The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-03-02
FORD PLANT is
STUPENDOUS AFFAIR


being wrought at the huge River
Rouge plant of the Ford Motor Com
pany at Detroit and the half-century
dream Of the worlds most expert
metallurgists has come true.
Henry Fords new and outstanding
triumph, it is declared, is the now
unquestiOned demonstration that his
short cuts to unparalleled low cost
quantity production are based on sci
.entifcally and universally correct
fundamental principles, rather than
personal magic in a special field.
The River Rouge plant, begun only
five years ago, is at present scarcely
more than half completed, yet it is
today the throbbing heart of the
worlds greatest single industry, and,
in many respects, it is the greatest
industrial works in the world. tt
was launched as the master enter
prise of the automobile manufactur-
er's plan to control every step of his
industry from primary raw materials
to finished automobiles and tractors.
The scheme was to eliminate waste
and speed up manufacture of parts
just as parts were conjured to swarm
into complete automobiles at the pio-
neer plant an Highland Park.
And part of this plan was to COM
bine coke ovens, furnaces, foundry
and steel mill into a single CONSOLE
dated unit-the first time in the his
tory of metal working that such
project had been undertaken.
Further it was the scheme to pour
molten iron from the blast furnace
directly into molds and in the single
operation produce light, thin-section-
ed, high silicon castings which could
be machined, thus eliminating the
slow and costly steps through the pig
iron stage.
Metallurgists and mechanical ex-
perts heard Of it, smacked their lips
and awaited-skeptical. Today they
come to the River Rouge plant to see
and marvel.
A little more than a year ago pour
ing of metal into moulds direct from
the blast furnace began in small
way. Last October fires were lighted
under the second furnace.
And now industrial experts come to
witness the daily miracle of 1,5OO
tons of molten ore and iron, mixed
in scientific proportions and changed
in single operation, in the worlds
largest foundry, into superb castings
numerous enough to supply all the
automobiles, tractor and truck needs
of the Ford Motor Company. There
is an ever moving procession of new
ly fashioned molds whirling to the
pouring stations on endless convey
Ors thence back past knockout and
cleaning stations and tumbling bar
rels, to a huge machine shop under
the same roof where most of the
castings are Immediately machined
and prepared for final assembly.
Nothing in the industrial news of
the generation compares with this
manufacturing feat which is on a
scale so immense that it supplies the
entire foundry needs of the worlds
greatest automotive works.
Though this swift Transformation
of ore into machined castings on a
prOdigious scale is the most spectacu-
lar undertaking at this plant, there
are many other reasons which have
led engineers and experts to declare
the River Rouge plant "the most sig
nifcant and vitality important devel-
opment in the world today"
From Ford mines down in Ken
lucky and West Virginia, which sent
coal on Ford railroad to the River
Rouge plant, and from Ford mines
in Northern Michigan sending timber
and ore, there is a constant demand
for machinery and for locomotives
From the tractor plant and the High
land Park plant and branches all ove-
the world there is a never ending cal
for parts and machinery. And th'
River Rouge plant has undertaken t.
supply, from primary raw materials
all the needs of this constantly ex
panding industry.
A power house soon will house tn
worlds greatest turbine engine, being
built by the Ford Motor Compan,
itself. The locomotive repair shop
rapidly being expande into a locOmo
tive and car building works.
Under construction at River Roug
are a cement factory, a paper mil
and a glass factory, all designed
meet the needs of the Ford Motto
Company.
A great new building now house
two lotion electric furnaces whic
make steel, and will house a Soto
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