Has anyone been a on tour of the Flat Rock Plant?

[Cobra Jet]

This may be an old video or maybe one others have seen, but I was cleaning up emails and came across it... very cool vid showing the production of the S550.

[ame]

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[timd38]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[CentralVA]

Good video. Thanks

 

[DoubleZ]

I've been to FRAP.

It's very cool to see flexible manufacturing happening right in front of your eyes.

On the same line the Mustang, Fusion and Lincoln Continental are built. Three completely different vehicles (two generally share the same modified platform), it shows how well manufacturing technology has grown in the last decade or so.

Very cool plant. Great video too!

 

[TruBlu16GT]

*snort*

That makes me laugh. Funny, what's old is new again. Neat video, though. Thanks for sharing.

Back in the day, American Motors utilized the same production methods. The Kenosha factory only had three lines. On one, they would manufacture Gremlins, Hornet coupes, Hornet hatch, Hornet sedan and Hornet Sportabout. Granted the cars do share some parts, but less than you might think. It took some incredible planning to pull this off 40+ years ago.

The parts installers had to rely on many other people behind them. For instance, if car #003 was a blue Hornet sedan and it was your job to install door panels, when you turned around to grab the parts, you hoped that what you grabbed were blue door panels. Because car #004 might have been a red Hornet hatch. Car #005 could be a Green Gremlin. The fellow filling the parts chute had to make sure every thing was in order to avoid stoppages.


I have an acquaintance who used to work on the Ford assembly line in St. Thomas, Ontario when they were making Pintos. He had something like less than 1 minute to install all four seat belts. Ford assembly was a little different as he tells me he had a huge rack behind him with something like 9 colours of seatbelts. So, he's on the line installing, blue then green then tan, etc. A few cars up the line he sees a PINK Pinto coming down. He figures that car will have a black interior and if he grabs a set of black belts before hand, he can save a few seconds and slow down for a quick break.

So, he has the black belts all set aside and waiting when the pink car rolls up.....SURPRISE!! It's got an avocado GREEN interior. He stares at it, knowing he won't have time to walk back to the rack, pick off a new set of green belts, so he grabs the black ones, and just THROWS them in the car. Doesn't even bother. Leans back for quick smoke because he knows he's in trouble now.

Sure enough, the car hits QC, has no belts installed and black belts tossed in in a pile. He gets hauled in at the end of the day and written up for it.

Probably loses some in the translation. The way Lloyd tells the story it's absolutely priceless. He worked for all four Major manufacturers at one point or another before moving West. He says his worst time was at Ford. Best times were at AMC and Chrysler.



Once upon a time, if you were an employee and you ordered a car, the union would schedule you to have that day off so you could walk the line and watch your car get built. I don't know if they allow that anymore.

 

[CEHollier]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ground Speed]

Love the video!

Once upon a time, if you were an employee and you ordered a car, the union would schedule you to have that day off so you could walk the line and watch your car get built. I don't know if they allow that anymore.

This would be awesome. I wonder if they still do that.

Also, who wants a pink car with green interior?

 

[martin]

How can I arrange to go on a tour?

 

[Cobra Jet]

How can I arrange to go on a tour?

Good question, been wondering the same.

:ford:

 

[MrMike]

Once upon a time, if you were an employee and you ordered a car, the union would schedule you to have that day off so you could walk the line and watch your car get built. I don't know if they allow that anymore.

The person who gave me my conquest PIN said they got to do this. It was a yellow convertible and they let him drive over and get walked down the line as his car was being built.

 

[CB]

I was in a plant like that once. General Motors had a stamping facility in West Mifflin, PA called Fisher Body. My dad was a machine repairman there. He took me and my brother around that plant one day. It's amazing how big the motors and crankshafts are that run those presses. And all of that stuff is underneath them.
Back then a tool and die maker would have a set of blueprints on the table for whatever the body panel was that he had to make the male and female stamping dies for. He would take a thick slab of steel and hand grind it to the blueprints. That impressed me, that's a craftsman there.

 

[ortovosh]

do Ford offer tours of factory... going to the US in June... and would love to see factory.

 

[Twin Turbo]

The last time I recall Ford doing a tour of the plant was during the weekend of Woodward, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I believe they've stopped them now, but hopefully that change in the future. It's certainly on my bucket list

 

[Fenix]

I do not believe a tour through Flat Rock assembly is available to the general public. Maybe one of our members could arrange a private group tour? I'm sure there would be enough people to fill their requirements even if it's a small fee ($30 or so.) I'd make the trip up for sure!

Ford does offer this tour experience
https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/

 

[ortovosh]

Would be amazing... only day I am in Detroit is Monday the 19th June.

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