This is a unique situation for few old factory sites have enough land to build a truck plant while the old one (Dearborn Assembly) remains in operation. And, the truck factory will also feature many environmental innovations inspired by William "Bill" McDonough, the former dean of architecture at the University of Virginia, O'Brien said.
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| "We've built on (Henry Ford's) vision and are doing things here that are not typically done in the industrial world." (Photo: Ford Motor Company) |
The story of Dearborn Truck is much like the focus of the Rouge in Henry Ford's time--waste reduction, O'Brien said. Henry Ford was a pioneer in reducing waste--such as using slag from the steel making process as an ingredient in Portland Cement, or using wood from the manufacturing of shipping crates (and originally Model T car bodies) for other uses, such as creating charcoal.
"If you're not producing waste from a manufacturing standpoint, then you're not producing waste in the form of air emissions, water discharges or solid waste, which you'd have to deal with from an environmental standpoint," he said. "So, if you're thoughtful about it, (manufacturing and environmentalism) are not conflicting agendas."
Ford Motor went through a step-by-step process to set key business goals, understand the environmental aspects, and set its objectives for improvement. According to O'Brien the automaker will regularly measure its performance against its target. For example, an independent auditing firm regularly checks Ford's facilities, which all obtained the voluntary QS-14001 international standard to reduce pollution back in the late 1990s.
"We've built on (Henry Ford's) vision and are doing things here that are not typically done in the industrial world," O'Brien said. "We are really redefining what industrial leadership is all about."
The Rouge is undergoing a massive revitalization effort and it will once again serve as a model for truly modern manufacturing, O'Brien said.