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Ford ties hopes for the future to historic plant

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#1 ·
Monday, May 26, 2003
100 Years of Ford: The Factories

Chicago factory will build company's new American family sedan

By Mark Truby / The Detroit News
Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News

CHICAGO--When falling sales and red ink sent Ford Motor Co. into a nosedive in the 1980s, the automaker turned to its aging factory on Chicago's South Side.

Chicago Assembly was an unlikely savior. Henry Ford built the dingy, smoke-belching plant in 1924 to churn out Model T's. And while it survived the Great Depression and helped push the Windy City into the industrial age, its best days seemed far in the past.

But Ford's bosses had a hunch the Chicago factory and its work force had the right stuff to build a radically different new family sedan named the Taurus, a car that represented the automaker's best hope for a comeback.

The gamble turned out to be a masterstroke. Beginning in 1985 and for the next 10 years, the plant hummed around the clock. The Taurus passed its Japanese competition to become America's best-selling car. And the Chicago plant was once again an industry model for quality and productivity.

"We were going down the tubes," said John Mathey, 61, who started on the assembly line in Chicago in 1965. "They were telling us they were going to shut this plant down. That car came in and boy we did a job. It was fantastic."

Now 18 years later, Ford is bathing the Chicago factory in the fountain of youth once again, spending $800 million to transform a relic of its past into a lean and flexible manufacturing complex.

Next year, the Chicago Assembly begins production of the Five Hundred sedan -- Ford's new vision of the American family car -- and two other all-new vehicles.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Ford -- which pioneered the world's first moving automobile assembly line in 1913 at a Highland Park plant -- lost $6.4 billion in 2001 and 2002. It is redoubling efforts to become a low-cost, more efficient manufacturer as domestic car buyers defect to Japanese and European brands in alarming numbers.

It's a new challenge for a new generation of Chicago workers. In 1985, John Mathey's son Scott remembers taping Bears playoffs games while his dad worked weekends on the Taurus launch.

Now Scott Mathey, 32, works beside his father, sharing the conviction that Chicago Assembly will help revive the world's second largest automaker again.

"This car is our future," Scott Mathey said. "We know what we have to do and what we can do. I see nothing but 10-hour days in our future."

Tough environment

Chicago's South Side is a tough, unforgiving place with neighborhoods lined with tenements, old bungalows and aging industrial parks.

Visiting writers, it seems, inevitably describe the South Side as gritty, hardscrabble and hard-working. In the early mornings, blue collar men and women crowd around bus stops, clutching steaming coffee cups as they await their ride to work.

When Henry Ford built Chicago Assembly in 1924 -- replacing a small Model T plant on Wabash Avenue in the city -- the South Side was a roiling melting pot of immigrants begging for jobs in factories and slaughterhouses.

Sprawled along the Calumet River on an 11-acre expanse, the plant was a modern wonder of the time, rivaling Ford's Rouge complex in Dearborn in size and productivity. Freight cars ran directly through the factory. Elaborate conveyors carried parts from the rail cars to the assembly floor.

The plant's more than 2,500 workers built 600 Model T's a day. Blessed with an unusually productive work force, Chicago Assembly survived when the Great Depression struck and Ford closed 25 assembly plants.

During World War II, the plant turned out M-8 armored cars and M-20 reconnaissance vehicles that helped the Allies carry the day in Europe.

Good pay, rough job

When Nick Janes returned home from the war, he started a new life in Chicago Assembly's paint shop. His $1.47-an-hour pay was twice what he could make elsewhere.

"Ford was the place to work," he said. "If you did your job, you were recognized for it. If you sloughed off, they had no room for you."

Thrilled as he was to make a living wage, he toiled under Dickensian work conditions.

"The paint department was almost intolerable," he recalled. "To get someone to work over there, you almost had to hog-tie them."

In the coming decades, Ford expanded and modernized the plant as each new car and truck came and went. Chicago Assembly built F-100 pickups, Galaxie 500s, Torinos and LTDs.

Workers learned the one immutable rule that governed every factory floor -- successful vehicles meant a busy plant. And that meant job security and overtime, money for children's braces, college tuition and mortgage payments.

The restyled Thunderbird that debuted in 1976 was a boon for workers. The slow-selling LTD of the early 1980s brought layoffs and temporary shutdowns.

Working together through the din of clanging metal and showers of welding sparks, the plant's labor force formed close bonds.

"We knew who was having a baby," said Carl Bishop, who began working the line in 1971 and is now a United Auto Workers union official at the plant. "We knew who was going through a divorce. It's a family, really. It's still like that today. When people retire here, that's what they say. 'I miss the people.' "

Family tradition

For many families, working the line at Chicago Assembly became a tradition. When the son or daughter wanted a job at the plant, they inevitably got a stern warning from their parent: If you come here, come here to work.

"My mom said to me, 'I don't think you can handle it,' " said Patricia Dillingham, 31, who works near her mother, Cheryl, in the final trim area. "But I was a worker and I thought I could handle it."

The younger Dillingham recalls having nightmares during the first eight or nine nights she came home after her shift.

"No matter how hard you worked, the cars kept coming," she said. "That's what was traumatizing."

Her mom chuckled at the story, then admitted that she too had nightmares when she started.

While other American auto plants suffered through frequent squabbles between line workers and management, labor relations remained relatively harmonious.

"We always found a way to reach common ground," Janes said.

And so it was with a shared sense of dread that the Chicago Assembly work force watched Ford's sales and profits evaporate in the early 1980s under the onslaught of competition from the Japanese and General Motors Corp.

Factory is reborn

Facing a desperate situation, Ford's brass decided to take a risk with practically its last $3 billion in product development funds. The result of the effort was the design of the Ford Taurus and its Mercury sibling, the Sable.

The cars' aerodynamic, avant garde styling marked a radical departure from the boxy designs of the day. Ford chose Chicago Assembly and its plant in Atlanta to build the new midsize car.

"When I first saw that car, I thought it was the ugliest thing I had ever seen," said Nick Janes Jr., who followed in his father's footsteps at Chicago Assembly. "I said, 'Here we go again, on one week, off the next.' "

Janes Jr. and other workers watched in awe as the roof was stripped from Chicago Assembly. Construction crews used towering cranes with steel jaws to rip the body shop out of the plant to make way for modern tooling.

A few weeks later, workers returned to a plant they scarcely recognized.

With a solid design and a work force rededicated to building top-notch cars, the Taurus earned raves from the automotive press. And Janes Jr.'s concerns notwithstanding, buyers loved the car's futuristic looks.

In 1986, 263,450 Americans bought a Taurus. In 1987, sales hit 354,971. In 1988, demand reached 374,627. The Taurus was a smash hit.

To the denizens of Chicago Assembly, though, it was more than a car, it was a validation of who they were, rolling proof that the American auto worker wasn't second best.

"It was a great time, a proud time," Janes Jr. said.

New Taurus fizzles

The salad days couldn't last. With sales finally starting to flag, Chicago built the final Taurus of that generation to make way for a completely redesigned version of the family car.

A month later when the updated version came off the line, workers dipped their hands in yellow paint and pressed their palms to the shiny sheet metal of their new baby.

The redesigned Taurus, though, failed to tap into the American spirit the way its predecessor had. While not a flop, many buyers were put off by its high sticker price and funky ovular design.

In 1997, the Taurus was outsold by both the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

Discrimination complaints

The late 1990s also proved Chicago Assembly wasn't immune to social ills that can fester on the factory floor. With the influx of female auto workers, the plant became a breeding ground for sexual harassment.

Female workers at Chicago Assembly and a nearby Ford stamping plant in Chicago alleged they were subjected to groping and lewd comments. Pornographic materials were reportedly passed around and after-hours work parties involved strippers and prostitutes.

In a "Dateline NBC" report on the controversy, Lorna Brett, president of the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women said, "It's like the Wild, Wild West in these plants. There are no rules. It's whatever you want -- just take it."

In September 1999, Ford reached an agreement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pay $7.5 million in compensation to victims and promised to spend another $10 million on sensitivity training in its plants.


Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News

Ford is spending $800 million to transform the Chicago Assembly plant into a lean and flexible manufacturing complex.



Best in quality

Through it all, Chicago Assembly has remained among the industry's best in productivity and quality. In the latest J.D. Power and Associates initial quality study, the Sable and Taurus came in first and sixth respectively among premium mid-size cars, well ahead of the Camry and Accord.

"I consider Chicago one of Ford's better plants with one of their better work forces," said Ron Harbour, head of Harbour and Associates Inc., which compiles a respected annual plant productivity report. "They have always been near the top of our report."

The sterling track record placed Chicago Assembly at the top of the list when Ford executives decided to overhaul its outdated manufacturing processes.

"The work force here, and the management, has proven to Ford that we are able to build a good car and we don't want to lose this plant," Janes said. "We have proven that we deserve to be here."

Ford hatched a plan to completely renovate Chicago Assembly, making it flexible enough to build several different models at whatever volumes the marketplace dictates.

The old model of cranking out 400,000 nearly identical vehicles from two plants didn't work any more.

With no room on the land-locked site for expansion, design engineers had to make efficient use of every square foot.

Working with partners, Ford purchased 155 acres adjacent to the factory to build a supplier park. Ford moved a major road to provide better access to the plant and spent millions on an environmental cleanup of marshland polluted by slag dumped by nearby steel plants.

"We removed thousands of square yards of contaminated soil," said James Tetreault, a Ford director of vehicle operations overseeing the renovation of Chicago assembly. "We built a stream, replaced lakes and restored wetlands."

The 1.7-million square foot supplier park will be home to more than a dozen parts suppliers that can ship components to Chicago Assembly just in time for assembly.

"Deliveries that used to take six days will now take six minutes," Tetreault said.

Factory's fresh start

Though the new Five Hundreds won't go into production until next summer, Chicago Assembly has already began intensive worker training. About 40 key line workers are consulting with engineers in Dearborn to hammer out the best way to build a car that is larger and far more complex than the Taurus.

"In the past, management only wanted our two hands. Now they need our brains, too," Scott Mathey said. "We are working as a team to get this car perfect."

Mathey, a bright college graduate who chose building cars over a desk job, is so confident that Chicago will help Ford stage another comeback that he recently converted his entire savings and retirement plan into Ford stock.

"I'm putting everything I have into Ford," he said. "You can call it a risk, but I can see it happening. I know we are turning this thing around."

(Photo)The Chicago Assembly plant next year begins production of the Five Hundred sedan, Ford's new vision of the American family car. The automaker is spending $800 million to renovate the plant.
 

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#2 ·
Ford Motor Co.

The Model T was the first Ford Motor Co. vehicle built in Chicago.
 

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#3 ·
Chicago Assembly: A timeline

By The Detroit News

Building everything from Model T's to the upcoming Five Hundred sedan, Ford's Chicago Assembly plant has been a vital cog in the automaker's 100 year history. A look back at the plant's manufacturing milestones:

March 3, 1924

Production of Model T's begins at massive new Chicago Assembly Plant on the city's South Side.

1928

Chicago Assembly begins building popular Model A sedan.

July 1931

Henry Ford closes 25 plants during Great Depression but keeps Chicago Assembly plant open.

June 1941

Ford becomes the last major automaker to sign labor contract with the United Auto Workers union.

1942-45

Civilian production stops during World War II. Chicago Assembly builds M-8 armored cars and M-20 armored reconnaissance vehicles.

1945

Civilian production resumes with the two-door Mercury sedan.

1949

Chicago Assembly produces 1949 Ford.

1953

Production of Ford F-100 pickup begins.

1964

After 40 years of production, Chicago Assembly shuts down its truck operations.

1974

Production begins on Torinos.

1976

First Torino comes off the line.

1981

Chicago Assembly plant begins Ford Grenada and Mercury Cougar production.

September 1983

First Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis come off production line.

1985

Ford spends $205 million to modernize Chicago factory to build the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.

Jan. 1986

First Taurus and Mercury Sable models come off the line. The mid-size car becomes a huge success that fuels Ford's comeback.

1995

Second-generation Taurus/Sable debuts to mixed reviews and lukewarm sales. Its oval-themed design turns off many buyers.

September 1999

Ford reaches $17.5 million deal with federal government to settle sexual harassment suits at Chicago Assembly plant and a nearby stamping factory.

2000

Ford, local and state governments and a private developer agree to spend $250 million to create new automotive supplier manufacturing campus in southeast Chicago to support Chicago Assembly. Nine suppliers will create up to 1,000 jobs in the 155-acre park starting in 2003.

2004

Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego set to debut, followed by Ford Freestyle crossover.

Sources: Ford Motor Co. and Detroit News research


(Photo)Henry Ford built Chicago Assembly in 1924, and the plant begins churning out 600 Model T's a day.
 

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#4 ·
Ford Motor Co.
During World War II, the plant produces M-8 armored cars and M-20 reconnaissance vehicles.
 

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#5 ·
Ford Motor Co.
A limited number of Torinos, the car "Starsky & Hutch" drove to fame, roll off the line in 1976.
 

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