Deployment of the Ford System and Its Characteristics

Toshio Yamazaki ()
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Toshio Yamazaki: Ritsumeikan University, Faculty of Business Administration

Chapter Chapter 9 in A History of German Business, 2026, pp 225-277 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines the deployment of the Ford system in German-specific conditions, such as the commodity and labor markets, considering the implementation of production standardization and the flow production system. First, this chapter considers the discussion on and attitudes toward the Ford system in Germany at the time. It then examines the progress of the standardization of production under the standardization movement in Germany during the 1920s in relation to specific historical circumstances, clarifying the significance and limitations of such efforts. Furthermore, this chapter analyzes the introduction of the flow production system and the German-style mass production system in relation to market conditions represented by the narrow and changing domestic commodity market and difficulty in the export market. Cases in the processing and assembly industries, such as the electrical engineering, automobile, and machine industries, are discussed from the comparative viewpoint of these industrial sectors. Based on these examinations, the characteristics and limitations in the deployment of the American mass production system represented by the Ford system are clarified in two points. The first point regards implementing mass production, and the second is how the deployment of the Ford system in the automobile industry influenced the national economy by creating demands in related industries.

Keywords: Economy of scale; Flexibility; Flow production; Ford system; Mass production; Production management; Standardization of production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-96-8476-2_9

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-96-8476-2_9

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