Ford vs. GM

Question 1

Ford

Answer 1

policy of accumulating and reinvesting profits: experimentation

• talented production engineering team
• moving assembly line (most notable product of experimentation)
• “car for the masses”
• worked because also centralized control, materials procurement, work scheduling
• rigid and inflexible production process: no innovation, no variation

Question 2

GM

Answer 2

• acquisitions and vertical integration failed
• financial difficulties every time demand fell
• assistance from DuPont
• after 1920: Sloan president
• policy of shared engineering and component manufacturing across divisions
• “a car for every purse and purpose”
• economies of scale by sharing design and production of vehicle components across divisions

Question 3

According to Sloan: Industrial phases

Answer 3

1. Class market (only a few wealthy people, but unreliable cars)
2. Mass market
3. Mass-class market

transition to closed bodies
emergence and increasing use of metal-stamping technology