Thanks for publishing my observation, "Are those Cepep sentinels necessary?" (August 8), with reference to Henry Ford. But I'm now told that this name means nothing to a generation weaned on role models such as Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and Chris Brown. So please allow me this post-script to shed some light. Just a century ago, when carriage builders and bicycle repairers were custom-building cars for America's idle rich, Henry Ford appears with a novel assembly-line idea to build a better mouse trap–his Model T roadster (later called "Tin Lizzie"), and in two-twos he's a multi-millionaire.
Now anyone could have done what he did. All he did was to squeeze as much productivity as possible from whatever resource he had.
Like the time he noticed a worker on the assembly line inserting bolts with his right hand. He handed him a spanner and said, "If you can also tighten the nuts with your left hand, I'll pay you an extra dollar." The worker did it and got an extra dollar on his pay.
And with more cars coming off the line, Ford told the worker the next day, "Now that you're placing the bolts with your right hand and tightening the nuts with your left hand, if you can also press this pedal with your right foot to insert the rivet, I'll pay you an extra dollar."
The worker did it, the line moved faster and he earned another dollar. But on seeing Ford coming the next day, the worker protested, refusing to even hear the new idea. "Don't you want to earn an extra dollar?" asked Ford. "Not anymore, Mr Ford," the worker explained, "because after my hands and feet, your next idea will be to shove a broom in my behind and tell me to sweep the floor!"
Jerome Audain
Curepe