QuickCheck: Did Henry Ford invent the production line?

This undated image released by The Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company shows a 1924 Model T Assembly Line. Thanks to this and many other innovations, the time it took to build a Model T dropped from up to 14 hours to about 1.5 hours. Ford's iconic Model T was built for the common man and began to transform the US landscape soon after it first rolled out of a Detroit factory a hundred years ago. The 10 millionth Model T was produced on June 4, 1927. - AFP/THE HENRY FORD AND FORD MOTOR COMPANY

BUSINESSMAN and auto mogul Henry Ford was the first person to use a production line to mass produce goods – in his case, the famous Ford Model T cars.

Is this true?

Verdict:

FALSE

The concept of splitting up big tasks into smaller tasks, carried out by a group of people to create complex products – in other words, the division of labour – has been around for centuries.

The division of labour was also practised in ancient China, where state-run monopolies mass-produced metal agricultural implements, china, armour, and weapons – centuries before mass production appeared in Europe.

Adam Smith discussed the subject in detail in his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations.

What Ford actually did was improve upon the idea, sometimes through his own engineering but more often by sponsoring the work of his employees.

References:

1. https://books.google.com.my/books?id=fv9WPvAXpGMC&pg=PA128&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

2. https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers