We must first look back to look forward. Highland Park, The Mother Plant, construction of the Crystal Palace, as the plant would soon be nicknamed, began in 1908. By 1910 with construction completed, the vision of Henry Ford was about to be unleashed on the world. The moving assembly line for mass production, a dream Ford had been working on for years, was launched.
Early progress was slow as the Engineers of the day experimented on timing and delivery methods. The first department to test this system was Flywheel Magneto Assembly. After great success, the system was applied to the assembly of the motors, transmissions and axles. Sub assembly quickly overwhelmed the assembly line, where it still took over 12 hours to assemble a car. Once the last piece, the moving assembly line, was put into place, the monster roared.
In less than a year, the time needed to build
a new car had been cut from 12 hours to 93 minutes.
In a seven year period, from 1910 to 1917, production
at the plant soared from 19,000 to 735,000 Model T’s
per year. The price of the car dropped from $950 to
$350, “The Car for the Masses.” 1927 marked the end of the Model T production at Highland Park. Total output in seventeen years was 15 million
units. The Rouge was now ready to roll.
On
May 22, 1942, after many fierce battles, battles
that have only scars as reminders, UAW Local
400 was granted a charter to represent the
Members of the Highland Park plant. |
 The Highland Park Ford Plant was a
production plant for Ford Motor Company
in the city of Highland Park, Michigan,
which is surrounded by Detroit. The
Highland Park Ford Plant was designed
by Albert Kahn in 1908 and was opened
in 1910. Because of its spacious design,
it set the precedent for many factories
and production plants built thereafter.
In 1913, the Highland Park Ford Plant
became the first automobile production
facility in the world to implement the
assembly line.
In the late 1920s, Ford moved
automobile assemby to the River Rouge
Plant complex in nearby Dearborn.
Automotive trim manufacturing and
tractor assembly continued at the
Highland Park plant.
The plant became a National Historic
Landmark in 1978. It is now used
by Ford Motor Company to store
documents, warehousing, and the Henry
Ford Museum for artifact storage.
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The “East Side Local” was now a part of Detroit’s
arsenal of Democracy. We built tanks, jeeps,
aircraft parts, Red Cross ambulances and
even steel helmets. We powered, armed, and
outfitted, our own children as they marched off
to war. The world must never, be allowed to
forget, that this, is the fabric of our ancestors.
The Old Girl was becoming outdated.
As the work was pieced out to our Eastern
Suburbs, we helped build our communities.
The Suburbs of the ’50s and ’60s – Mount
Clemens, Sterling Heights, Utica, Romeo, and
Chesterfield Township – all received pieces of
the work that was once, Highland Park. In our heyday, it took eight plants to house the work
diverted from Our Mother Plant. Soon, there
will be but three children left: Romeo Engine,
formerly tractor, Van Dyke Transmission, and
Sterling Axle. |
The significance of Highland Park Ford Plant cannot be overstated. It was here one could witness:
• the implementation of the continuously moving
assembly line
• the implementation of the “$5 a day” wage for
unskilled workers
• the production of the most popular car in
automobile history that could be afforded by
the average American employee.
The practices of the plant were studied and
applied not just in the automobile industry,
but throughout the manufacturing sector. The
resulting increase in productivity and wealth
ultimately transformed the economic, social and
physical landscape of the 20th century.
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