Located in Dearborn Michigan on the Rouge River the Ford Steel Division began as an integral part of Henry Ford’s sprawling Ford Rouge automobile complex, built during the 1920s. The steel division remained a lucrative division of Ford until the early 1980s, when it lost profitability due to economic recession and a troubled U.S. auto market. In 1982 Ford Motor Company converted its steel division to form a wholly owned subsidiary, Rouge Steel Company.

Rouge Steel grew out of Henry Ford’s vision of an industrial facility that would bring together the various elements of his automobile production process. Envisioning a manufacturing plant that would transform raw materials into completely finished products, he developed the world’s first vertically integrated factory complex. Ford acquired coal mines, and a battery of coking ovens were installed on the Rouge site. Coal was shipped into the Rouge by means of the Rouge River as well as by rail. The first of the Rouge’s giant furnaces–the largest of its kind in the world at that time–was finished in May 1920. Blast furnace “A” was started on its inaugural run when Ford’s grandson, two-and-a-half- year-old Henry II, struck a match to ignite the furnace’s coke charge. “B” blast furnace was added in 1922. There were 4 coke batteries consisting of numerous coke ovens.

Steel was first made at the Rouge plant in 1923 with an electric furnace, and plans were made for furnaces with much greater production capacities. Ford, working with technical experts from the Morgan Construction Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, began developing large open-hearth furnaces as well as blooming mills, rolling mills, and other steel-finishing equipment. Two years later, the Rouge’s steel-making facilities were operational and the first “heat,” or batch, of steel was poured on June 21, 1926. In that year the Rouge produced 321,476 tons of ingot steel, and output was doubled within three years. By 1929 the manufacturing complex covered almost 1,200 acres of land, 350 of which were taken up by the Rouge’s steel-making facilities.

The Ford Steel Division continued to expand the Rouge’s steelmaking capacity by adding “C” blast furnace in 1948. Though steel-making technologies remained virtually unchanged, new furnaces and mills were added to Rouge’s steel finishing operations during the 1960s. A move was made toward the consistent expansion of Rouge’s use of scrap steel. In 1964 two basic oxygen furnaces were installed, making use of seventy-five percent “hot metal” from the blast furnaces and twenty-five percent scrap. The Annealing Furnaces treated the coils of steel, while soaking pits and reheat furnaces reheated the Ingot and slab steel before it was rolled into bars, sheets and coils. The reheat furnaces were located in the Hot Strip Mill.

In 1976 two electric arc furnaces (EAFs) were added to Rouge’s operations, capable of producing 850,000 tons of steel per year. The EAF facility, unlike the older blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace combinations, worked in a one-stage process that used only high-grade scrap steel. On January 1, 1982, chairman of Ford Motor, Philip Caldwell announced Ford converted its Ford Steel Division to the Rouge Steel Company, a new subsidiary. In 1983, Ford paid $300 million for a new continuous casting system and an electro-galvanizing facility and rebuild a coke oven battery.

Over the next three years, Ford began an intensive program of investment in new equipment for the steelmaker. Over $300 million worth of improved technologies were purchased, including a rebuilt coke-oven battery, a sophisticated continuous casting system, and an electro-galvanizing operation which was opened as a joint venture between Rouge and U.S. Steel, dubbed Double Eagle. The new galvanizing operation was capable of producing 700,000 tons of galvanized sheet metal per year for use in automotive factories, the largest such operation in the world.

Installation of the continuous caster was a landmark event and brought Rouge back into a competition with other U.S. steelmakers. ln1989, the Marico Acquisition Corporation acquired eighty percent of Rouge Steel’s stock from the Ford Motor Company, and Marico merged with Rouge Steel. Eventually Rouge Steel was purchased by Severstal Steel a Russian company which continues to operate the Steel plant.

Ford Rouge plant also included the Dearborn Iron Foundry and Specialty Foundry which used cupolas to produce iron that were cast into auto parts used by Ford in the production of Ford vehicles. Exposures to the asbestos products at the mill can cause mesothelioma, lung Cancer, asbestosis and other cancers 10 – 40 years later. Even if you smoked you may be entitled to compensation if you are suffering an asbestos related disease.