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Guaranteed Human.

Welcome to Neutche World Podcast on the IHeart Podcast Network, the greatest American inventions.

Today, a factory floor in Michigan.

And the idea that made America the manufacturing capital of the world,

and in doing so, created the American middle class, the moving assembly line.

Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did something more important.

He invented a way to make products that put them within reach of ordinary

people. Before Ford, a Model T took about 12 and a half hours to build. Skilled workers

move station to station, performing complex tasks. In 1908, a Model T cost $8,825, roughly $25,000 today.

Most working Americans could not afford one.

On October 7, 1913, at Ford's Highland Park plant in Michigan,

the first moving assembly line and automotive history began

operating. Workers no longer moved to the car. The car moved to the workers on a continuously

moving conveyor. Each worker performed one specialized task, tightening a specific bolt, installing a specific part

over and over with no wasted motion. Results, immediate and dramatic. Assembly time fell from

12.5 hours to 93 minutes. By 1914, Ford produced over 300,000 Model T's per year.

By 1916, half a million.

Eventually, a new Model T rolled off the line every 24 seconds,

and the price fell with the volume to $260 by 2025.

In January 1914, Ford made another announcement that shocked the business world.

He was doubling his workers' minimum

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