History
Después de la Revolución Industrial muchos productos manufacturados fueron hechos de manera individual a mano. Un artesano o grupo de artesanos podían crear cada parte de un producto. Usaban sus habilidades y herramientas como pulidoras y cuchillos para crear partes individuales. Posteriormente ensamblarían cada una de estas partes para generar el producto final, realizando cambios de prueba y error a las partes hasta que quedaran bien y se pudieran ensamblar (producción artesanal):.
La división del trabajo fue practicada en China en donde el Estado generó monopolios de producción en masa para implementos metálicos en la agricultura, porcelana, armaduras y armas antes de que aparecieran en Europa en la víspera de la Revolución Industrial.[2] Adam Smith discutió de manera extensa la división del trabajo en la manufactura de alfileres en su libro La Riqueza de las Naciones (publicado en 1776).
El Arsenal de Venecia, contando con hasta 1104, operó de manera similar a una línea de producción. Las embarcaciones eran trasladadas cuesta abajo por un canal y eran trabajados por los diferentes talleres por los que pasaban. En la cumbre de su eficiencia cerca del siglo , el Arsenal de Venecia emplearon 16,000 personas que podían aparentemente producir casi una embarcación por día y podían equipar, armar y provisionar una cocina completamente nueva con partes estandarizadas en una base de línea de ensamble. Aunque el Arsenal de Venecia duró hasta los comienzos de la Revolución Industrial, los métodos de producción en línea no fueron comunes para entonces.
Interchangeable parts
During the beginning of the century the development of automatic tools such as the lathe, rolling mill and milling machine also controlled tools via jigs and fixtures, providing the prerequisites for the modern assembly line making interchangeable parts a reality.
Industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably textiles, firearms, watches,[3] carts, railroads, sewing machines, and bicycles, noted a temporary improvement in materials handling, machinery, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as Industrial Engineering and Logistics had not yet been named.
The automatic flour mill built by Oliver Evans in 1785 was named the beginning of modern bulk shipping by Roe (1916). Evans' mill used a leather belt bucket elevator, endless conveyors, cloth conveyor, and other mechanical devices that completely automate the process of making flour. The innovation spread to other mills and breweries.[4][5].
Probably the oldest industrial example of a continuous, linear assembly process is the Portsmouth Pulley Factory, built between 1801 and 1803. Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Kingdom Isambard Brunel), with the help of Henry Maudslay among others, designed 22 types of machinery to make the rope parts of a pulley used by the Royal Navy. This factory was so successful that it remained in business until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible in Dockyard, Portsmouth, and with some of the original machinery.
One of the earliest examples of a near-modern factory layout, designed for easy material handling, was the Bridgewater Foundry. The factory land was bounded by the Bridgewater Canal and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The buildings were arranged in line with a railroad track to distribute work between the buildings. Cranes were used to lift and carry out heavy work, which was sometimes up to tens of tons. The work happened sequentially to end in a sketch and later a final assembly.[6].
The first assembly line was started at Richard Garrett & Sons, Leiston Works at Lesiton in the English county of Suffolk for the manufacture of portable steam engines. The assembly line area was called 'The Long Shop Museum' because of its length and was fully operational by early 1853. The heater was brought from the foundry and started at the start of the line, and as it moved through the building it would stop at several stations where new parts would be added. From the upper level, where other parts were made, the light parts would be lowered to a balcony and then arranged on the machine on the ground floor. When the machine reached the end of the workshop, it would be completed.[7].
Electric and steam conveyors at the end of the 19th century
Steam-powered conveyor elevators began to be used for loading and unloading ships some time in the last quarter of the century. Hounshell (1984) shows a sketch of an electrically powered conveyor moving cans across a belt in a can factory.
The meat packing industry in Chicago is known as one of the first industries to use assembly lines (or disassembly lines) in the United States beginning in 1867. Workers would remain at fixed stations and with a pulley system that would provide meat to each worker so they could complete a task. Henry Ford and others have written about the influence of the practice at this slaughterhouse on later developments at the Ford Motor Company (see below Ford Motor Company (1908-1915)).
20th century
According to a book titled Michigan Yesterday & Today written by Robert W. Domm, the modern assembly line and its basic concept are owed to Ransom Olds, who used it to build the first automobile to be mass produced, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash.[9] Olds patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his 1901 Olds Motor Vehicle Company factory.[10] This development is often overshadowed by Henry Ford, who perfected the assembly line by installing driven conveyors that could produce a Model T in 93 minutes.[9].
The assembly line developed for the Ford Model T began operating on December 1, 1913.[11] It had an immense influence on the world. Despite attempts to attribute this phenomenon to one man or another, it was indeed a shared development based on logic and which took 7 years and a large number of intelligent men. The main leaders are discussed below.
The basic kernel of an assembly line concept was introduced to the Ford Motor Company by William "Pa" Klann after his return from visiting Swift & Company's Slaughterhouse in Chicago and observing what was referred to as a "disassembly line," where bodies were slaughtered as they moved along the conveyor belt. The efficiency of a person removing the same piece over and over again caught his attention. William reported the idea to Peter E. Martin, who would soon be head of Ford production, and he was hesitant at the time but it motivated him to continue. Others at Ford claimed to have first exposed the idea to Henry Ford, but Pa Klann's revelation about the slaughterhouse is well documented in the archives of the Henry Ford Museum[12] and elsewhere, making him an important contributor to the modern concept of the automated assembly line. The process was an evolution by trial and error by a team consisting primarily of Peter E. Martin, the factory superintendent; Charles E. Sorensen, Martin's assistant; C. Harold Wills, tool designer and maker; Clarence W. Avery; Charles Ebender; and József Galamb. Some of the preliminary work for such a development was recently set in motion by the clever design for locating machinery that Walter Flanders was making at Ford until 1908.
In 1922 Ford (through his ghostwriter Crowther) commented of his 1913 assembly line:
Charles E. Sorensen, in his 1956 autobiography My Forty Years with Ford, presented a different version of development that did not address much about individual “inventors” as a gradual and logical development of Industrial Engineering:.
As a result of developments in this method, Ford cars were finished in three-minute intervals. This was much faster than previous methods, thus increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes later) using a smaller workforce.[3] It was very successful, painting became a bottleneck. Only the Japanese dye dried quickly enough, forcing the company to discard the variety of colors available before 1914, until the quick-drying Duco varnish was introduced in 1926.[3] In 1914, an assembly line worker was able to purchase a Model T with four months' wages.[3].