An Analysis of Ford Motor Company and Manufacturing her Product

The first piece of material I gathered was a picture via the internet. This picture is of the River Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan. This picture shows the manufacturing of the fender for a Ford Motor Company product. It also shows the facilities of the Rouge plant and how the plant itself was state-of-the art.

This plant was the largest of its kind at the time of its construction. The Ford Motor Company was one of the leaders in labor relations at the time. This picture shows the size of the plant as well as the working conditions in the facility.

When viewing the photograph, you can see the array of pipes and collection devices to aid in the circulation of air and the collection of dust and other products made in the plant.

The next component I found is another picture of the interior of the Rouge plant. This picture is one of many conveyer belts in the plant. This belt moves engine parts from the engine assembly to the final assembly. Henry Ford was a pioneer in the use of the assembly line in the automobile industry, and the Rouge plant was the ultimate in that use of the assembly line. This photo shows the depth of the plant, which is able to manufacture all the components of the cars without having to ship parts to or from other locations in the country.

The next collection of photographs is of the exterior of the Rouge plant. These photos were obtained from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. These pictures are of the Rouge during the switch of all production from the Highland Park plant to the Rouge. It was also the time that the Model A was beginning production.

This collection shows examples of four exterior views of the plant, which allude to the many different factories within the Rouge plant. The Rouge was a steel mill, a foundry, a power producer, and an assembly line. This all-encompassing idea helped Ford delegate all aspects of the production of their product.

Along with the exterior, the interior showed the extent of the all-encompassing Rouge plant. The interior photographs, which were also cared for by the Henry Ford Museum, show more factories within the factory. For example, the four photos in this collection display metal forming and metallurgical operations. These pictures included forging, the blast furnaces, the removal of slag, and even salvaging scrap from metal ships.

The interior had two collections to view, and the second reaffirmed what the first portrayed. The second collection displays more metalworking production, including the hydraulic shear, which was used for sheet metal, the open hearth ladle, and the hearth building. These photos gave an impressive view of the inner workings of the Rouge plant.

As said before, the Rouge was the nation's largest manufacturing complex when it was built. An aerial photograph of the plant reaffirms that fact. The photo was taken in 1930, and you can see from the photo that the plant is very impressive. The caption that accompanies the picture gives an actual figure of the Rouge's square footage; the total is 6,952,484 square feet.

Before the Rouge plant, Ford's main manufacturing plant was Highland Park. The Rouge and Highland Park were similar in the way they utilized the assembly line to produce Ford products. Many collections of photos were found of the assembly line at Highland. One collection shows the final mating of the model T, which is similar to the final mating of the model A. Also the one-day production of the Highland Park plant, which was dwarfed by the Rouge plant's one-day production total.

The next collection of Highland Park photos displays the typical procedures for installing components in an automobile. Each of the four pictures shows the installation of the car. From the engine to the tires, the same principles that were used at Highland Park were used at the Rouge plant.

The final piece of material that was compiled through the search of the Internet and other sources was the National Historic Landmark of Michigan web page. This page has a link to an informational page on the Rouge plant. The plant has been a national landmark since 1978 and a Michigan landmark since 1976. Also listed on the site is the date the property was bought by Henry Ford and the date all production was shifted from Highland Park to the Rouge complex. A significant statement is given about the Rouge, the marvel of its creation, and the full integration of all aspects of automobile manufacturing to achieve vertical integration and self-sufficiency.

In conclusion, the River Rouge manufacturing complex in Dearborn, Michigan, was and is one of the great marvels of the early twentieth century. Henry Ford was the man who introduced the assembly line to the automobile industry, and the Rouge was his crowning achievement.

The major Internet sites used for this compilation were the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village home pages and the National Historic Landmark in Michigan home page.

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