Willow Run Plant

Willow Run Plant, the largest aircraft assembly factory in the world, was conceived by the Ford Motor Company's production chief, Charles Sorensen. It was built by Ford 48 km. (30 mi.) west of Detroit, its isolation being deliberate to minimize union influence. Construction began in March 1941 and the first B24 bomber was completed that December. The bombers were built, like Ford cars, on an assembly line in a building 1.6 km. (1 mi.) long and 400 m. (440 yd.) wide. At one time the factory employed 42,000 workers. But though it was a symbol of American industrial capacity, it also revealed the flaws and waste that much of American industry suffered from early in the war. The temporary living accommodation was inadequate and insanitary, so that half the workers preferred to commute from Detroit. The absentee and turnover rates were high, and teething problems gave it the nickname ‘willit run?’ The production and morale problems were eventually resolved when half its operations were farmed out to Ford subsidiaries, the workforce was scaled down, and it became a final assembly line. By August 1944 production had increased to 500 bombers a month, and in its 43 months of operation it produced 8,685 aircraft, or one every 103 minutes.