Fordism is an industrial production model that dominated from the 18th century until the 1970s. It is a system of production organization based on mass production mass consumption and mass labor utilization. Developed by Henry Ford this system increased productivity through assembly line techniques and created an economic structure that enabled workers to access the products they produced. However over time the increasing diversity and rapid changes in consumer demand rendered this rigid production model inadequate. Moreover Fordist mass production is also referred to as serial production due to its reliance on conveyor belt systems.
Origins and Development
The Fordist production system takes its name from Ford the founder of the automobile factory Henry Ford (1863–1947). Ford produced the Model T automobile using a moving assembly line system developed in 1908. This system came to symbolize concepts such as the eight-hour workday five-dollar wage and the moving assembly line and influenced not only the automotive industry but also other sectors and even culture at large.
Principles of Fordism
The core principles of Fordism are as follows:
- Product Standardization: Products and each component and task are standardized. This is crucial for reducing costs. The goal is mass production of identical standardized products.
- Mechanization and Taylorism: Some tasks can be mechanized. The remaining tasks are subject to Taylorism; each task is broken down into components redesigned according to time-motion principles and workers are given explicit instructions on how to perform them. Mental and manual labor are separated.
- Moving Assembly Line: The fixed workstation is replaced by a moving conveyor belt on which the product moves past the worker.
- Mass Production through Automation: The aim is to minimize operational costs and achieve stable profits. This is achieved by technologically automating the mass production of standardized products.
- Centralized Organization and Taylorist Management: Decisions are made by a central management and implemented hierarchically from top to bottom. Taylorist management principles are applied ensuring strict control and supervision of workers throughout the production process. Labor is hierarchically organized into two main categories: managers and direct workers.
- Concentration of Mass Labor in Large Enterprises: A largely unskilled labor force is employed to perform routine tasks. Strict control discipline and supervision of workers are fundamental.
Characteristics of Fordist Production
- Mass Consumption: Fordism presupposes mass consumption and relies heavily on mass advertising.
- Protected National Market: It is linked to a protected national market system; competition applies only to the global market.
- Demand Sensitivity: Serial producers are sensitive to sudden drops in demand.
- Semi-Skilled Labor and Collective Bargaining: Semi-skilled labor collective bargaining directed national markets and centralized organization are integral to Fordism.
- Rigid Division of Labor: Labor division and job definitions are rigidly structured and based on deskilling.
- Principle of Immutability: There is a principle of immutability in two areas: the unchanging nature of consumer characteristics and demands (predictable demand) and the unchanging nature of the labor market and labor relations.
- Rigidity: Fordism is not a flexible production style; it is rigid. Achieving a specific production volume is mandatory to ensure profitability.
- Inventory-Based Production and Quality Control: Production is carried out with inventory and delivery. Goods undergo quality control after production and defective items are corrected.
- Large Corporate Organizations: Large corporate structures and functions are carried out by corporate departments. A rigid hierarchical structure exists within vertically organized work environments.
Social and Economic Structure under Fordism
- Unions and Collective Bargaining: A system of unions and collective bargaining exists.
- Role of the State: The state acts as a mediator in conflicts between capital and labor. Public legal guarantees for working conditions and rights are fundamental. The state assumes responsibility for education and health services that is social reproduction.
- Keynesian Economic Policies: Keynesian economic policies are implemented. The Keynesian state increases spending and demand through income-boosting policies to ensure market stability and growth thereby insuring mass production with mass consumption. Keynesian economics is based on increasing and directing demand targets full employment and emphasizes the importance of state intervention. The state is responsible for ensuring social justice and constructing a social security framework.
Crisis of Fordism
The end of Fordism coincided with the crisis of overaccumulation in capitalism. Throughout capitalist history periods of capital accumulation have always been followed by stagnation. Fordism entered crisis along with the accumulation crisis and capitalism felt the need to transition to a new mode of accumulation.
The reasons for Fordism’s crisis are as follows:
- The rigidity of Fordist production.
- The emergence of neighboring countries with favorable conditions.
- Market saturation in domestic markets (late 1960s).
- Inability of advanced countries to expand their markets declining productivity and profitability.
- Rise of developing countries as competitors to the industries of advanced nations.
- Inability to respond to changing demand conditions.
- Saturation of demand for mass-produced goods.
- Lack of technological flexibility in the equipment used to enable production of different types of goods.
- Deterioration of industrial relations during crises.
Today there has been no period in which a single production system has been entirely dominant. Sectors practicing Fordist and traditional production still exist. Not all sectors and production processes are either Fordist or flexible; they can coexist simultaneously.
Impact of Globalization and Post-Fordism
Economic crises in the 1970s particularly the 1973 Oil Crisis reduced the effectiveness of the Fordist system. Increased competition brought about by globalization created a need for flexibility and initiated a transition to post-Fordist production forms. Post-Fordism denotes a structure based on diversity flexibility and technological adaptability. This system offers advantages such as faster response to consumer demand lower production costs and increased efficiency.
Managerial and Ideological Transformation
The centralized bureaucratic and welfare-oriented management style of the Fordist era has been replaced in the post-Fordist period by a more local flexible and market-driven structure. This transition has brought with it principles such as individualization diversity in services user-centeredness and performance-based management.
