The Ford’s River Rouge Plant Case Study
By: William Perry University of Memphis World Class Manufacturing Concept TECH 7404

The Beginning
2,000-acre stretch of bottomland along the Rouge River.

The Beginning
The Rouge had its own railroad with 100 miles of track and 16 locomotives. A scheduled bus network and 15 miles of paved roads kept everything and everyone on the move.

The Beginning
• Henry Ford started out in 1915 by buying twothousand acres along the Rouge River west of Detroit. • 90 miles of railroad track both inside and out, and 120 miles of conveyor belts connected the facilities. • the original Rouge complex was a mile-and-a-half wide and more than a mile long. • The multiplex of 93 buildings totaled 15,767,708 square feet of floor area.

Initial Plans
• The Rouge River property was not earmarked for any particular use. Ford had considered turning the land into a large bird sanctuary. • Undersecretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged Henry Ford to build boats.

The Ford’s River Rouge Plant
Originally created to produce only coke, smelt iron, and build tractors.

Change of Plans
• Ford shifted its final assembly line from Highland Park to the Rouge. • The Rouge becomes the most fully integrated car manufacturing facility in the world. • The Rouge employed more than 100,000 people. • 1 new car rolled off the line every 49 seconds.

Complex contained every element needed to produce an automobile
• • • • • • Blast furnaces A open hearth mill A steel rolling mill A glass plant A huge power plant Assembly line

Power, Power, Power

Ford put a mammoth power plant into operation in 1920 that furnished all the Rouge's electricity and one-third of the Highland Park Plant's needs as well.

Work Load
Each day, workers smelted more than 1,500 tons of iron and made 500 tons of glass, and every month 3,500 mop heads had