Book: Today and Tomorrow

Overview
Published in 1926 after the triumph of the Model T and the build-out of the vast River Rouge complex, Henry Ford’s Today and Tomorrow lays out a philosophy of industry centered on service, productive efficiency, and disciplined simplicity. Ford argues that a business exists to serve the public; profits are the byproduct of doing that job well. He distills lessons from Ford Motor Company’s rise into principles he believes can govern any enterprise, from a farm to a factory to a retail store.

Industry as Service
Ford insists that the primary test of a business is whether it reduces the cost of living by delivering durable goods and dependable service at the lowest sustainable price. He rejects fashion-led change and wasteful variety, favoring standardization and simplicity in design. The aim is dependable quality, not novelty. Lower prices, achieved through better methods rather than squeezing labor, enlarge the market and stabilize the enterprise.

Production and Waste Elimination
The heart of the book is a doctrine of flow production. Work should move continuously, with each operation arranged in the right sequence, supported by precise tools and fixtures. Every break in flow, every idle motion, every scrap piece is a form of waste to be studied and removed. Time is the decisive resource; saving minutes across thousands of repetitions compounds into large gains. Design for manufacturability, making parts easy to make right, matters as much as clever engineering. Preventive maintenance, careful layout, standardized tools, and constant small improvements form the everyday discipline of production.

Labor, Wages, and Management
Ford defends high wages and shorter hours as productive investments that reduce turnover and unlock higher output. He argues that management’s true work is removing obstacles so that workers can succeed, providing training, safe conditions, and clear methods. He is skeptical of unions and outside arbitration, confident that a firm devoted to service and fair pay can settle matters internally, a stance that reflects both his paternalism and the tensions that later confronted his company. The broader social ideal is that rising productivity should fund both better pay and lower prices.

Materials, Power, and Integration
Efficiency extends upstream to materials and energy. Ford describes vertical integration as a guard against delay, speculation, and quality variability. He highlights control of iron, coal, timber, glass, and transportation, using ships and rail to feed Rouge’s furnaces and assembly lines. Byproducts should be used, not discarded; energy should be generated and conserved with equal care. The goal is reliability through mastery of all critical inputs.

Markets, Price, and Distribution
Price reductions are presented as the firmest form of advertising. Ford distrusts elaborate selling, claims should be proven in the product and the price. Distribution is an extension of production: dealers and service stations must be organized to keep cars working, parts flowing, and customers satisfied. He warns that credit, speculation, and financial gamesmanship cannot create real value; only production and service can.

Knowledge, Experiment, and Education
Ford’s craft is practical knowledge gained by trial, measurement, and iteration. Failure is useful if it speeds learning. He criticizes credentialed “experts” who excuse inaction, advocating a laboratory-in-the-shop mentality where ideas are tested quickly and adopted only if they lower cost and raise quality. Schools, in his view, should teach useful skills and habits of constructive thinking that prepare people to create value.

Society and the Future
The book links industrial method to social progress. With roads, fair rules, and freedom from monopolies and speculative manipulation, Ford believes a society of abundance is attainable. He imagines a healthy balance between farm and factory, rural and urban life, all raised by the same disciplines of economy, service, and continuous improvement.

Enduring Tensions and Legacy
Today and Tomorrow champions principles that shaped modern operations: flow, standardization, design for production, respect for time, and the primacy of customer value. It also reflects its author’s limits, resistance to style change, paternalism in labor relations, and suspicion of finance, yet its central claim endures: a business that relentlessly reduces waste and serves the many can earn both profit and public trust.