Clarence W. Avery

Clarence Willard Avery (February 15, 1882 – May 13, 1949) was an American business executive. He was considered a driving force behind Ford Motor Company's moving assembly line, and was president and chairman of auto-body supplier Murray Corporation.

Clarence Avery was born in Dansville, Michigan in 1882. After graduating from high school, he continued his education at Ferris Institute (now Ferris State University) and then at the University of Michigan, completing a two-year course in manual training (the precursor to today's vocational education). He taught at a rural school for a year, and then, in 1902, became the head of manual training in the Battle Creek public schools.

While in Battle Creek, Avery married Lura Warner. The couple eventually had two daughters, Eloise and Anabel. The next year, Avery accepted the post of principal at the Michigan Manual Training School in Ishpeming, Michigan. He spent three years in Ishpeming, then, in 1907, moved to Detroit to become head of manual training at Detroit University School.

In Detroit, one of Avery's pupils was a teenaged Edsel Ford; the young Ford was taken with Avery's mechanical ingenuity. In 1912, Avery casually mentioned to Edsel his desire to enter the automobile business. Edsel introduced Avery to his father, Henry Ford. The elder Ford immediately hired Avery as Charles E. Sorensen's assistant at his Highland Park plant. Sorenson put Avery through an extensive eight-month training course, where he worked in every phase of production at the plant, learning the system.

With that experience, Avery's first large project was the establishment of a moving assembly line at the plant. The assembly line project was worked on by a number of Ford's top men, including C. Harold Wills, Peter E. Martin, and Charles Ebender in addition to Avery and Sorenson. Although credit for the moving assembly line can't be pinned to one individual, those who took part acknowledged Avery as the guiding light of the project, and he became Ford's time study expert. By the end of 1913, the project had reduced assembly time for a Model T from 12.5 man-hours down to 2.7 man-hours. Later improvements reduced that time to only 1.5 man-hours.

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