Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Ford and a key day in a year of celebrations by the car company he founded, writes Brian Byrne.
In a life of industrial innovation, Henry Ford is credited with a number of important milestones, including the debut in 1908 of the Model T, the car that 'put America on wheels'.
He also doubled the minimum wage of his employees, primarily to keep them working for him, but it's also said that this allowed them to buy the cars they were building.
In 1913 he introduced the first moving assembly line for cars, reducing the time needed to build a Model T from 12.5 man-hours to 1.5 man-hours.
Ford also set up a 'vertical integration' system by which he could control quality by owning and operating all the component suppliers used in the manufacture of a car.
Henry Ford died on April 7, 1947, at 83.
