Fordism

Fordism is an industrial and economic system built around standardized mass production, high output, and mass consumption. It links efficient factory production with rising wages and broad consumer demand.

Moving assembly line: A production system in which workpieces move past stationary workers or machines for sequential operations. It made Fordist production faster by bringing each unfinished product to the next specialized task.
Ford Motor Company: An American automobile manufacturer founded in 1903 by Henry Ford and associates. Its factories became the best-known model for Fordist production.
Fordism and post-Fordism: A framework contrasting standardized mass production with more flexible, specialized production systems. The comparison tracks how later economies departed from Fordist organization.
Craft production: Production in which skilled workers make goods individually or in small batches, often adapting methods to each item. It contrasts with Fordism’s standardized products and fragmented factory tasks.
Interchangeable parts: Standardized components made to consistent specifications so that one can replace another. Uniform parts enabled Fordist factories to assemble large quantities without custom-fitting each product.
Henry Ford: An American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company and popularized high-volume automobile production. His production methods and wage policies gave Fordism its name and emblematic form.
Post-Fordism: A proposed successor to Fordism characterized by flexible production, varied goods, and changing labor arrangements. It names the economic shift often described as Fordism’s decline.
Lean manufacturing: A production approach that seeks to reduce waste and align output closely with demand. Lean methods challenge Fordist reliance on long runs and large inventories.
Scientific management: Frederick Winslow Taylor’s approach to improving work through measurement, task analysis, and prescribed methods. Fordist factories used measured, narrowly defined tasks to coordinate high-volume production.
Ford Model T: A Ford automobile produced from 1908 to 1927 that became an early mass-market car. Its standardized design and enormous production run made it a signature Fordist product.

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