Within a year of Henry Ford’s introduction of the first modern assembly line at his factory near Detroit in 1913, the system had slashed the time to build a Model T Ford from 12.5 man hours to just 93 minutes.

A century later, industrial engineers are still trying to reduce the inflexibility in Ford’s system. The most eye-catching innovation is 3D printing, which could eventually make products as varied as Ford’s Model Ts were identical. But even now information technology is cutting waste and boosting flexibility in many forms of manufacturing.

General Motors’ Orion assembly plant, 30km north of Ford’s old Model T plant, was redesigned to maximise its efficiency. Workers installing wiring, pipes and other small parts now receive individual, tailored component kits just as the relevant car body arrives, providing far more flexibility to vary output.