The new Henry Ford II World Center will house 4,000 staff and redefine Ford’s collaborative future
Keeping up in the automotive industry requires more than cash and good ideas. For Ford, it means moving its world headquarters from its iconic ‘Glass House’ building at 1 American Road. It’ll now call home the new Henry Ford II World Center home in Dearborn, Michigan. The sprawling campus covers 2.1 million square feet and will serve as the brand’s global hub.
For almost 70 years, the Glass House served as Ford’s global nerve center. Things change, though, and as Executive Chairman Bill Ford put it, “The future of our industry demands a different kind of space, one that is more connected, more flexible, and built for the speed of a technology and software-driven company.” That’s what this new campus will provide it hopes.
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The new headquarters sits on the site of Ford’s former product development center and dwarfs the old site. Employee capacity is literally double that of the Glass House and another 14,000 Ford workers will be within a 15-minute walk. The ultra-modern complex serves several purposes.
Bigger, Smarter, Faster
Ford says it conducted a two-year study to improve the efficiency and cut material movement time by 80 percent. The result of that study led to the design of this new HQ. Inside the building, employees will find six design studios, a 160,000-square-foot food hall, 303 tech-enabled meeting rooms, and a massive showroom with 10 turntables and a 64-foot micro-LED screen for full-scale vehicle reviews.
A vertically stacked layout allows vehicles to drive throughout the building for product testing and presentations. Ford is hoping to achieve Net-Zero Energy status with the building. It expects this new HQ to use 50 percent less energy than the Glass House despite being dramatically larger.
Future Moves
Over the next year or so, workers at the Glass House will transition to other locations. After that, the iconic building will be sustainably decommissioned and demolished over a period of 18 months. Then Ford and the city of Dearborn will work together to repurpose the land for community use.
Interestingly, the new HQ will get a new address of 1 American Road, which is the same as the previous one. The first employees to move to the new building will do so in November of this year. “This is a pivotal moment. We are not just building the next generation of vehicles; we are building the next generation of Ford,” Jim Farley and Bill Ford said.
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Stephen, affectionately known as Rivers, has gracefully transitioned from being a repair shop manager and… Read full bio
