Henry's Lieutenants

Albert M. Wibel

Albert M. Wibel 1886-1965 "Edsel told Bennett to keep his nose out ofpurchasing and stick to personnel and union negotiations." —Charles E. Sorensen * How one could manage the purchase of all the materials and necessary equipment to build 2 million vehicles a year, with each vehicle containing perhaps 100,000 parts, is beyond comprehension. Yet Albert M. Wibel did just that. And it is said that Wibel was dismissed because he refused to permit a shady deal cooked up by Harry Bennett. Albert M. Wibel was born in 1886 on his father's farm about four miles east of the town of Peru, Indiana. This was a relatively small but rich-soiled farm of Wabash river bottom close to the little town of Rich Valley. When he was three or four years old, his family moved into the city of Peru, where he attended the very early grades of school. When he was about eleven or twelve years old, the family moved farther north into Wells County near Buffton, Indiana. There he received his later grade school and high school education. Wibel went directly into teaching after high school. He made enough money to attend Indiana University at Bloomington during spring and summer terms. He finished his university work in the spring of 1912. He did not fully intend to quit teaching, but a friend at college had just purchased a new Model T Ford, which was indeed an intriguing contraption, and Wibel was curious to see how it was made. That meant going to Detroit. Wibel arrived in Detroit on May 2, 1912, and went to visit the Ford Motor Company that same day. He was introduced to John R. Lee of the Sociological Department, who asked Wibel where he came from and what he wanted to do. Lee then brought in Oscar Bornholdt, who was in charge of the Engineering Procurement Office. Wibel emphasized his university work and his special interest in mathematics, including calculus. Bornholdt's response was, "College education ought to be worth something." * From Charles E. Sorensen, My Forty Years with Ford (New York: W. W. Norton, 1956), p. 71. 281 Henry's Lieutenants Wibel started work the next day, a Saturday morning. He was to receive seventy-five dollars per month and was surprised to receive a full day's pay for that morning. He worked under Bornholdt on the procurement of machine tools, needing to know where machines were needed, when they needed to be delivered, and what they would cost. With Model T production schedules being increased dramatically from 400 per day to 700, to 1,000, to 1,500, keeping up with machine requirements was a colossal task. Wibel's decisions had to dovetail with plans of machine designers, building layout superintendents, and supplier capabilities. Some algebra may have been quite useful. Ford Motor Company stressed the design and use of highly specialized machines for very specific purposes. Ford executives wanted, for example, not a lathe that would do ten different operations but rather a lathe that would do one operation ten times as fast. In 1913, Wibel decided to enter law school. With his previous credits , he would be able to receive a degree in three years. The evening course required his attendance five nights a week, considerably more time than he had expected to spend. But he managed both his night courses and his daily work at Ford by keeping very busy. Wibel received his bachelor of laws degree from the Detroit College of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1916. In the Detroit City Directory, Wibel is listed as a clerk boarding at 121 Highland Street in 1914, but following his graduation from law school, he is listed as a lawyer living with his wife, Ada, at 103 Charlotte Avenue. Next they lived at 142 Collingwood, and in 1921 they were residing at the better address of 1747 Longfellow, where Wibel, listed as a machinist, lived with his family until 1930. The Wibels had four children, two girls and two boys. At work, Wibel became assistant to Fred Diehl, who was in charge of all purchasing for Ford Motor Company. With the expansion of the Rouge plant, Wibel's activities soon grew to involvement in many transactions beyond machinery buying. His office correspondence reveals that he was called upon to negotiate the purchase of a variety of raw materials such as iron ore, coal, limestone, and sand for glass—items ranging from 12,000-ton...