August 18, 2017 Friday
Today we drove to Dearborn, MI for a factory tour of the Ford Rouge Plant and to visit the Edison Institute, better known as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Henry Ford’s love of history and innovation created a desire in Ford to create a place that would preserve the legacy of America’s great innovations and he named that place The Edison Institute in honor of his friend Thomas Edison who had encouraged Ford in the development of his automobile. Opened to the public in 1933, the Institute is comprised of The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, displaying American inventions and artifacts, and Greenfield Village, the first outdoor living history museum. The village consists of historical buildings that were moved to the property from their original locations to create a setting that would allow visitors to go back in time to learn more about how these inventions have shaped their lives.
The village, 255 acres of grounds included Edison’s Menlo Park, working farms, craftworks, a steam train, a Henry Ford Model T District, a Herschell-Spillman Carousel and so much more and the Ford Museum contains 26 million artifacts, needless to say, we were not going to be able to tour the factory and see all that we wanted at the village and museum. However, we saw what time permitted and would recommend this visit to all. To get the complete information be sure to visit their web site at: https://www.thehenryford.org
To tour the Ford Rouge Factory we took a 20-minute bus ride from the museum, at the visitor center we viewed two films, one about the history of Ford and the Ford Rouge Factory that was excellent and one that was a multimedia experience focused on the manufacturing of the F150, the only vehicle currently being produced at this plant. Rick loved it but it was much too loud for me to appreciate, I was crawling out of my skin by the time it was over.
The actual tour of the factory was self-paced and we were only allowed to take pictures from a sixth-floor viewing room that viewed the outside, not pictures of the workings of the factory. However, by talking to docents that were located throughout the factory we learned tidbits of information such as:
- The Dearborn Stamping Plant is so big that you could fit fifty football fields inside it.
- The Verson press can manufacture up to 720 parts per hour.
- Dearborn Assembly Plant was the birthplace of many famous Ford products, from WWI Eagle Boats to the hugely popular Ford Mustang.
- A new 2018 Ford F-150 rolls off of the assembly line every 60 seconds, every 47 seconds a new Ford F-150 is sold (the factory is always behind).
- Bill Ford Jr. the great-grandson of Henry Ford, is the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company
- The plant is named for the Rouge River the runs through the property.
- Since 2002, more than 1500 new trees have been planted at the Ford Rouge Center These trees, along with thousands of native plants, are transforming the area into a natural wildlife habitat.
- If you work there and are not driving a Ford family vehicle you are required to park in the back 12 rows of the parking lots.
- 6,000 people work there and 80 substitutes stand by for people who don’t show up or have to leave the factory floor. The substitutes have to be skilled in many different jobs.
We walked all around the assembly line, one floor above, watching as each truck progressed from just body parts to a complete truck…fascinating! The assembly line workers were a snapshot of America, male, female, black, brown, white, younger and older. They all combined to form a well-oiled machine to build beautiful trucks.
So much to see, so little time! We had a wonderful day, it was well worth the time and effort to get there.
