Ford River Rouge Complex (commonly known as Rouge Complex or just The Rouge ) is a Ford Motor Company car factory complex located in Dearborn, Michigan, along the Rouge River, upstream from its encounter with the Detroit River on Zug Island. Construction began in 1917, and when completed in 1928, it was the largest integrated plant in the world.
It inspired the GAZ factory built in the 1930s in the Soviet Union, and then the Hyundai factory complex in Ulsan, South Korea, developed from the late 1960s. Designed by Albert Kahn, Rouge was designated the National Historic Landmark District in 1978 because its architecture and history are important to the industry and economy of the United States.
Video Ford River Rouge Complex
Structure
The Rouge measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide by 1 mile (1.6 km) long, including 93 buildings with nearly 16 million square feet (1.5Ã, kmÃ,²) of factory floor space. With its own dock on the dredged Rouge River, 100 miles (160 km) of interior rail lines, its own power plant, and an integrated steel plant, the Rouge titanic is able to convert raw materials into ongoing vehicles within this complex, a prime example of integration production vertical. More than 100,000 workers were employed there even during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Some Rouge buildings were designed by architect Albert Kahn. Her Rouge glass factory was thought of at that time as an exemplary and humane factory building, with plenty of natural light provided through the ceiling windows. Since the end of the 20th century, some buildings have been transformed into "green" structures with a number of eco-friendly features.
In the summer of 1932, through the support of Edsel Ford, Mexican artist Diego Rivera was invited to study the facilities at Rouge. These studies inform the set of mural known as the Detroit Industry, which has been on display continuously at the Detroit Institute of Arts since it was completed in 1933.
Maps Ford River Rouge Complex
Production
The first product of the Rouge was the Eagle Boats, a World War I anti-submarine warship produced in Building B. The original B building, a three-story structure, was part of the legendary Dearborn Assembly Factory, which began producing Model A by the end of the year 1920s. and resumed production until 2004. After the war, production shifted to the Fordson tractor. Although coke ovens and Rouge foundries produce virtually all parts of the Model T, the assembly of the vehicles remains at Highland Park. Only in 1927 car production began there, with the introduction of Ford Model A. Later Rouge products including Model B 1932, Mercury original, Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Capri, and Ford Mustang four decades. The old assembly plant has no construction and the launch of a new assembly facility on the side of the Miller Road complex, currently producing a Ford F-150 pickup truck.
River Rouge Complex produces most of Ford's vehicle components, starting with the Model T, where many vehicles are compiled into "knock-down kits", then shipped by train to various assembly locations across the United States for locally assembled. , using local labor and supplies as needed. After the 1960s, Ford began to decentralize manufacturing, build several factories in major metropolitan centers. Rouge downsized, with many units (including well-known stoves and docks) sold to independent companies.
On May 26, 1937, a group of workers attempting to organize a trade union at the Rouge was severely beaten, an event later called the Battle of the Highway. Peter E. Martin's respect for manpower led to Walter Reuther, a UAW leader, allowing Martin to be the only Ford manager to retrieve his letters or gain access to the factory.
In 1987, only the Mustang production remained in the Dearborn Assembly Plant (DAP). In 1987 Ford planned to replace the car with a Ford Probe front wheel drive, but public outrage quickly turned into a sales surge. With a successful fourth-generation Mustang, Rouge survived. Ford decided to modernize its operations. The gas explosion on February 1, 1999, killed six employees and injured two dozen others, resulting in idling power plants. Michigan Utility CMS Energy builds sophisticated Power Generation at Miller Road to replace electricity and steam production, as well as Blast-Furnace gas waste consumption from the original power plant After production ends, Dearborn Plantation Plant (DAP) is one of six factories at Ford Rouge Center. The factory opened from 1918 until May 10, 2004, with the 2004 2004 Ford Mustang GT 2004 convertible being the last vehicle to be built on a historic site. The demolition of the historic DAP facility was completed in 2008. What remains is 3,000 parking spots to withstand the production of light trucks from the new Dearborn Truck Factory.
Ford Rouge Center
Today, the Rouge site is home to the Rouge Ford Center. This industrial park includes six Ford plants in 600 acres (2.4 × km²), and steelmaking operations run by AK Steel, a US steelmaker. The newly renowned Dearborn truck plant features a vegetated covered roof and a rainwater reclamation system designed by the architects of William McDonough. The facility is still Ford's largest factory and employs about 6,000 workers. Mustang production, however, has moved to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan.
The tour at the Rouge complex is a long tradition. The free bus tour of this facility began in 1924 and lasted until 1980, at its peak to host approximately one million visitors per year. They returned in 2004 in collaboration with The Henry Ford Museum with multimedia presentations, as well as viewing the assembly floor. Ford Rouge Factory tour has 148,000 visitors by 2017.
Dearborn truck management has decided that no vehicles from other manufacturers are allowed to park in front of many key employees. Non Ford Family Vehicles are required to park behind 12 rows of parking lots. The hourly workers from Ford and AK Steel facilities in the complex are represented by UAW Local 600.
A fleet of three Great Lake-owned Great Lake exporters was originally named for the grandchildren of Ford or later, renamed to the company's top executives, based in the River Rouge Plant. When the ships were retired, one ship had been discarded, but the William Clay Ford SS deck was moved to a museum in Detroit's Belle Isle city park on the Detroit River and SS Benson Ford's decker. transported by crane barge to Put-In Bay, Ohio and placed on an 18-foot cliff as a private home on Lake Erie.
Renovated architecture
In 1999, architect William McDonough signed an agreement with Ford Motor Company to redesign the 85-year-old Rouge River facility, covering an area of ​​1,212 hectares. The 1.1 million-square-foot roof (100,000m 2 ) Dearborn truck assembly plant is covered with over 10 hectares (4.0 ha) of sedum, low groundcover. Sedum maintains and cleanses rainwater and moderates the internal temperature of the building, saving energy.
The roof is part of a $ 18 million rainwater treatment system designed to collect and clean rainwater every year, avoiding Ford from a $ 50 million mechanical maintenance facility.
Product currently created
- Ford F-150 (1948-current)
Former product created
- Ford Mustang (1964-2004)
- Mercury Capri (1979-1986)
- Mercury Cougar (1966-1973)
See also
- Ford Piquette Avenue Factory
References
External links
- River Rouge Factory Tour
- Photos from the Baja Rouge factory
- "Big Generator for Auto Plant Adds Giant Power" Popular Mechanics , September 1937, bottom left pg 374
- Movie clip "The Source of Ford Car Part 1 ca. 1932" is available on the Internet Archive
- The movie clip "Tour Through The Rouge Plant around 1939" is available on the Internet Archive
- Historical American Engineering Record (HAER) no. MI-325, "Steel Rouge Company, 3001 Miller Road, Dearborn, Wayne, MI"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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