When the moving assembly line debuted at Ford’s Highland Park factory 100 years ago, the world was becoming a smaller place, thanks to canals, flying machines, road maps and highways.
This month marks the official celebration of the world’s first moving assembly line. On Oct. 7, 1913, 140 assemblers stationed along a 150-foot chassis line at a Ford Motor Co. plant just north of Detroit stood in place as the work came to them.
OAKVILLE, ON—Ford will spend between $675 million and $725 million to retool its assembly plant here. The Canadian and Ontario governments will contribute approximately $135 million to the effort, which will secure the facility’s 3,000 jobs into the next decade.
CHICAGO—Workers at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant have checked the quality of a vehicle’s paint job basically the same way since the plant opened in 1924—by eye. But the factory is now getting a new 3D imaging system that uses 16 computer-controlled cameras to detect the most microscopic grains of dirt in the paint.
LOUISVILLE, KY—More than 5,000 people have applied this month for what turned out to be just 50 factory jobs, some of them temporary, at Ford Motor Co.’s assembly plant here.
DETROIT—A nonprofit community organization is launching an online crowd funding campaign to raise $125,000 to preserve parts of Ford Motor Co.’s historic Highland Park complex, where the moving assembly line was invented.
