DETROIT — THE moving assembly line was the simplest of inventions, born of necessity to meet the exploding demand for automobiles in America in the early 20th century.
Related
And while it turned 100 years old this month, “the line” remains as integral to the progress of the auto industry as it was in the days of Henry Ford.
The assembly line is a constantly evolving industrial ballet of workers and robots building cars. And automakers like the Ford Motor Company are finding that building multiple models on the same line is a huge key to success in the intensely competitive global marketplace.
Updating the assembly line is a big part of the “One Ford” corporate strategy that has helped the nation’s second-biggest automaker lead the recent recovery of the American auto industry.
“There are probably very few inventions in the auto industry that started 100 years ago and are still here today,” said John Fleming, Ford’s executive vice president for global manufacturing.