McDonough became the Rouge's design team leader, and was responsible for putting together the conceptual framework, the vision, that everyone worked under. A team of Ford engineers, manufacturing people, Ford Land representatives, builders and other architects were assembled.
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| A team of Ford engineers, manufacturing people, Ford Land representatives, builders and other architects were assembled to put together the conceptual framework and the vision for the updated Rouge. (Photo: Ford Motor Company) |
"The first issue was to get the team together and all on the same page," McDonough said. "The Ford executives who where put in charge of project had come from other areas, such as paint and engineering. So, the idea of skylights was bizarre to them. Jay Richardson, for example, told me, 'We tar over skylights.'
"So, we had to overcome those obstacles to get over those obstacles. So, we used a process that we called the 'Rouge Room.' It was in the basement of Ford World Headquarters (at the bottom of the executive elevator) where (W. Edwards) Deming worked at when he was there."
The late Dr. Deming, an American, was a quality control consultant known for his "statistical process control methods" and had a great influence on the Japanese automakers. But, he was virtually ignored by the American Big Three until they were faced with declining market shares after 1980.
The Rouge Room was an elevator ride away from Bill Ford's office, "so, that at any given moment, he could say, let me show you something to a guest or to his people. It wasn't a question of getting in a car and going somewhere; it was right there," McDonough said.
Next Week: Tampering With an Icon and Surprised by the Scale, Moving Ahead