Trip Through Time The Ford River Rouge Plant
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- Опубликовано: 29 мар 2024
- In this video, I provide a high level overview of the historic Ford River Rouge Plant and the Moving Assembly Line that Henry Ford and his engineers perfected. While Olds did actually invent the assembly line, Ford, maximized it for the production of his famous Model T and put the world on wheels.
This video shows historic film footage of many aspects of this massive facility including, its steel foundry, glass making, steel fabrication, and assembly line work to eventually build a complete vehicle. 
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I toured the Rouge plant with a group of boy scouts and saw the 1949 car being built. We started at a chassis and the complete car was waiting for us at the end of the tour! We were told everything in the car was made there except the tires! It was an awesome experience! John Hicks
I bet that was really something to see first hand! Thanks for sharing!
When I was in the Boy Scouts (Chicago area) we visited a Dial soap manufacturing plant. Better yet, we then visited the Mars candy plant. And we were each given a box of candy bars (I think they were Milky Ways). Of course, nothing as immense as the River Rouge plant.
Sweet...@@trainliker100
I toured the Rouge plant in 2005. I was amazed at how clean the place was. The last I had toured a car factory was 1973. I couldn’t believe the difference.
Use to deliver and pickup at Ford Rouge Plant am awesome experience .
This is when our country was a manufacturing king, those days are long gone it's a shame we can't do that anymore Somewhere we lost our way.
We were a manufacturing giant back then.
Since about 1980, USA over-produced attorneys which caused all else to be under-produced. "Regulatory overburden" feeds the ever-growing hordes of attorneys while killing America.
A Single Plant Employed "80,0000 men" Now a Plant has a couple thousand .. Robots & Computers .. You dreaming of a past world ..
Yep ! Politicians for there Greed *ked us ALL & our Country !
Iron ore in one end. Finished cars out the other. Simply amazing.
Couldn't agree more!
The Japanese were amazed when they first toured the Rouge plant.they "borrowed" their JIT just in time concepts from the Rouge plant. What you also see in the video is a very high level of gaging and metrology used. As well as very advanced automation for the time,
Literally making things from dirt
This makes me want to cry. As a machinist in the 90s and 00s I watched industry die all around me. I lived in Dayton Oh. It was the #2 or 3 center of industry, invention, machining and mfg for the whole country. Big GM town. Delphi, Wright Patt airforce base. National cash register. The list is almost endless. Its a mere shell of its former self now. We make nothing anymore. I watched NAFTA put a real hurting on our industry too.
Great video. Thanks for sharing.
We were a manufacturing giant at one juncture. Now? I see good things with tech but many jobs are gone forever.
A country that makes nothing won't last. We as a nation are done and nobody even cares.
Absolutely agree. We rely way too much on foreign countries for what we need. Especially China. That's crazy. It's so very sad when you think about what we once were in manufacturing. 😢
NAFTA and Deregulation sucked the U.S Dry like Ross Perot said it would ........
@@stuartjohnston4353 Could have not said it Better my self ..........
This film must have been done in 1938. The '38 Ford Deluxe is what was being built on the assembly line when filmed. The grill is quite distinctive for that year.
I believe you are correct as it sure does look like a '38 Deluxe.
Thanks! I was trying to find when this was filmed.
Detroit could build anything for 😢
Thanks
When you got off work, you know you put in a good day's work.
Yes indeed!
Working at that plant would have been horrible.
@@theguythatcouldfly nah at the time it was state of the art facility probably a great job for the time...back then ppl werent as soft as they are now lolol
@@inevitable178 Depends. In the 20s it really was cutting edge. By the 40s conditions were terrible and pay had not increased in a decade.
@@glenchapman3899 well yeah 40 years after it opened lol
dear viewers, don't let that music fool you! i work in a steel mill and i can tell you the noise level hovers from 60 to right around 110 decibels. when that furnace drops a charge into the furnace the rumble and noise is a exhilarating experience if youve never been close to it and that sheet steel rolling through the mill roars like constant hammer on a sheet metal table. its just unreal how much noise these production processes make!
I am sure the noise was near deafening!
@@kensmithgallery4432 What?
🤣🤣🤣@@doublecutter
Did you or your plant catch on fire or get burned?
back in the mid 70s our class in middle school( i'll say 6th grade) took a tour of the plant. i still remember the heat and the sheet steel part.
Wow even for todays standards that plant even in the 30s was way ahead of it time. How in the hell did they engineer all those machines to build products in a massive scale with no computer just pure intelligence a pen and a draft table. Just blows me away and all American made ! Having been a auto tech and working in the dealer ships flat rate this job would flat wear your body out and turn you into a crippled old man quick. I bet by the time they were in their 40s the body was shot ?Love the video the way things were and they way things will never bee again American made with Pride and Craftsmanship
Glad to hear you enjoyed the video!
"no computer just pure intelligence a pen and a draft table"If you knew how to design things you'd know you do it exactly the same with.. but with "digital" drafting tools... the concepts, design, and how to area all the same. A computer is not some grand enabler in designing something..
@@HandFromCoffin Sad all that Old School intelligence is long gone never to be back went out with Honor and Integrity
The plant was state of the art at the time, look at a late 1930s GM plant and it is very crude by comparison.
It was called a slide rule, a compulsory tool for any engineer, technician, or scientist until the 1970s. Logarithms were used a lot in those days along with scientific notation. Electronics have made people soft. It was the Golden Age of pocket protectors and horn rimmed glasses. Spreadsheets, actual ones. And rows upon rows of drafting tables with well trained professionals in white shirts and black ties. And cigarettes and coffee. And armies of cheerful secretaries. 🙂I'm in awe too. Building the skyscrapers and big dams and American Industry in that Art Deco era. They wore cool hats too and dressed better in general.
All that equipment must have been state of the art then , so high tech , so much work just to make the factory to start with .
It was state of the art back in its day!
I took the full tour of this plant when I was 12 years old in 1964. Henry built every part of his cars. All the glass had Fomoco etched on to it too. At the time I had no idea what that meant till I took this tour.😮
Fords were literally made like baking from scratch. Only Ford grew the wheat, the yeast and everything else it took to do it.
It is pretty amazing when you think about it! Thanks for commenting and watching!
Vertical integration…
@@dennisyoung4631Well before that was a business school catch phrase.
This was fun! I worked there in the 70's & loved every minute of it.
Iron ore going in one end & new Mustang 2's going out the other.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Did a commissioning on a press there. Wall full of all the car frames made there on the wall. They were don9ing a foundation for one of the 800-ton presses, every hour they'd lift the backhoe in the 30 foot deep hole because it kept sinking, Rouge plant was built on a swamp.
I'm sorry your legacy involves the Mustang II. :( At least the rack & pinion steering racks were used later in hotrods!
You mean you slept for Ford. UAW, U ain't working
Mustang II was a waste of good steel.
Now we make virtually nothing. A society of computer people and service workers.
We definitely do not have that type of industrialization anymore.
@@kensmithgallery4432And people like us who spend our spare time commenting about it on social media
The sad part is that you can't build such an outfit today in America! Too much government regulation, as well as the the envirocreeps. Then we cry about the lack of good jobs! Bring the jobs home! Nope, can't do that because they can't build that kind of plant here anymore.
That kind of plant used to be a matter of pride for a city to have.(jobs, taxes, infrastructure) But today, they like to talk about not having such a place in their city! Like it's some kind of disease to build a factory.
These same folks then complain about not having jobs in their town! Really? Then build the factory! Nope, the enviros won't allow it! Then just who runs things? The city father's? Or the worthless bunny huggers?
Tell the bunny huggers that they have to pay for each job they just cost the city! It comes out of YOUR pocket! Then we'll see just how much they love their furry friends! Just a thought.
@@Robbie-sk6vc Lack of corporate responsibility and government regulation is precisely what gave us the East Palestine, OH disaster, champ. Same goes for the oil industry’s multitudinous oil spills ( Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, Colonial Pipeline), tens of thousands of deaths and much more to come from asbestos, and lest we forget - leaded gasoline that poisoned the air until 1998… the idea that “enviros” and government are the reason we don’t have manufacturing jobs like we did 50 years ago is absurd; it has more to do with corporate boardrooms pushing trade agreements like APEC & NAFTA that allow them to outsource manufacturing overseas or to Canada & Mexico. Why not go after trade unions while you’re at it, since you’re wrong about everything else you’ve posted already
@@Robbie-sk6vc Sure we can, if people will take 5 bucks a day to work there.
Put off watching this for 2 weeks. I have visited the Rouge (don't go, it will make you cry) and read just about everything about it. Thought this might be nonsense. The footage is excellent, and narration is perfect.
If the Boys at the Rouge could go back and watch an Egyptian Pyramid being built, OR, a good group of Egyptian engineers could come forward and observe a day at the Rouge? Who do you think would be more impressed? Don't hate it, because it is American. The River Rouge Ford Plant at full operation was an astounding human achievement. For all mankind, like the Apollo moon landing. It inspires you to think we can do anything! Humans are just incredible.
(the lunch wagon footage was new to me. Fantastic!)
Excellent comment! Thanks for sharing and watching!
Love the guy at 30:27 spraying a pesticide (possibly DDT) in a hand held sprayer in the Ford community garden…
Thanks for watching!
I'm happy to see so much manufacturing starting to move back to the US now!
Me too! Thanks for watching!
This is what helped win WWII....
It sure did!
yep , GPW's came out of this plant by hundreds of thousands.
Nodody won WWII... Except the bankers, whom engineered it all, as always.
ALL wars are bankers' wars. Wise up, folks.
I grew up seeing those stacks from my house in the 1960’s. What an exciting time to be a kid. Now Ford has scaled down that amazing plant into something not easily seen from my old home in Dearborn.
I'm sure you have seen lots of changes over the years there. Thanks for sharing and watching!
That definitely was an all in one manufacturing facility. That’s quite the documentary.👍👍
Thanks for commenting and watching!
Henry ford was absolute genius
He sure was!
Thank you for sharing, I’m 52 years old and I loved this
My pleasure! Thanks for commenting and watching!
I just flew over the Rouge plant yesterday coming home from Northern Michigan….quite a sight it was…😊.
Oh wow!
One of the nine big "Gasteam" engine/generators they used is now on display at the Henry Ford museum. 82 feet long, 46 feet wide, 750 tons. If you like the industrial stuff you see here, you will VERY likely enjoy visiting that extremely large museum.
It is a great museum and I did a video on that too! Thanks for commenting and for watching!
Whats amazing is seeing those round circles of usage loads on paper charts. We had those even up to 2000 in the water pumps for public water. It gave use a record of the PUMP running and how far down the water draw was in casing. Great information on recording water and pump usage in 24 hour periods. That and the GMP total pump time on the huge pumps we used to fill elevated water storage tank.
Amazing!
That was beyond awesome. Henry Ford was a truly amazing man. I’m not sure how people survived working on the line for years, but thankfully robotics do a lot of that work now. But for this era, everyone really came together to do outstanding work. Really amazing. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks so much for subscribing, commenting, and watching!
Rotating tasks...
those iron ore cranes are called huletts we had them here in cleveland ohio
Wow! Thanks for sharing that information!
yes and the operator is inside the bucket
those hulett unloaders moving is like a ballet...
It sure is!
Today the government won't even build a power plant or update the electric grid.Traitors everywhere.
I understand how you feel. Thanks for watching!
I used to haul black iron steel coils out of the mill there every day in the 80's, Mustangs were made there, car frames, had its own rail yard (Ford locomotives) massive place. Even the industrial overhead pictures of Detroit show the Rouge plant. Left Detroit 30 years ago all the auto industry gone now sad.
I bet it was amazing to see in its day!
That is such an amazing and interesting video highlighting what the US was capable of. It literally was on another level in terms of achievement. I never want to be the “glass half full” type of person however I can’t help but think of 1999 powerhouse explosion at this same site and how the leadership of this once great company had degraded from when this video was made. Thank you so much for sharing this historic, inspiring and rare film gem.😀👍
Times have certainly changed for sure but yes, it was still amazing for its time! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks for posting this, I remember watching something similar in school back about 1960...
You're welcome! Thanks for watching and for commenting!
Unbelievably awesome...If you think that the Model T or Model A is piece of mechanical genius, the whole Rouge plant is a machine designed and built by a genius ~ HENRY FORD! Now that's a fantastic machine!
Well said! Thanks for watching!
Absolutely, the scale and scope of this entire operation is mind boggling !.. I honestly can't fathom the engineering and labor involved to bring a facility like this into fruition. Truly amazing.
Absolutely unbelievable. I’ve toured the current Dearborn Truck Plant but it’s nothing like the old days. Proud to have owned Mustangs built at the old Dearborn Assembly and trucks built at the new plant.
Nice! Thanks for watching!
Nothing much changed in the production of cars. Apart from humans have been replaced by computers and robots. Thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome and thanks for watching!
Three generations of my family where employed there.
I got a live tour in the 60,s it was amazing to see
I bet that was awesome!
Ford even made their own glass and it amazed me it was laminated as well. Maybe that was for the luxury models, because my first 3 Fords Taunus/Cortina in the '70s all had hardened glass. Had one broken once, what a mess it was.
Thank you for this upload, it was a joy to watch.
I was amazed at his glass manufacturing as well. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Only the windshield is laminated on most older cars. The side and rear are tempered safety glass that is designed to break into thousands of tiny pieces
I toured this plant in the late 70's when I lived in Clinton Twp, MI. It was amazing. I can still remember watching the slabs of steel being turnined into rolls of sheet metal. Watched Mustangs and Carpris going down the same line..
I bet it was amazing to see and hear!
The American built Capri was discontinued in 1959. From 1968 to 1986 they were brought back, but imported from Europe. I had a 1974 Capri and it was assembled in West Germany. It was 100% metric. It was a great car except for excessive oil leaks and it rusted faster than any other vehicle I've ever owned before or since. It had a 2.8 liter V6 motor and could really scoot. Four on the floor manual tranny. I drove it for eight years and put over 120,000 miles on it.
@@petestahnke175 Hmmm. so what did I see going down the line simutaneously with Mustangs. Mavricks? Pintos? I may be confused. They were assembling two different but similar cars when I was there in 78 or 79
@@MrArtVendelay Just an initial quick Google search indicates it may have been the Cougar (believe it or not). I just got your reply notification, I'll look harder this evening.
@@MrArtVendelay My apologies. From 1979 until 1986, they would have indeed been Capris. They were imported from 1970 until 1978, NOT from '68 -'86. They continued to be made in Europe until '86, but only for the European market. The Capris built from '91 to '94 were made in Australia and also not imported. Sorry to have caused confusion. Your memory is very good.
The most MODERN design, manufacturing and machines available (from about 90 years ago)
These are the people, engineers, workers and factories which built much of the USA... It's sad to see how much industrial capability has been Lost in the US, as the country's businesses have focused on High-tech & computers, while dismantling or abandoning heavy industry.
I completely understand how you feel. Thanks for commenting and watching!
A testament of American industrial might!
Absolutely!
My great grandfather worked there in the steel division until the early 60s
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I grew up on Grand River and Shaefer , went on school field trips to River Rouge, Fisher Body and American Motors Assembly.
That sounds awesome. Thanks for watching!
Absolutely incredible and not a computer in sight🤠👍
I know! Amazing to see!
To the best of my knowledge, this is the most mind boggling single industrial complex ever. It’s a slight exaggeration, but largely dirt in one end, finished autos out the other, and everything in between produced on site. Unlike anything else I ever heard of.
I would have loved to seen it in person. Thanks for watching!
Grew up in River Rouge through the late 70s through 1990, Ann visger elementary school
My Grandfather worked there for 39 years. I worked at the Wixom plant for a minute after I got out of the Army.
Thanks for sharing!
The '38-'40 Ford Coupes were some of the most beautiful mass-produced cars ever built. Edsel Ford doesn't get enough credit for saving Ford in the 30s.
Those sure are beautiful cars! Thanks for watching and for commenting!
Back in the day when the man could work and support a large family. How did we get where we are today?
You have to wonder 🤔
Oh I know…. Libtard Democrats…. That’s how
Government?
We went from a frugal society to a must have the latest and greatest society regardless of cost. The only form of home entertainment back then was a good radio or phonograph. Many relied on public transportation instead of buying a car. Watch the Honeymooners, that was how majority of workers lived, in a small apartment.
Thanks for posting. If you're able to edit sound, consider turning it up. I had to turn my volume up to hear the video, then down for each of the ~12+ commercial breaks.
Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why it does that but I am unable to adjust the sound.
My Grandfather was a tool and die man there. Worked 3rd shift his whole time there..
Thanks for sharing!
awesome-
Thanks 🤗
@@kensmithgallery4432 MERIKA!!!!
At one time they had coal, iron, rubber and wood coming in one end and model T's rolling out the other. ❤
So true!
I was there on a field trip, I think it was the 7th grade from Point Place Junior High, in Toledo, OH, and the most prevalent memory was the white hot raw steel coming out of the furnace!
Nothing like it in the US anymore, it was awesome, raw materials entered one end, then complete automobiles emerged from the other, not quite, but close enough!
Thanks for sharing and for watching!
I can't believe they actually had their own complete steel mill!!!😮
I know!
Still do. Only now it's owned by Cleveland Cliffs Company. I work at the Blast Furnace. Been here 26 years.
Back when we made things
indeed!
Great historic video.. Love it! NOTICE that No one wears Gloves wile doing this work! Today everyone on U Tube wears gloves to do anything.? Says something about how tuff we used to be..
Indeed it does!
I'd like to remind all the folks who are "sad" and want to "cry" that there are currently forty-five auto assembly plants in the U.S. There are eleven GM and eight Ford plants alone. Maybe you won't find blast furnaces or molten steel casting works in any of them (they don't need them anymore), but they are still cranking out millions of cars every year.
Thanks for watching!
And what about the people who designed the building, the tool, people who made the tools, the assembly line order,method of assembling the parts, the order in which way to join the parts together, the maintenance and tool makers to keep the machines running, the office staff and so on.
Absolutely! There is no way to fully mention the complexity of this massive facility. Great talking points! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I dont think Ford could have done this today with all the regulation, taxes, and red tape we have now.
I agree!
Cool I was listening to Elon musk say why he was able to make electric cars more affordable than all the other people is because he had adopted Ford original design of in-house manufacturing, and he said this was what was making him excel above all all other electric car makers, This was a really cool video to watch. Thank you very much.
I am so glad you enjoyed it!
@@kensmithgallery4432 yes thank you very much I appreciated it
@@pathtopeaceministry6777Those giant forges that Tesla use are amazing. They combine aluminium die casting with high pressure forging to produce front and rear ends with fewer parts, welds and fasteners. Reduces manufacturing time, materials used and overall weight.
No other manufacturers are doing anything like that at all.
Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
People worked with pride back then
Indeed they did!
The assembly line waits for no one.
It sure doesn't!
Loved it.
Thanks so much!
I work for Nicholson dock and terminal and went to the Ford River rouge plant for work on there of Ford's ship's the Benson the Henry and the breach were there name's. That was back in 1979.
Thanks for sharing and for watching!
Great video, thanks for sharing. Imagine how much today's renewable energy it would take to power this machinery. Somehow I don't think it would get anywhere close? 🤔
Great point!
Looking at what they had to do to build a car back then, no machine aids to lift parts, or all the automatic screw drivers and ratchets, everything was done by hand. They worked hard back then. Todays car workers haven't a clue what it was like to build a car. Stick them back in that time and they would have a melt down and quit. It was amazing how Ford created everything for their cars, Ford even had rubber farms to make the tires and hoses with. I doubt there would be any car company today that could do all their own components with all the electronics in them. Looking back, it is understandable why engines didn't last as long, they were basically all hand made, today they are pretty much all done by computers and machines, and they last 3-4 times as long if not longer. My Ford Flex has 176,000+ miles on its 3.5 Ecoboost and it runs just as good as it did when new, and it is 10 years old, not a drop of oil burned, and lots of power. Ford pioneered the assembly lines, and this video shows it all.
Some great talking points!
The Ford automobile was named after Mr. Henry Ford of Detroit, Michigan who pioneered the assembly line method of automobile manufacturing.
Indeed it was!
This was the first I heard of this. You should start your own RUclips channel. It was really named after Henry Ford? BTW, I've always wondered who is buried in Grant's Tomb. Do you know who that is?
2:30 Hulett ore unloaders in action.
those are awesome!
Love these old shows with that music. Lots of automation here which really is just the forerunner for robots for all the people bitching here.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
The Charles Sheeler photographs record a more impressive view of the Rouge complex.
Thanks for watching!
Love the Huletts
Me too!
The problem was that the employees didn’t know how good they had it
Sometimes you have to lose something to appreciate it.
You should add the beautiful Charles Sheeler photos and Precisionist paintings.
His work was amazing!
Been through there many times
Nice!
Can you imagine the size and scale of that place.
Could you imagine the cost of maintaining everything in working order lol
Its amazing to think about it! Thanks for watching!
Unbelievable!
This was before Ford had recognized the UAW.
Indeed. Thanks for watching!
Those were the days!
Indeed they were!
Indeed they were!
We have parts for a car made in 10 different countries now. They make them so we have no hope of fixing them without removing the bodies first, or having a way to drop an engine out the bottom. We are better off now how? Spare us the ,"oh they last longer" are more fuel efficient bs. The modular efficiency of resources brought to one plant and being finished there to an end product, saved so much in transportation and logistic. Being able to repair is Eco friendly.
Thanks for watching!
At 14:27 this is the example of the term BLUE COLLAR worker and WHITE COLLAR supervisor.
Indeed!
Turning the earth’s resources into comfort and convenience for an ever-increasing number of humans. How long could that be continued?
Thanks for watching!
Brand new for 38. Handsome automobiles
Indeed they were!
Jesus, by today's standards and methodologies, those things were practically hand built back then.
Yep, they sure were!
One version of hell if you had to work there. Like Dante’s Inferno. My God. Talk about soul-killing work….😱🙏😡
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for watching!
Real American strength!
Indeed we were a superpower!
Incredible video. But what mind numbing repetitive work. Can you imagine working there for 30 years?
I'm sure it was mind numbing. Thanks for watching!
I can't imagine that the engine block casting procedure is much different in 2024.
Other than more automation maybe. Thanks for watching!
I worked there for a spell in the late 1970s. It’s good to know that the car companies dumped quality control for Quality Assurance. Smart move.
Thanks for watching!
I am pretty sure that job of weighing each piston got automated a long time ago!
I'm sure it did.
if ford is making a v8 an chevy only has a straight 6.no wonder dillenger car of choice was a ford.he even wrote ford a letter telling them how much he loved that v8
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for watching!
The absolute greatest time for the majority of Americans
It sure seems that way! Thanks for watching!
i loved the video wood bee sweat to see in real life
I bet it would have been sweet to see! Thanks for watching!
Truly the way we were 🇺🇸👍. Sadly, NOT the way we are today 😕
Thanks for watching!
!938 Ford Deluxe Sedan assembly line - right ? Ford guys will know for sure. I'm not a true Ford guy, a just love of cars in general & car assembly plants for me
You are correct! Thanks for watching!
Great find but can ya fix the sound level please.
Thanks for mentioning it.
By the time I got to blast furnace and coke ovens in 78 79 those old Huletts where the operator rides the bucket in and out of the hold where gone. the boats were self unloaders . now C furnace is the only one left. and great lakes and Ecorse are gone.
Thanks for commenting!
Very Good!... #18 ✝ {4-4-2024}
Thanks so much!
I want to see how or where it once stood today.
Some of it is still there being used even today. The Ford trucks are built at the Rouge plant and you can tour that facility through the Henry Ford Museum.
52 types of steel??!!! holy hell
it's insane!
Basically all made in Mexico now. Liked the film though, bean counters are job#1 @ Ford now.
Glad you liked the film! Thanks for watching!
They forgot the touchscreen airbags battery pack and electric motors!
And the heated seats and mirrors! Thanks for watching!
Good video but they left out an important step, the electrical wiring harness?
Great point!
I have always wondered if the guys hand hammering frames and rivets together were hard of hearing after a couple days on the line ?
I'm sure they were!