INDUSTRY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Ford Motor Company
Industry
9
Ford Motor Company's first purpose-built plant was erected in 1904 on Piquette Street in Detroit, Michigan. Many early Ford models were built there, most notably the design and build of the Model T in 1908 and 1909. The first 12,000 Model T's were built and shipped by railroad from the Piquette Plant and Henry Ford's revolutionary assembly line. On January 5, 1914, Henry Ford and Vice President James Couzens announced that Ford Motor Company would double its workers' wages to five dollars a day, generating glowing newspaper headlines and editorials around the world. This first-of-its-kind living wage concept grew from Henry Ford's desire for employees to be able to afford the vehicles they were producing. Construction began in 1917 on the River Rouge Complex, and it took until 1928 to complete this factory of the future. Situated along the edge of the Rouge River outside Detroit, it was the largest integrated factory at the time of its production. The Rouge Complex measures 1.5 miles wide by 1 mile long, including 93 buildings with nearly 16 million square feet of factory floor space. In 2000, the 600-acre, $2 billion Ford Rouge Center near Dearborn, Michigan, underwent major redevelopment that laid the groundwork for sustainable manufacturing at one of the world's largest and oldest industrial icons. About 454,000 square feet of assembly plant roofing is covered with sedum and other succulent plants. The roof reduces storm water runoff by holding an inch of rainfall, and the living plants absorb carbon dioxide as part of photosynthesis, so oxygen is emitted and greenhouse gases are reduced. In 2004, the 10.4 acre Ford Truck Plant green roof was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest living roof and helped jump-start the early North American green roof industry. Today, it takes approximately 20 hours to build an F-150, and a complete F-150 truck comes down the line every 53 seconds.
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