Question

Henry Ford built his huge River Rouge automobile plant to produce all of his cars. It was a disastrous mistake.

What was the problem with the River Rouge plant?

Did Ford ever find the solution to this problem. If so, what was it?

Answer 1

1. Ford’s penchant for ruling over his empire like he was playing with a life-size model train layout is well known, and the constant striving for efficiency and cost-cutting during the Depression began to take a human toll. Tensions peaked in May 1937 when a group of union organizers, led by Walter Reuther, were assaulted by Ford's security detail and members of his group of hired henchmen as they tried to hand out union literature at the plant. (Reuther would go on to be president of the United Auto Workers from 1946 to 1970.) Ford settled, and the Rouge cranked out Jeeps and engines for tanks and planes for the war effort.

Civilian production restarted in 1945; Henry Ford died in 1947. That same year, Ford F-150 production started, and the highly successful Mustang came online in 1964; the Mercury Cougar joined in 1966. Mercury Capri production began in 1979, when it was switched from the Euro-based model to become a near clone of the Fox-body Mustang. But the Rouge's belching smokestacks, once a sign of progress and a healthy economy, started to be less attractive to a more environmentally aware public later in the century. In part because of the rise of a strong middle class, a development that likely would not have been possible without the precedent-setting wages Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler paid for both skilled and unskilled labor, the public entered a new age of concern about health and the environment and began to press the government to regulate industrial pollution.

2. To adapt, Ford began divesting itself from mining, lumbering, and glassmaking operations, finally selling the Rouge's steel foundry to Rouge Steel in 1989. The sale included all of the river frontage and docks as well as about 45 percent of the original 2000 acres. The Rouge continued but at a very different pace from its glory years.

Things began looking up in 1997, however, when Ford and the UAW made agreements to modernize the Rouge, including an environmentally advanced paint shop and an entirely new power plant utilizing the latest advances in technology. Unfortunately, an explosion of the number-six boiler in 1999 killed six workers, marring the rebirth with tragedy.

Today, the Rouge stands as an example of moving forward while honoring the past, a modern efficient facility featuring a 10.4-acre Living Roof, numerous wetlands and vegetated ditches called swales, hundreds of newly planted trees, and the world's largest porous pavement lot. Home to the Dearborn Truck Plant where the popular F-150 pickup has been made since 2004, the facility is designed to minimize waste at all stages. It employs extensive recycling procedures including the capture of paint-shop waste gases that are turned into fuel cells to help power the plant.