The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

part does not fasten it—the part may not be fully in place until after several 
operations later. The man who puts in a bolt does not put on the nut; the man 
who puts on the nut does not tighten it. On operation number thirty-four the 
budding motor gets its gasoline; it has previously received lubrication; on 
operation number forty-four the radiator is filled with water, and on opera-
tion number forty-five the car drives out onto John R. Street.
Essentially the same ideas have been applied to the assembling of the 
motor. In October, 1913, it required nine hours and fifty-four minutes of 
labour time to assemble one motor; six months later, by the moving assembly 
method, this time had been reduced to five hours and fifty-six minutes. Every 
piece of work in the shops moves; it may move on hooks on overhead chains 
going to assembly in the exact order in which the parts are required; it may 
travel on a moving platform, or it may go by gravity, but the point is that 

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Getting into Production  •  67
there is no lifting or trucking of anything other than materials. Materials 
are brought in on small trucks or trailers operated by cut-down Ford chassis, 
which are sufficiently mobile and quick to get in and out of any aisle where 
they may be required to go. No workman has anything to do with moving 
or lifting anything. That is all in a separate department—the department of 
transportation.