Henry's Lieutenants

Charles Emil Sorensen

Charles Emil Sorensen 1881-1968 "In all the years I knew Sorensen, he was never a politician in the plant. He was a cold, aloof man, and never had any social relations with anyone in the company— myself included." —Harry Bennett * Aproduction genius and loyal servant of Henry Ford for thirty-nine years, Charles E. Sorensen is probably the best known of Ford's many lieutenants. His crowning achievement was design of the production layout of the mammoth Willow Run plant at Ypsilanti, Michigan, where giant B-24 bombers were produced during World War II at the phenomenal rate of one every hour. Charles Emil Sorensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 7, 1881. He was brought to the United States by his parents, Soren Sorensen and Eva Christine Abrahamson Sorensen, in 1885 and was naturalized through his father's citizenship. Grade-school education was provided in the Buffalo, New York, public schools. At that time, he had two sisters and one brother. At age fourteen, young Sorensen was working summers as a surveyor 's assistant, and at sixteen he was apprenticed full-time in foundry pattern making at the Jewett Stove Works, where, by studying drafting at night school, he quickly advanced to tool room and machine shop positions. By 1900, the family had moved to Detroit, where he was employed for a time as a pattern maker by the Art Stove Works. While a pattern maker for Bryant and Berry, Detroit machinists and foundrymen , in 1904, Sorensen met Henry Ford and agreed to accept a job as experimental pattern maker at the fledgling Ford Motor Company. Earlier in the same year, on July 30, 1904, Sorensen married Helen E. Mitchell, a bookkeeper for Sun Stove Company in Detroit. The Sorensens were to have one son, Clifford M. Sorensen. At Ford Motor Company, Sorensen went to work in the spring of 1905 at three dollars per day as assistant to Fred Seeman, boss of the * From Harry Bennett, We Never Called Him Henry (New York: Fawcett Publications, 1951), p. 28. 267 Henry's Lieutenants pattern department. As an experimental pattern maker, he could provide Ford with wooden models of proposed automotive parts. The models pleased Ford much more than corresponding blueprints which he could not decipher. Sorensen found that following Ford's instructions implicitly would lead to his success. By 1907, Sorensen was head of Ford's pattern department. During the development of the Model T in 1907, Sorensen, a conspicuously hard worker, had made sufficient impression on Ford to be made assistant superintendent of production under Peter E. Martin. With this increased authority, an almost tyrannical temperament emerged. Sorensen exhibited a very domineering, hard-driving, and explosive personality in the workplace. Ford did not mind these characteristics as long as production increased. Sorensen was particularly productive in foundry operations, where he had introduced several innovative procedures, including the casting of the one-piece, fourcylinder Model T engine block. His foundry expertise earned him the nickname "Cast Iron Charlie" throughout his forty years with Ford Motor Company. Sorensen was instrumental in Ford's 1911 purchase of the Keim Mills factory in Buffalo—Sorensen's home at one time. With this organization came such capable men as William Knudsen, John R. Lee, and William K. Smith. With other men at Ford, such as Clarence W. Avery, Martin, William C. Klann, and Peterson, Sorensen took part in establishing the first automobile final assembly line at Highland Park in October 1913. This highly publicized event was a joint development, with Avery and Sorensen most often given major credit. By 1915, Sorensen wielded about as much power in the factories as Martin, the production chief. When, early during World War I, the British government asked Ford to manufacture tractors in Britain, Sorensen was sent to England to plan the plant and specify the machinery necessary. In England, Sorensen established a friendly relationship with Sir Percival Perry, which would benefit both in the future. When the British found they could not furnish the workers, Sorensen was called back to Detroit to organize production of tractors in a new plant in Dearborn, very near Henry Ford's new home, Fair Lane. At that time, Sorensen also moved his family to Dearborn, building a large colonial home on the Rouge River a mile or so north of Fair Lane. At the Dearborn plant, Sorensen helped design the Fordson tractor and managed the production of thousands for both Britain and the United States before the war...