Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant Turns 100

CHICAGO—Ford Motor Co.’s factory on the Southeast Side of the Windy City opened its doors 100 years ago this week. When production started on March 3, 1924, the facility was building Model T’s.

The Chicago Assembly Plant has withstood the Great Depression, World War II and Covid, plus changing consumer tastes, labor strikes and supplier shortages. Along the way, Ford’s oldest continuously operating manufacturing facility has produced a wide variety of vehicles, including Model A sedans, M8 armored cars, F-100 pickup trucks, Country Squire station wagons, Galaxie 500 convertibles, Thunderbird coupes and Taurus sedans.

The 100-year-old plant located along the banks of the Calumet River has been retooled multiple times over the years to keep up with the latest car styles and the newest production equipment. It currently assembles sport utility vehicles such as the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor.

ASSEMBLY magazine will publish an extensive article about the historic Chicago factory in an upcoming issue.

Austin has been senior editor for ASSEMBLY Magazine since September 1999. He has more than 21 years of b-to-b publishing experience and has written about a wide variety of manufacturing and engineering topics. Austin is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

The ASSEMBLY Show South

ASSEMBLY is thrilled to return to the Music City Center in Nashville, TN for The ASSEMBLY Show SOUTH on May 1-2, 2024. This is a booming time for manufacturing and the U.S. South is right in the heart of the action. According to ASSEMBLY’s most recent annual capital spending survey, the South is projected to account for 31 percent of total spending this year, marking the fifth straight year this region has accounted for at least 30 percent of capital spending in the U.S.

In this session, manufacturers will learn how Quality function deployment (QFD) can transform consumers’ qualitative demands into quantitative parameters that will shape the design of their product and, ultimately, their manufacturing process.

Sponsored by: