Highland Park Ford Plant, Ford assembly plant in Highland Park, Michigan, US.
The Highland Park Ford Plant is a former automobile factory in Wayne County, Michigan, covering 102 acres (41 hectares). Architect Albert Kahn designed the industrial buildings with concrete columns and large glass walls that allowed daylight into production halls.
The facility opened in 1910 and introduced the first moving assembly line in 1913, accelerating Model T production. This innovation reduced the time to assemble a vehicle from over twelve hours to about ninety minutes.
The plant introduced a five-dollar daily wage and an eight-hour workday in 1914, reshaping labor standards across America. Thousands of workers moved to Detroit to benefit from these conditions.
The complex now houses the Highland Industrial Center with several businesses, while some areas remain dedicated to automotive production history. Visitors should note that it is an active commercial site and not all buildings are open to the public.
The introduction of assembly line production lowered costs so effectively that the Model T price dropped from 700 to 350 dollars. This price reduction made automobiles affordable for a large part of the American population and fundamentally changed mobility.
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