Fords Rouge river plant

[Eaturbo]

Watched a doco on TV today about how Henry Ford revolutionised the moving assembly line. He basically designed and brought to life the moving assembly plant and every other manufacturer in the world copied it. The Rouge river plant made its own steel, glass and Tyres. They showed the iron ore and sand coming in by boat and being unloaded where they made there own raw steel and glass. Also made there own Tyres.

A few links
https://www.thehenryford.org/rouge/historyofrouge.aspx
http://www.wearethepractitioners.com...9/15/the-rouge
http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2...r-rouge-plant/

Plus there's many more if you search google. Henry Ford also helped the American Air Force to build bombers at 10 times the rate they were which helped them win world war 1. They say when the Air Force asked him to help he was getting old and grumpy and said either I build the whole thing or nothing as I don't build half a car. It's so nice to be part of a brand that is still making world firsts and was the true company that started the motor vehicle as we know it.

It was interesting to hear that he was building cars 100 times faster than he first did so dropped the price from $850 to $350. He also was paying $5 a day which was twice what any other job was paying. They say that people from all over America were moving to the area to get a job at the plant as it was great money and you only worked a 5 day week and had money and time on weekends to spend with family. He really was a visionary and a great man and it's great to see the Ford family still working at the company. Henry Ford really was a lot smarter than I realised and achieved a lot. He must have been worth a lot of money when you look at what he built and owned.

[scotty_dee]

Watched that documentry too the other day, but there was a dark side to Henry Ford too that obviously the documentry didn't mention. Don't get me wrong, absolute brilliant man and revolutionized the world. Have a lot of respect for him. There's a few great books out there that are worth a read and a real insight to the inner workings of Henry Ford and FoMoCo in the early days, both good and bad.

[commodorenutt]

Ford dropped the price to $390 compete with the H-series Chev, known as the "490" when it was released because of it's $490 price - when the T was selling for $495. And it was a far better car than the T, and the most successful opponent the T had.
From that point on, Chevrolet saw massive growth during the period the T remained in production, but still only managed to take a small chunk of their market.

As far as the moving production line, it wasn't Ford's invention.
GM bought Oldsmobile in 1908 to capitalise on their moving line mass-production technique - invented and put into practice just after 1900. It was that same year - 1908 - that Ford even commenced with their own moving line (rumour has it Oldsmobile was offered to Ford, but he declined, as they wanted too much money for the process).

But even though Oldsmobile were the first to put it into practice, Ford perfected it & refined it further.

[Rob 351]

I am going to the US late next month & we have set aside a couple of days in Dearbourn to take in the Henry Ford Museum & do the Rouge tour where they make the F150. Just go to google maps & have a look at how big this place is in Detroit. It is totally amazing!

[Eaturbo]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

Ford dropped the price to $390 compete with the H-series Chev, known as the "490" when it was released because of it's $490 price - when the T was selling for $495. And it was a far better car than the T, and the most successful opponent the T had.
From that point on, Chevrolet saw massive growth during the period the T remained in production, but still only managed to take a small chunk of their market.

As far as the moving production line, it wasn't Ford's invention.
GM bought Oldsmobile in 1908 to capitalise on their moving line mass-production technique - invented and put into practice just after 1900. It was that same year - 1908 - that Ford even commenced with their own moving line (rumour has it Oldsmobile was offered to Ford, but he declined, as they wanted too much money for the process).

But even though Oldsmobile were the first to put it into practice, Ford perfected it & refined it further.

Be interested to know where you found that info as I can't find anything other than That Ford was first. Happy to be corrected but everything I can find points to Ford being first. Any links to support this info?

[last fairlane]

Yes I saw that doco but it said that Ford were building B24s in 1940
that made it the second world war not WW1 also that Ford were knocking
out one B24 every hour (58 minutes precicely)working three shifts
amazing stuff all the same

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Be interested to know where you found that info as I can't find anything other than That Ford was first. Happy to be corrected but everything I can find points to Ford being first. Any links to support this info?

It's well known in the vintage Chev movement, with a number of club members collating historic info over many decades, and reproducing it in club magazines.

But if you want some links to browse, the first 3 results that pop up in google explain better than I can:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=oldsmobile+mass+production

[Dr Terry]

I believe the key word here could be MOVING.

It appears that the mass-production assembly line was an Oldsmobile initiative, but Henry Ford improved it by having the cars MOVE along past the workers, not the other way around.

Dr Terry

[tranquilized]

It's a fascinating history no doubt. This book is a great read, covers the Ford history in much detail;



It's been ages since I read it but I'll see if I can recall a few interesting facts with some accuracy;

In relation to the $5 day - Henry had a small "army" of thugs who would show up at employee's homes unannounced to ensure they were living a lifestyle that Henry Ford found acceptable. If not they could be fired, or their pay reduced. (Not every employee was on $5 a day)

The $5 day rate was well known, resulting in anyone wearing Ford overalls to be overcharged for many day to day items. In response Ford established stores within the plant to supply his workers with food etc at reasonable prices. Ford became the worlds biggest meat supplier.

Henry Ford was appointed head engineer at Cadillac before he started the Ford Motor Company.

Henry Ford nearly lost the company more than once, on one occasion resorting to selling everything he could including office furniture in order to save and take control of the company.

Henry was convinced the model T was all anyone would ever want from a car, and refused to develop an updated model for many years. Aware of how far behind the competition Ford were falling, a group of engineers developed a new car in secret in their own hours. Upon revealing the car to Henry Ford he reacted angrily and started smashing the car up!

There was definitely a dark side to Henry, he was basically insane when you look at some of his views and actions. Then again most people of such greatness usually are a bit crazy.

[Eaturbo]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

I believe the key word here could be MOVING.

It appears that the mass-production assembly line was an Oldsmobile initiative, but Henry Ford improved it by having the cars MOVE along past the workers, not the other way around.

Dr Terry

Yeah this looks to be the case. It says Olds started the idea of a production line but Ford invented an improved design which had a conveyor moving past the employees which ended up with the cars moving.

Still the whole scale of the plant was amazing. It had a cement factory making cement from old casting slag, it's own power station, a fertiliser plant, a hospital, a shop, tool and die section, pretty much everything you could think of.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

Yes I saw that doco but it said that Ford were building B24s in 1940
that made it the second world war not WW1 also that Ford were knocking
out one B24 every hour (58 minutes precicely)working three shifts
amazing stuff all the same

Willow Run Plant

[Eaturbo]

Yeah its sounds like Old Henry was a bit eccentric. But given that alot of famous inventors were well know to be like this, maybe he can be excused. Still an amazing man of which we will likely never see again given we have been thru the biggest industrial revolution in history and not likely to see anything like this again

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by tranquilized

It's a fascinating history no doubt. This book is a great read, covers the Ford history in much detail;

It's been ages since I read it but I'll see if I can recall a few interesting facts with some accuracy;

In relation to the $5 day - Henry had a small "army" of thugs who would show up at employee's homes unannounced to ensure they were living a lifestyle that Henry Ford found acceptable. If not they could be fired, or their pay reduced. (Not every employee was on $5 a day)

The $5 day rate was well known, resulting in anyone wearing Ford overalls to be overcharged for many day to day items. In response Ford established stores within the plant to supply his workers with food etc at reasonable prices. Ford became the worlds biggest meat supplier.

Henry Ford was appointed head engineer at Cadillac before he started the Ford Motor Company.

Henry Ford nearly lost the company more than once, on one occasion resorting to selling everything he could including office furniture in order to save and take control of the company.

Henry was convinced the model T was all anyone would ever want from a car, and refused to develop an updated model for many years. Aware of how far behind the competition Ford were falling, a group of engineers developed a new car in secret in their own hours. Upon revealing the car to Henry Ford he reacted angrily and started smashing the car up!

There was definitely a dark side to Henry, he was basically insane when you look at some of his views and actions. Then again most people of such greatness usually are a bit crazy.

I also believe that Henry Ford worked for (or with) Thomas Edison earlier on.

Dr Terry

[The Snout]

Not some of Henry's finest work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_International_Jew

The guy had vision and a lot of intelligence and built an icon. Didn't make him right all the time though.

Saw a doco on History Channel or some a year or two back. Despite the above the story is absorbing.

[scotty_dee]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

I also believe that Henry Ford worked for (or with) Thomas Edison earlier on.

Dr Terry

He was good friends with Edison, and Harvey Firestone also. That Wheels for the World book posted above is a brilliant read.

[Eaturbo]

Building a car factory today is a huge job but imagine building the Rouge plant back than. The fact that it was not just a car factory but a steel mill, a power station, a tyre factory, a shipping port, a glass factory, a transmission factory, an engine factory, a die and stamp making factory. It also had a section that did something with soybeans. They also had a tractor line. This was the biggest factory of its kind and they were doing it for the first time. No one has ever built anything of its size since.

[FPV0137]

Hahaha that anti jew pamphlet is hilarious! I'll have to try find a copy for a good read!

[commodorenutt]

He was also a tight-***. He had a set of plans for a plant, and rather than enlist a an architect/desiger for each site, simply copied the original set to build other plants. Hence why Geelong has a roof that can cope with the weight of 4 feet of snow.
Massively over-engineered (and expensive) for a mild climate, but handy in later years for mounting equipment.

[Eaturbo]

Haha that's funny, being a tight **** ending up being a wise move than. Funny building a factory that would cope with snow. What year was broady built as he died in 1947. No matter how you look at it, its still an amazing achievement and what other large scale car maker still has family involved.

[Eaturbo]

There must still be a few people alive that had met Henry personally. Would be good too hear there stories

[mr smith]

Great post, I love docos and books on the industrial leaders of the day. Original assembly line idea came from the meat works. Check out the George Westinghouse doco on You Tube. genius and some interesting info on Edison who maybe doesnt deserve the admiration he is awarded today.