Henry Ford.

On June 16, 1903 Ford Motor Company was founded and incorporated by Henry Ford. With $28,000 cash from 12 investors, Ford Motor Company would go on to become the largest and most profitable companies in the world as well to be one of few to survive the great depression. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial work force. He did so by using an elaborately engineered manufacturing sequence typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods became known world wide as Fordism by 1914. During it's early years the company produced just a few cars a day at it's factory. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.