While in town for Adam and Emily’s Wedding, I took a few days to see the sights of Michigan around Detroit. The Henry Ford had been recommended, and I soon found out why it’s not called just The Henry Ford Museum. The museum is only part of a sprawling complex including a historical village, charter school, and research institution.
The museum’s collection includes artifacts and inventions from American history, from furniture to cars to entire houses. Buckminster Fuller’s Dynamaxion house, a model of sustainability and efficiency was far ahead of its time and way ahead of investors, who didn’t see how it could make them money.
Another fascinating part of the day was a tour of Ford’s Rouge River plant. With the bad rap domestic automakers get these days, it’s a good reminder of how much Ford and other Americans revolutionized automobiles and the industrial world at large. The tour focuses on the history of the massive Rouge plant and it’s transition to a more environmentally friendly and flexible manufacturing facility.
While their Dearborn truck plant uses a green roof, natural light, and storm water to reduce its footprint, one can’t help but wonder if the money would’ve been better spent improving the fuel economy of the pickup trucks it produces. Still, as an engineer who harbors an unrealized desire to work on hardware, it’s always eye-opening to see real manufacturing operations.
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