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workplaces were reorganized so that groups of machines could be separatelypowered by electric motors, however, manufacturers began to realize the fullpotential of electricity to improve productivity. Over time, electric power wasincorporated into more and more elements of the modern factory. Somehave argued that the process may be repeating itself today with computers.As modern businesses learn to use computers to change the way they operate,they can find new ways to optimize business procedures and increaseproductivity.At other times during the century, technological advances in basicindustrial products such as oil dramatically increased productivity andoutput, by expanding the scale at which firms could operate their plants.But some of the largest firms also formed combinations, like the StandardOil trust, to limit competition. Concern about the market power of someof these large new industrial combinations led to passage of two of the cornerstonesof public policy toward competition. The Sherman Antitrust Act(passed in 1890) governing anticompetitive actions by monopolies and theClayton Act (passed in 1914) governing mergers remain the basis ofantitrust law today.The automobile, too, had made its appearance by the end of the 19thcentury, but it remained a high-priced luxury item until Henry Ford builtthe first automobile assembly line in 1913. Ford’s innovation revolutionizedthe way cars were manufactured. Mass production of the Model T allowedFord to offer, on an unprecedented scale, a product that combined relativelyhigh quality with a dramatic reduction in cost. It made automobiles availableto millions of American consumers for the first time. As increasing numbersof people bought the newer, cheaper cars, Ford continued to invest in hisfactories, increasing their efficiency and realizing huge economies of scale.Greater scale, in turn, allowed Ford to lower the cost of his automobiles stillfurther and sell even more. By the early 1920s the Ford Motor Companydominated sales of automobiles in the United States, with a market share of56 percent. Ford’s dominance was short-lived, however, as other manufacturers,with newer models and innovations of their own, adapted theirproduction processes following Ford’s example. They were able to effectivelycompete with Ford by satisfying consumer demand for variety. Ford’sinnovation had a number of implications far beyond the automotive industry:it helped make America a more mobile society, for example. But perhapsthe most important outcome for the economy as a whole was that othermanufacturers in other industries soon copied the assembly line concept. Theimpact of this spillover from Ford’s idea to other industries was enormous:mass production proved an economically efficient way to produce a vastrange of other consumer products.Chapter 3 | 101