Henry Ford

Now a business, in my way of thinking, is not a machine. It is a collection of people who are brought together to do work and not to write letters to…

When we are at work we ought to be at work. When we are at play we ought to be at play. There is no use trying to mix the two. The sole object…

This may seem haphazard, but it is not. A group of men, wholly intent upon getting work done, have no difficulty in seeing that the work is done.…

Because there are no titles and no limits of authority, there is no question of red tape or going over a man's head. Any workman can go to anybody,…

As a matter of fact, the record of business in general just now is such as to detract very much from the value of titles. No one would boast of being…

It is particularly easy for any man who never knows it all to go forward to a higher position with us. Some men will work hard but they do not…

This rating system simply forces a foreman to forget personalities--to forget everything other than the work in hand. If he should select the…

As I have said, everyone in the place reserves an open mind as to the way in which every job is being done. If there is any fixed theory--any fixed…

The suggestions come from everywhere. The Polish workmen seem to be the cleverest of all of the foreigners in making them. One, who could not speak…

Here are some of the suggestions: A proposal that castings be taken from the foundry to the machine shop on an overhead conveyor saved seventy men in…

The old method of making a certain gear comprised four operations and 12 per cent. of the steel went into scrap. We use most of our scrap and…

None of our machines is ever built haphazardly. The idea is investigated in detail before a move is made. Sometimes wooden models are constructed…

When you come right down to it, most jobs are repetitive. A business man has a routine that he follows with great exactness; the work of a bank…

The most thorough research has not brought out a single case of a man's mind being twisted or deadened by the work. The kind of mind that does not…

This salvage can be carried further. It is usually taken for granted that when a man is injured he is simply out of the running and should be paid an…

We have experimented with bedridden men--men who were able to sit up. We put black oilcloth covers or aprons over the beds and set the men to work…

No particular consideration has to be given to deaf-and-dumb employees. They do their work one hundred per cent. The tubercular employees--and…

There is not much personal contact--the men do their work and go home--a factory is not a drawing room. But we try to have justice and, while there…

There is nothing to running a business by custom--to saying: "I pay the going rate of wages." The same man would not so easily say: "I have nothing…

It ought to be the employer's ambition, as leader, to pay better wages than any similar line of business, and it ought to be the workman's ambition…

"What ought the employer to pay?"--"What ought the employee to receive?" These are but minor questions. The basic question is "What can the…

But by no means all employers or all employees will think straight. The habit of acting shortsightedly is a hard one to break. What can be done?…