We went on a tour of the River Rouge Factory yesterday, and it was, by far, one of the coolest things we've done since being in Detroit.
They make Ford F-150 trucks there, and it was amazingly impressive, and gave me a new found respect for Henry Ford and industrialization.
Here's Sophia running the halls of the Henry Ford while we waited for the bus to take us over to the factory.
She was very excited to go on the bus...
...and sing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round"
At the Factory
So before you go into the factory, they have some movies and stuff to watch about the history of Ford, and the whole process of how they make a car. But this is not your typical documentary experience. It is more like a ride at Universal studios. You are in these spinning chairs, with the movie around you 360degrees. There are points where they make the floor vibrate, blow up steam, rain down mist, and use strobe lights. It was crazy cool.
Things I learned about Henry Ford:
- He actually got his start by working in Thomas Edison's company, and they went on to become close friends
- He left Edison to start a car company, and failed and went bankrupt 2 times before being successful on the 3rd try
- the River Rouge factory was the first huge industrial factory of it's kind 1919 where they manufactured everything (iron, steel, etc.) on site- the birth of vertical integration
-It was originally 1.5 miles long, and 3/4 mile wide, with 100,000 employees (HUGE for 1919?!)
Inside the factory- it is HUGE, and we only got to see a small part.
Sophia's favorite part was the robots putting the windshields on the cars (so cool)
The assembly line is now over 3 miles long!!!
It is super intricate and well timed to maximize efficiency.
The Factory still makes everything it needs for the cars onsite, except steel.
The complex is now 2,500 Acres and has 600,000 workers.
I was also impressed with how clean and organized everything is.
There is also a big Green initiative there.
10.4 Acres of roof is dedicated "living roof"
Where the snow is, would normally all be plants.
And you can see the big solar panels everywhere.
Actually quite impressive.
Skyline of the complex.
(mostly steam coming out)
We got to see some classic cars at the end.
My favorite part?
Personally written Thank You letters from John Dillinger and Clyde Barrow (Bonnie & Clyde)- two of the greatest gangsters ever- thanking Henry Ford for making such a great get away car!
hahaha!
The final product- the F-150
Sophia was ready to drive it home today.
All in all, just so impressive. I would recommend ANYONE going to see this.
It is funny, because we are kind of 'granola' type of people, so I wouldn't expect us to necessarily enjoy this as much as we did. But you just can't see something so intricate and huge and not stand in awe of the power and creativity of Henry Ford.
No comments:
Post a Comment