7/20 Ford Truck Plant Tour

I  am back in Detroit, so I decided to do some sightseeing.  I missed a few of the places I wanted to see, but I did have a long lunch with some friends I made at Ford before I started out traveling 12 years ago, and I also drove to Dearborn and took the tour of the Ford Rouge Truck Assembly plant that is offered through the Henry Ford Museum.  (Good parking for big vehicles at the museum, by the way.)   You have to purchase your tickets in the museum and a bus takes you to the plant.  There are two short videos and then you can walk a high catwalk through the final assembly of the vehicles at your own speed. 

Anyway, it is well worth the time and money, especially if you have never seen an assembly plant.  As part of my job working on training programs, I saw a lot of General Motors plants in the 90s, but things have gotten much more automated since then. 

Unfortunately, they do not allow photos to be taken of the actual assembly line, but at least I can show you part of the tour and describe the line.

First, here are the buses that take you to the plant. 

The Rouge Complex was begun by Henry Ford in 1917, and contained a foundry, assembly plant, and a lot of other Ford facilities.  The steel foundry where my grandfather worked was sold a few years ago and no longer makes steel, but it does produce stamped parts.  Here is a history of this complex:  https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/history-and-timeline/  

The Rouge has undergone a lot of changes over the years, and this truck plant is relatively new and uses the most modern methods Ford uses. 

This is the roof of the plant.  It is covered in grass and other plants to reduce heat and pollution.  Here is a good description of it:  https://theindexproject.org/post/ford-plant-green-roof

The tour follows the assembly of a truck from bare frame to adding the truck bed and cab parts.  At the end of the tour, you can see completed vehicles being tested and driven off the line.  

What I found interesting was the platforms that each vehicle rested on and how the workers grabbed parts and attached them to the vehicle as it continued to move.  At a couple of points, the platforms even raised the vehicles so the undersides could be comfortable worked on and tires could be attached.  

This is a display at the end of the tour.   The tour will take you from 2-3 hours, depending on how much time you watched the workers building the vehicles.