The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

by William A. Levinson, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther
Released July 2013
Publisher(s): CRC Press
ISBN: 9781466557727

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Book description

Henry Ford's industrial innovations were directly responsible for the transformation of the United States into the most productive, affluent, and powerful nation on Earth. My Life and Work describes exactly how Ford did this in terms of not only manufacturing science, but also economics and organizational behavior. This holistic approach, and its validation by world-class results, make Ford's original work the best business leadership book ever written. The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work: Henry Ford's Universal Code for World-Class Success updates this original with modern perspectives that explain and organize Ford’s thought process explicitly.

My Life and Work is not a mechanistic or industry-specific formula that practitioners can follow like work instructions in a factory, but rather a holistic synergy of impartial laws of economics, science, and human behavior—a synergy that Ford called the universal code. This universal code simultaneously delivered high profits, high wages, and low prices in every industry to which Ford applied it. It also realized unprecedented improvements in industries ranging from coal mines to railroads, and even healthcare as practiced in the Henry and Clara Ford Hospital.

This annotated edition introduces Ford’s universal code along with vital economic, behavioral, Lean manufacturing, and customer service principles. It contains almost all the material of the original, plus more than 30 percent new content that reinforces Ford’s timeless principles.

Readers who understand and internalize Ford’s universal code can easily overcome the self-limiting paradigms that afflict today’s organizations. These include, for example, the belief that healthcare is a zero-sum game in which escalating costs are the price of quality. The book illustrates the basic elements of what is now called the Toyota Production System as well as the organizational and human relations principles needed to gain buy-in and engagement from all participants.

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover (1/2)
  2. Front Cover (2/2)
  3. Contents (1/2)
  4. Contents (2/2)
  5. Preface
  6. Editor’s Introduction (1/3)
  7. Editor’s Introduction (2/3)
  8. Editor’s Introduction (3/3)
  9. Henry Ford’s Introduction (1/6)
  10. Henry Ford’s Introduction (2/6)
  11. Henry Ford’s Introduction (3/6)
  12. Henry Ford’s Introduction (4/6)
  13. Henry Ford’s Introduction (5/6)
  14. Henry Ford’s Introduction (6/6)
  15. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of Business (1/3)
  16. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of Business (2/3)
  17. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of Business (3/3)
  18. Chapter 2 - What I Learned about Business (1/4)
  19. Chapter 2 - What I Learned about Business (2/4)
  20. Chapter 2 - What I Learned about Business (3/4)
  21. Chapter 2 - What I Learned about Business (4/4)
  22. Chapter 3 - Starting the Real Business (1/4)
  23. Chapter 3 - Starting the Real Business (2/4)
  24. Chapter 3 - Starting the Real Business (3/4)
  25. Chapter 3 - Starting the Real Business (4/4)
  26. Chapter 4 - The Secret of Manufacturing and Serving (1/3)
  27. Chapter 4 - The Secret of Manufacturing and Serving (2/3)
  28. Chapter 4 - The Secret of Manufacturing and Serving (3/3)
  29. Chapter 5 - Getting into Production (1/4)
  30. Chapter 5 - Getting into Production (2/4)
  31. Chapter 5 - Getting into Production (3/4)
  32. Chapter 5 - Getting into Production (4/4)
  33. Chapter 6 - Machines and Men (1/3)
  34. Chapter 6 - Machines and Men (2/3)
  35. Chapter 6 - Machines and Men (3/3)
  36. Chapter 7 - The Terror of the Machine (1/3)
  37. Chapter 7 - The Terror of the Machine (2/3)
  38. Chapter 7 - The Terror of the Machine (3/3)
  39. Chapter 8 - Wages (1/3)
  40. Chapter 8 - Wages (2/3)
  41. Chapter 8 - Wages (3/3)
  42. Chapter 9 - Why Not Always Have Good Business? (1/2)
  43. Chapter 9 - Why Not Always Have Good Business? (2/2)
  44. Chapter 10 - How Cheaply Can Things Be Made? (1/4)
  45. Chapter 10 - How Cheaply Can Things Be Made? (2/4)
  46. Chapter 10 - How Cheaply Can Things Be Made? (3/4)
  47. Chapter 10 - How Cheaply Can Things Be Made? (4/4)
  48. Chapter 11 - Money and Goods (1/3)
  49. Chapter 11 - Money and Goods (2/3)
  50. Chapter 11 - Money and Goods (3/3)
  51. Chapter 12 - Money: Master or Servant? (1/3)
  52. Chapter 12 - Money: Master or Servant? (2/3)
  53. Chapter 12 - Money: Master or Servant? (3/3)
  54. Chapter 13 - Why Be Poor? (1/2)
  55. Chapter 13 - Why Be Poor? (2/2)
  56. Chapter 14 - The Tractor and Power Farming (1/2)
  57. Chapter 14 - The Tractor and Power Farming (2/2)
  58. Chapter 15 - Why Charity? (1/4)
  59. Chapter 15 - Why Charity? (2/4)
  60. Chapter 15 - Why Charity? (3/4)
  61. Chapter 15 - Why Charity? (4/4)
  62. Chapter 16 - The Railroads (1/2)
  63. Chapter 16 - The Railroads (2/2)
  64. Chapter 17 - Things in General (1/3)
  65. Chapter 17 - Things in General (2/3)
  66. Chapter 17 - Things in General (3/3)
  67. Chapter 18 - Democracy and Industry (1/3)
  68. Chapter 18 - Democracy and Industry (2/3)
  69. Chapter 18 - Democracy and Industry (3/3)
  70. Chapter 19 - What We May Expect (1/3)
  71. Chapter 19 - What We May Expect (2/3)
  72. Chapter 19 - What We May Expect (3/3)
  73. Conclusion
  74. References
  75. Back Cover

Product information

  • Title: The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work
  • Author(s): William A. Levinson, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther
  • Release date: July 2013
  • Publisher(s): CRC Press
  • ISBN: 9781466557727