Ford Rouge Legendary Factory Featuring F150 Truck HD

Ford Motor Company’s Rouge complex is the only one in American history to manufacture vehicles – including ships, tractors and cars – non-stop for 100 years. There’s nothing else like it. It’s kept running through two world wars and 18 U.S. recessions, all while producing some of the world’s most famous vehicles -- from the Model A, to the Mustang to the F-150. It started in 1918 when the plant began producing Eagle Boats for the U.S. Navy during World War I. Today the facility’s 7,500 employees work three shifts round-the-clock to manufacture America’s best-selling vehicle: The F-150 pickup. Now, as Ford commemorates the 100th year of production at the Rouge, it is prepping the plant for its next act, which includes producing a hybrid-electric F-150 in two years. “Just as the Rouge has been a harbinger of progress for a century, Ford is committed to ensuring our trucks continue to power the world in a sustainable way – whether they are powered by EcoBoost engines, hybrid powertrains, or are fully electric,” said Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company. The Rouge will produce these transformational vehicles using the latest technologies in robotics, 3D printing and virtual reality, thanks to Ford’s newly opened $45 million Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Mich. And by helping to further train Ford’s workforce on the latest technologies, courtesy of a $35 million expansion of the UAW-Ford training facility just a few miles from the plant, the Rouge is positioned to remain a plant known for innovation, sustainability, efficiency and prosperity as it heads into its second century. The Rouge is where the industrial revolution took hold. Henry Ford’s vision for the facility was that it would become a fully integrated, self-sufficient manufacturing powerhouse. By the 1930s, more than 100,000 workers punched in at the complex every day. If the Rouge were a city, it would have ranked as the fourth biggest in Michigan at the time. It’s no wonder the Rouge had its own fire department, police force, and hospital – plus a power plant, steel mill, glass factory, and hundreds of miles of rail and assembly line. Ore came into the complex, and vehicles emerged in as little as 28 hours. The Rouge became a symbol of the determination and productivity of the American worker. It’s where the $5-a-day wage took hold and helped give rise to the middle class. The plant also is known for events that tested the resiliency of employees and the relationship between unions and companies. The Battle of the Overpass, when Walter Reuther and his union workers were beaten while for trying to organize workers, changed the thinking of people across the country, including Henry Ford. Eighteen recessions over the century meant constantly rising and falling employment numbers at the Rouge. Six employees died in a power plant explosion in 1999, with more than a dozen others injured. And yes, there was even a time in the early 2000s when some suggested the Ro