Sublime

HE was unorthodox in thought but puritanical in personal conduct. He had a restless mind but was capable of prolonged, concentrated work. He hated indolence but had to be confronted by a challenging problem before his interest was aroused. He was contemptuous of money-making, of money-makers and profit seekers, yet he made more money and greater pr

Today it seems undeniable that Ford intuited how industries based on mass consumption, like the embryonic car industry, require ordinary people to enjoy leisure as much they endure work. That would explain why Ford also supported the eight-hour day and the five-day week, writing of the latter, in 1926, ‘It is high time to rid ourselves of the notio

We did not propose to compete head on with the Ford grade, but to produce a car that would be superior to the Ford, yet so near the Ford price that demand would be drawn from the Ford grade and lifted to the slightly higher price in preference to Ford’s then utility design.

Toyota couldn’t afford those luxuries. In fact, during the postwar years, they couldn’t afford much of anything. They had to find ways to turn Toyota into a lean, mean, automaking machine with little margin for error.‡ Kiichirō, Eiji, and Ohno made three important decisions—three concepts that have become staples of successful manufacturing for ove

These new elements I think I can without significant loss reduce to four: installment selling, the used-car trade-in, the closed body, and the annual model. (I would add improved roads if I were to take into account the environment of the automobile.)

Quando se fala de aperfeiçoamento, entende-se logo como uma alteração do produto; um produto aperfeiçoado é um produto que foi mudado. Não penso assim. Minha ideia é não me meter a fabricar antes de ter estudado o que há de melhor a fabricar. Não quero dizer com isto que um artigo não possa ser modificado, mas que creio que há vantagens em nem sequ

We trained thousands of mechanics that way. When foremen or executive supervisors were needed, they were picked from men who showed ability in operating machines. This was a fundamental principle during the first three periods of Ford Motor Company. Good managers at Ford had to have some of these qualities: (i) Refreshing simplicity. (2) Brains. (3