**WED 7/17 Back in the USA! Ford tour
The toothfairy came again last night! Marissa let us help pull that loose front tooth out because she didn't want Piper to have bragging rights about being the only one to have a Canadian Tooth Fairy, and it was our last night in Canada. Success! Marissa got $1 American, and a mix of Canadian coins equal to $1.
We drove 287 mi, with an uneventful border checkpoint. We had less than 3 hours for our stop in Deerborne, Michigan, but we really could have used 4+ hours for the Ford Factory and Museum. I highly recommend both.
First we took their bus to the Rouge factory where they assemble F150 trucks. They started us with a historical video highlighting the factory origins and Ford's mission. They talk about Henry Ford the man and how we loved tinkering. It took 12 hours for a team to assemble each vehicle he sold, but he wanted a car that was reliable and accessible to average people, and thought up the assembly line, which brought the time down to just 93 minutes! Now he can make more cars and keep the prices modest enough. He even doubled wages of his factory employees to $5/day so they could afford to buy for themselves. That's brilliance in my book.
The next room focused on "relentless innovation." It is a futuristic looking room with a 3D blank white truck shape that rises from the stage trap door and triple screens to explain the stages of a car model's creation to existence. It starts with *engineering and using customer feedback to make improvements upon prior models. *Production includes stamping (metal body shapes), frame assembly, painting, marriage (to chassis), and final testing. It ends with *customer delivery happiness.
The plant itself covers a lot of land! They have several buildings to put various pieces together before it can start on the factory floor. They are also very proud of their green roof--it lasts longer, insulates temperatures by 10 degrees, absorbs rainwater, and amazingly is not heavy.
Photos were not allowed on the factory floor itself as we watched live production. Each vehicle rides on a platform and zig zags through the building past each station. We watched windshields be installed with robotic arms, workers using computerized air tools to monitor the pressure and number of uses at each station, doors hanging on tracks over our heads, steering wheels installed, and at least 7 people to install a tailgate (although clearly two of them were working the hardest). Everything is timed and if one station has a glitch it holds up the entire line. A finished truck comes off the line every 53 seconds, each one with slightly different specifications, but all amazingly lined up to meet in the right order.
Back at the museum, it was organized with vehicle history on one side and the factory model influence on the industrial revolution on the other. Since we only had 55 minutes before they closed, we did just the vehicle side. We rushed through and it would have been better to dedicate more time to this place, but at least it wasn't busy so we could move freely. We saw everything from presidential limos, to electric cars, race cars, trains, planes, farm equipment, and the industries that spawned from the new age of automobiles like motels, RV's, car seats, and drive-in movies.
Tonight was our first night of no guaranteed campground reservation. We called ahead to check availability but they wouldn't take an advance reservation for less than 2 nights, but we were able to call that day and they seemed to have enough. (The state park would have been plan B and plan C would have been what the kids are praying to avoid--the Walmart parking lot.) Chris had to start school while I drove and checked us into the campground. I got the kids outside for dinner and to the pool ASAP to keep the body heat and noise out of the MH. I took a 30amp pull-thru over the 50amp back-in site so I could pull in easy and leave right away in the morning. Chris was all set up in the back bedroom with his computer and fully charged bluetooth earpiece, and made do with just one a/c unit.
**THUR 7/18 Thor Hurricane Factory Tour
I spent a lot of time on the phone today. We tried to get some motorhome parts while in Indiana. The biggest is trying to figure out if there's a better lock we can put on the front door that won't break--it seems to be a known problem for Thor and they are trying to find a new model, but meanwhile we were able to swing by and get a replacement. We also stopped at the parts store we always order from online that happens to be in town for some smaller items that fell off this trip.
Our timing had all worked around the Thor Hurricane factory tour this afternoon. I'm so glad we were able to do this. It was interesting comparing the Ford factory to Thor because they are different. The kids were confused because it didn’t look like the assembly line and as automated like we saw yesterday--so much is done by hand here. A motorhome still goes through a zig zag pattern, but it is shorter and slower. It takes 5-10 days to assemble a motorhome. It starts as the Ford chassis that they have to stand at the drivers wheel to drive into the warehouse. The first station is the floor--one giant solid piece of wood layered with metal, waterproofing, and padding. It rolls forward and they start adding the sections working from the floor up. They have their own wood cabinet shop right in house. We learned a lot about what we can't see in our motorhome.
When it's time for side walls and roof, they turn the MH sideways and it slides on tracks to each station. There's a huge rack to hold the roof as they put that on. Then, all the details are added. Each model in the line was different; they use a spreadsheet to track each one in line, and a check sheet taped to the window of each rig for quality control. There are lots of new little features on the newer ones as they keep finding ways to improve them.
Photos were limited here. We got to wear these really cool safety goggles at all times inside.
By the time we got to camp, it was a long day driving for Chris. Karen went to grocery store while Chris and the girls checked into campground, although I think while the girls were nice and quiet taking advantage of the little wifi/computer time they've been allotted, they haven't figured out how to take initiative and figure out how our what to help with setting up camp, and that was frustrating for Chris. We had a conversation with them about a helpful attitude versus an I want attitude.
If we had more time, I wish wished we could have stopped at Shipshewana and the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart.
No comments:
Post a Comment