Fords Control Mechanisms - Essay Example

About one hundred years ago, demand could be easily matched to supply particularly in the rural agricultural areas, and the existence of production and consumption was in a closed loop supply chain, therefore, goods were predominantly manufactured and used as required.The just-in-time approach to manufacturing adopted by Ford presents a return to this form of relationship between the production and consumption phase that was present before the industrial revolution where consumers gave specifications of what they wanted before the process of production could begin.

Henry Ford, who came up with the assembly line JIT approach used in the manufacture of Ford cars, had an awareness of this form of a rural tradeoff as he hailed from a small community whose main activities involved agriculture.The beginning of the economic business philosophy adopted by Ford and the main aim for JIT manufacturing was mainly informed by the recognition that increasing the wages of factory employees leads to increased rates of productivity. Initially, Ford was simply assembling the cars and not manufacturing them, as the parts were produced by external shops, however, they were not made to be highly tolerant necessitating that the company shapes and fits them before they could come together appropriately.

The company lacked control in terms of the quality of parts in the supply stream as well as the incoming flow of materials that came from external sources. There were no control mechanisms in place to arbitrate the inconsistencies in the manufacturing and assembly processes.