s moving automobile assembly lines are part human and part machine, capable of switching on the fly to different models of cars and trucks according to demand. Computer-controlled robots perform precise welds on chassis parts, while workers carry out tasks that machines alone cannot.
The automotive assembly line has come a long way from Ford Motor Co.’s first moving-vehicle line, which lurched into motion 100 years ago today.
In 1913, a winch and a rope moved Model Ts through the Highland Park Assembly Plant, where 140 factory workers performed specific tasks toward a completed car.
The assembly line created hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs, but made others obsolete. It has refined car and truck manufacturing, improved quality and safety of cars around the globe, and duplicated its efficiencies to other industries such as aircraft.