G Reed Smyth

Yesterday I drove down from Rochester Hills with the wifey and spent the day at Greenfield Village. We took the tour of the River Rouge Plant. If you have the opportunity to do this it's a must for future or existing F-150 owners. WE were able to view the final installation and inspection. I've never seen sooooo many brand new F-150s in every color you can think of!

The plant is highly automated and they take employee ergonomics to a very high level. It was interesting to see the employees wearing sneakers, shorts and t-shirts (and a few iPods) while working on the line. It was very clean and organized.

Pretty cool watching the robots install the front windsheild and rear window at the same time. Saw rear seat belts being installed, headliners installed and a few other things. No, you cannot visit the paint plant.

I did not see the installation of BLISS, ACC, welding lines for water drainage, seat back air conditioning, or any of the "issues" some of us are experiencing...sorry It was fun to watch the final instpections/ wiper, light horn checks. Saw a couple of vehicles pulled off and what looked like rear camera testing. A ton of trucks. They are pumping out about 1,200 per day. They take about 20 hours from start to finish. All builds are orders. Ford is not having any trouble selling these and most of what I saw were either Platinums, King Ranches and Lariets in all different color schems and lengths. Most appeared to be 4 x 4 (FX4 stickers on the bed).

Anyhow, well worth the price of admission in my opinion. A lot of history at that plant.