My Life and Work

A little about the book

Henry Ford recounts the experiments that led him into the automobile trade and explains the principles he believed made a manufacturing company work. He writes about the product, the factory floor, suppliers, wages, finance, and how vehicles should be sold. He frequently moves from an episode in the history of Ford Motor Company to a general argument about the purpose of industry.

The story comes from someone who wants his company to be understood through the decisions he made. That gives it a clear point of view about what he thinks a business owes to buyers and workers, and what he thinks stands in the way of making a useful product. The tension between firsthand observation and self-portrait makes the book interesting both as industrial history and as an account of how Ford wanted his work remembered.

Things You May Not Know About My Life and Work

• A collaboration. The title pages present Ford’s account in collaboration with Samuel Crowther.
• Early experiments come first. Ford recalls work on engines and vehicles before he moves on to the company’s later system of production.
• Wages have their own chapter. The book presents Ford’s argument about wages in the wider context of what a company produces and how it measures its costs.
• One model gets special attention. Ford describes his case for standardizing production around a design that could be made and sold widely.
• An extended argument about service. The closing chapters use examples from manufacturing, finance, and distribution to develop Ford’s idea of what industry should do.