For some quiet entertainment this Sunday we are covering one of the most amazing production facilities in the world, Ford’s famous River Rouge manufacturing plant. We have covered it at length on The Old Motor, but it remains a favorite topic of ours. It’s status as a benchmark industrial plant keeps us coming back for more, so we were very pleased when we came across this well made, high quality video about it and are happy to share it with you today.
Narrated in his inimitable style by radio and newsreel star Lowell Thomas, it documents the manufacture of a new Ford from it’s beginnings as raw materials to a well-crafted finished product as it wends it’s way through the giant plant in 1938. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did and will also take a look back at our previous posts on the subject that include more videos and period pictures. See it here @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=103630
Yes America. We were once the greatest industrial manufacturer on the planet.
Manufacturing in the USA has certainly changed since the Model T days, but not always for the worse. U.S. manufacturing productivity is still the world-leader, the average worker earning $77,060. Read this report from The Manufacturing Institute:
http://tinyurl.com/aokdvn4
An interesting book is "Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of Anerican Manufacturing" by Vaclav Smil.
Phil
Good luck finding men in this day and age to work that hard...LOL....
Indeed, while we are losing share to the Chinese and the Mexicans (and others) the USA is still the world leader in terms of manufacturing capacity and profits from same.
With a full assault on our economic stability coming from leftists in Washington the time is near for us to be in fact owned by the Chinese when our economy cannot make the interest payments on the ever larger loans.
Don't worry, our government is just as inept in dropping trade protection and tariffs. We allow the importation US Californian oranges cheaper that we can grow in South Australia's Riverland.
So the growers here leave the fruit on the trees, plough it into the ground and now are busy ripping the citrus out, going bankrupt, selling orchards etc. Go figure...duh. This is just one example.
I simply fail to comprehend it.
Right on Royce! We're in a heap of trouble.........
What scares me is that we have a lot of folks that think like Lucy. And its not in a Peanuts cartoon.
That was really impressive, thanks for posting.