Something that struck me as interesting is that not only did the assembly line concept enforce consistency in mass manufacturing of parts and product, and isolating assembly into simple repeatable processes (hook this up here, turn this, repeat), but the literal line itself doesn't ever stop. It enforces efficiency from the workers. You <i>had</i> to get your part onto the vehicle before it moved onto the next station or the vehicle would simply move on.<p>No longer was manufacturing dictated by the speed of the worker, the process dictated the speed <i>to</i> the worker. The increase in efficiency alone must have been astronomical.<p>I wonder if in some ways, some of the plants I've seen (like VWs newer plants), that <i>don't</i> have this kind of enforced production schedule are really a step back.