Fließbands

Fließband, also known as assembly line in English, is a manufacturing process in which parts are added sequentially by workers or machines to a product as it moves through a factory. This method of production was pioneered by Ransom E. Olds in 1901 for his Oldsmobile factory and later significantly improved by Henry Ford for the Ford Model T in 1913. The core principle of the fließband is specialization of labor; each worker or station performs a single, repetitive task. This leads to increased efficiency, reduced production time, and lower costs compared to traditional methods where one craftsman might build an entire product. The continuous movement of the product, often on a conveyor belt, dictates the pace of work. While it revolutionized mass production, the fließband has also been criticized for its monotonous nature and potential for worker alienation due to the repetitive tasks and fast pace. Despite these criticisms, the fließband remains a fundamental concept in modern manufacturing across various industries.