Why did Ford paint corners at the factory?
The famous pioneer of the automobile industry, Henry Ford, ordered the corners of workshops to be painted white a hundred years ago. When stockholders asked Ford why this was done, the king of the assembly line replied that "this is how cars come out better." Let's try to figure out how white corners are related to the quality of Ford cars.
Technologists have such a rather subjective concept - "production culture". The same product, according to the same drawings, can be made with completely different levels of quality. They will make a little mistake in the production of one item, a little in another ... It would seem that each deviation is more or less within the acceptable range, but when there are a couple of hundred such parts in the finished product, the errors add up, it turns out to be a defect.
The legendary constructor of Soviet guns, Grabin, recalled how hard the struggle for quality and this very culture of production was at the end of the thirties. Even at defense plants, slovenliness reigned in the workshops and there was not always a high-quality attitude towards their work. When the plant received a large order for the manufacture of more than a hundred ZIS-3 guns, Grabin got an order from the plant director to create benchmark guns.
The order required selecting the best parts from one hundred sets of parts for guns, made with minimal allowance. And from these parts it was required to assemble only three benchmark guns - fully consistent with the drawings of the constructors. What do you think, how did the story with benchmark guns end?
That's right, the desperate Grabin was forced to cancel his own order. Even from a hundred guns, it was not possible to assemble three ideal guns. What was the snag? It seemed to be in nothing, you couldn’t say for sure. Nevertheless, this lowest culture of production manifested itself in full growth. As a result, a hard battle for "conditional suitability" continued with military representatives at the plant and the acceptance of almost every second part that was not very suitable. Grabin had to fight for quality using non-standard methods.
The commission went through the workshops, raided the lockers of the workers. They threw away the old rubbish, the old working drawings ruthlessly went into the trash. As the constructor explained himself, it was quite possible to work according to such a drawing. But when a locksmith holds a torn and oil-stained drawing in his hands, for some reason the part also comes out of not the best quality. According to the same principle, the constructor transferred the other constructors to a new room with large windows on both sides.
And it wasn't just that draftsmen needed good lighting. People enjoy working in a sunny, spacious and well-ventilated office. The result was not long in coming, the quality of the guns went up sharply.
The aircraft designer Yakovlev, the father of the famous military Yakov, also wrote about the importance of the internal mood of the worker for quality production.
At his first own factory the constructor first ordered to remove the cuttings of pipes, fittings, etc., and by all means to lay plank floors. This was not necessary for the production of the aircraft; an earthen floor would have been quite satisfactory. The aviator was guided by all the same considerations - in a clean and comfortable workshop the car will turn out to be great. Another innovation of Yakovlev was painting the doors between the workshops with white paint.
He explained it this way. Workers are accustomed to opening doors not with their hands, but with their feet. It even seems to be convenient if you carry something in your hands. But such an attitude is unacceptable. Just for reasons of the same culture of production. On the white doors, the imprints of the soles became clearly visible, and gradually the workers began to open the doors as expected. At the same time, the constructor did not impose any penalties for this; people themselves decided that it was better to work in a clean shop.
The tradition to come to work without delay, on time, introduced by Grabin was also based on the same idea. Some unorganized constructors were often late, but Grabin did not issue reprimands. Instead, every morning he went out to the checkpoint before the start of his shift and politely shook hands with each latecomer. Things went smoothly immediately. In the Soviet years, at large factories, there was a tradition for the whole shop to go out and clean up the territory, clear and pave paths, and plant flowers.
One would think what can flowers have to do with the production of heavy tractors or textile fabrics? Nevertheless, these traditions had an extremely positive effect on the results of labor. Already in our time, when Bu Andersson came to lead AvtoVAZ, one of his first innovations was wastebaskets with loose garbage bags. Even the garbage cans should be clean and tidy.
At first glance – it is silly, but in fact – it was another brick in a conscientious attitude to their work, to the quality of products. So Henry Ford a hundred years ago fought for the qualitative attitude of workers to what they do. He forbade workers to pile factory rubbish in the corners of workshops (as was done almost everywhere).
And so that it was always visible and clearly, white paint was needed. The corners of the Ford factories shone with cleanliness and white enamel, and mass Ford-Ts rolled off the assembly line one by one. Machines produced by not very skilled workers, on a fast-moving conveyor, but at the same time, the quality was unprecedented at that time. Such is the mysterious and incomprehensible "production culture".
