Trip Through The River Rouge Plant

[Music] [Music] this is a story of men and methods a story of the Ford Rouge Plant on the banks of the River Rouge at Dearborn Michigan factories broad Acres of buildings ships machines are only methods but what is done here and how well it is done depends upon man methods and machines change the earth and Men endure the Earth Earth yields her products from Farm mine and Forest and man uses his Ingenuity to transport them and build them into useful things and so here at the Rouge Plant as we shall see there is no such thing as labor saving Machinery it is labor serving and the more it succeeds in serving man the more jobs it creates but first eight tall Stacks Loom above a Powerhouse generating enough electric current for our great great [Music] City to turn the wheels and lift the loads huge dynamos hum a song of power day and night intricate switchboards dials measuring power generated and power consumed throughout the plant this is the heart of the rou a heart that pumps electric power into thousands of Motors into thousands of machines designed to lighten labor for example follow the path of great artery and you'll come to the docks on the River Rouge where electric cranes reach down into the hold of a ship and bite into its cargo or with each bite or that may become a part of finished Ford cars within 28 [Music] hours [Music] B storage bins coal is taken to the ovens 220 of them where Coke is made for the blast furnaces and millions of cubic feet of gas are produced for use in the plant tons of water cool these flaming car loads causing clouds of steam to Puff Skyward when cooled the coke is transported to the Towering blast furnaces where iron is melted from The Ore there's one of the blast furnaces being charged with ore with Coke to burn and melt The Ore with Limestone to flux the impurities in the ore 15 Tons in each charge dumped into the top of the Furnace hours later pure molten iron flows from the bottom of the huge structure to be directed through channels that lead to waiting Ladle [Music] cars [Music] some of the molten iron goes to The Foundry covering more than 30 Acres where one of the most remarkable operations is the casting of the V8 engine block a special technique has made it possible to build a mold with 46 cores and to cast the entire V8 engine block including the clutch housing in a single piece this achievement has made the smooth power power and flexibility of the V8 engine available to millions of [Music] people [Music] shaken out of the mes after they have cooled the engine block castings are first smoothed rough edges left from the mold are cut [Music] away then to a series of specially designed milling and multiple drilling machines requiring hundreds of skilled men to run them keep them in perfect operating order and to check their work within split hair Dimensions the Rouge Plant is filled with the latest and most modern machines yet it requires many more hours of work by human hands to produce each modern Ford V8 than it did to build the cars of bygone years [Music] the Ford system of production depends upon the use of high quality materials and upon Precision manufacturer through checks and measurements Johansen gauge blocks accurate to within 2 millions of an inch set the standards for measuring Ford parts and [Music] assembling some of the testing machines seem even to possess a mechanical intelligence that no human mind could equal the electric cam shaft tester for instance automatically gauges 25 surfaces on each shaft and rejects those which fall below the exacting requirements for accuracy and quality another division of The Foundry is given over to the casting of the short sturdy V8 alloy steel crankshafts an electric furnace is used in the process of making this special steel and frequent test pourings determine when the metal is ready and here for example is the laboratory which does just that close to the electric furnaces it is typical of the Ford system of quality control in addition to the main plant Laboratories which are housed in newly completed and enlarged quarters more than a dozen Laboratories are maintained throughout the plant and tests are made close beside the production line they control liquid steel is poured into hundreds of moles every hour a continuous procession of them moving on and cooling until the forms can be knocked away leaving four crank shafts to the mold [Music] now they're heat treated for additional [Music] strength [Music] and finally machine to Accurate Dimensions polished and balanced dynamically to establish the perfect balance of every Ford crankshaft in motion just as it will operate in the engine meanwhile train loads of ladles carrying molon iron from the blast furnaces are moving into the Open Hearth Department to be made into different types of Steel in one of these furnaces a new charge is being prepared scrap steel and various Alloys to be melted down and mixed with the molten iron that soon will be added to the charge 52 kinds of Steel are used in making Ford automobiles 36 Steels of exact formula for the car itself 16 other special steels for tools to build the [Music] car [Music] then again testing samples are [Music] taken the time to tap the furnace is determined and we move to the opposite side of the furnaces to see the white hot metal flowing soon to become 10 ton ingots for the rolling [Music] Mills [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] each Ingot when it is stripped from the moles is taken to a huge oven called a soaking pit where it is brought to the right temperature for rolling [Music] and now with lunchtime approaching Caravans of lunch wagons move in to leave well stock trailers in convenient locations so that wholesome and nutritious food is close at hand every item on these wagons must meet a strict set of specifications set up by the Ford commissary and prices are kept at a minimum the men gather around and make their choice from a long list of good things some of course bringing their own food and depending on the lunch carts only for a hot dish a hot drink or perhaps a [Music] dessert in such a tremendous plant as this time must be scheduled to ensure steady production and so that all do not start or finish work at the same time groups of men come on and go off duty with clocklike [Music] regularity and so in the morning evening or almost any time of day you will find some workmen with their families in the Ford Community Thrift Gardens Henry Ford believes that man is happiest and most prosperous as he says with one foot on the land and one in Industry so hundreds of Acres of Ford Farmland near the plant are made available to Rouge Workman where each man if he wishes has a plot of ground to cultivate as his zone for Thrift health and [Music] relaxation back at the plant we move into a long structure adjoining The Open Hearth furnaces where the Deep Rumble of the Rolling Mills is heard day and night an Ingot glowing with heat comes out of the soaking pit and starts its Journey Through the rolls [Music] back and forth it goes under the skillful guidance of operators who handle tons of white hot metal with simple electrical [Music] controls [Music] [Music] [Music] of [Music] and while this steel is being made ready for fabrication other vital parts of the Ford automobile are taking form in the hands of thousands of other skilled men far across the plant again to the motor [Music] building [Music] [Music] V8 Pistons are being finished and waved a weight variation of more than 17th of an ounce eliminates a piston while perfect Pistons go to each engine in match sets of [Music] eight [Music] la [Music] and here the Ford V8 engine reaches the assembly stage the conveyor system bringing parts to hundreds of men stationed along the line the RO plant incidentally has more than 132 miles of these conveyors another of the many production methods pioneered by Ford to lighten men's burdens and thus save time and human [Music] energy [Music] [Music] the engines are swung off the line at this point and connected to an electric motor for a running in period in final preparation for a long life of Dependable [Music] service [Music] and here you see one of these sturdy V8s subjected to actual running tests Under full load through a wide range of speeds [Music] while these engines are undergoing tests in another building some distance away huge presses are stamping out parts for the steel frame which will be carried by conveyor to the frame assembly line and welded to cross members [Music] meanwhile other presses form the steel bodies [Music] a 30ton Dy shapes a smooth steel sheet into a complete top for an [Music] automobile [Music] [Music] side bottoms each part of the All Steel body meets where the conveyors merge at especially designed machine called a jig where they are welded [Music] electrically [Music] [Music] [Music] not far away another important part of the Ford V8 All Steel safety body is Wheeling into the line of March toward a finished car in the glass plant you see a typical Ford development a continuous process of glass manufacturer producing better glass at half the cost of older methods streaming red hot from furnaces in a continuous ribbon the glass is rolled into a flat [Music] sheet [Music] safety glass consists of two pieces placed together with a thin sheet of cellulose acetate between them heat and pressure bring the three layers of material into a permanent Union and now for the final operation you see where you are and where you have been on a journey that would require many hours if you actually walked this route the march of the many divisions is converging here at the final assembly [Music] [Music] line [Music] and all the complicated and vastly different processes which you have seen were perfectly synchronized to produce the right number of parts at the right time delivered at the right place for the exact number of Ford V8s needed each day here is Manpower teamwork and skill of the highest this is a story multiplied a million times or more in a single year to this great plant from Farm mine and Forest and from more than 6,000 supplying companies come raw materials and [Music] parts [Music] from it to for branches in America and to many parts of the world go The Finnish cars or assemblies and the inspiration of a great leader here indeed is the heart of the Ford organization but to Henry Ford it is not important that the Rouge plant stands alone in size and in the leadership of an industry but it is vastly important to him that it be of service of service in creating more and better things more and better [Music] jobs