What does it take to make a good car, or even a truly great one? Is it possible to design, engineer, build and market a brisk seller with the ideal powertrain, gotta-have styling, first-rate quality and the right messaging if the creators are cooped up in shabby offices with few windows and low morale?
The question is as old as the auto industry itself, and yet automakers around the world wrestle with it to this day. Now, Ford thinks it has an answer. And they gave us a tour of the new headquarters to see why.
Jim Dobleske, chairman and CEO of Ford Land, speaks inside the design dome at the new Dearborn headquarters.
This weekend, Ford Motor Co. celebrates the opening of its massive new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, as a space designed very intentionally to fuel the product-development process with an abundance of natural light, a college campus feel, tons of collaboration nooks and a massive compartmentalized café with eight food stations and seating for 1,000 people.
Ford had several headquarters buildings dating to its 1903 founding, but for the last 69 years there’s been just one: the 12-story rectangular box overlooking the Southfield Freeway in Dearborn, Michigan, regionally known as the “Glass House.”
The old headquarters was named for Henry Ford II, who was president and CEO in 1956 when the automaker went public and when the Glass House was dedicated. He died in 1987 and was the oldest son of Edsel Ford, grandson to company founder Henry Ford and uncle to the current executive chairman, Bill Ford. He’s shown his philanthropic side by spending more than $1 billion from the company coffers to refurbish the historic, long-neglected Michigan Central Station to its former grandeur. Then he turned the company’s attention to building a new world headquarters estimated to cost another $1.2 billion when it’s completed in 2027.
The new headquarters will accommodate 4,000 workers when finished in 2027.
Did Ford really need to ditch the Glass House? The old building (likely to be demolished) was for top management, like Bill Ford, and vice presidents, general managers, sales and marketing, some of the powertrain staff, human resources, purchasing agents and bean counters – lots of pencil pushers. It was a series of offices and conference rooms connected by straight hallways – pretty typical for a straightforward 1950s office building.
Perhaps of greater significance, it was an island. The building was more than three miles away – and across a divided highway – from the teams of engineers and designers working on next-generation trucks, SUVs, and cars. While it doesn’t sound like much, Ford thinks that separation hurts the development process.
When it came time for a product review, CEO Jim Farley and his top lieutenants would have to drive eight minutes (or longer in heavy traffic or snow) to the secure location at the old product development center in Dearborn to see the clay model or a finished prototype in person before giving the green light for production. Then they’d drive back to Glass House. Once everyone has moved into the new headquarters building, Farley, Bill Ford, and other top brass will take an elevator – or walk the artistically designed stairways – to the design studios without ever having to step outdoors.
The new headquarters building on Oakwood Boulevard is smack in the heart of Ford product development, a short walk to the driving dynamics test track, the dynamometer building, engineering lab, and the old product development center, part of which was demolished to make room for the new building.
“You don’t have to get in vehicles to drive all over the place anymore,” Jim Dobleske, chairman and CEO of Ford Land, told journalists touring the building for the first time.
When finished, the new four-story building will measure 2.1 million square-feet, more than twice the size of the 12-story Glass House. Capacity also doubles, from 2,000 to 4,000 people in the new structure. Visiting the other locations nearby, which used to be a 10-minute drive, now becomes a 10-minute walk.
Dobleske says the goal was to create “transformational ways of working” with new studios, garages, fabrication shops, conference rooms, open collaboration spaces, three tech-ready courtyards, and 12 acres of added greenspace with walkways surrounding the building.
Wrought iron gates were moved from their original location on Oakwood Boulevard and now serve as a gateway to the new building.
Most noticeable is the artsy, open-air feel inside and the wide, meandering hallways where walls rarely meet at 90-degree angles. Many stairways are extra wide and the steps have cushions, so a presenter at the bottom can easily address a group of coworkers.
“It really allows us to reproduce the natural light and look at our products in the best, best way possible.”
-Elisangela Previte, Ford Design’s director of Global Business Operations
There are no long, straight, dark hallways (at least in the parts of the building we saw), and just about everywhere are cozy gathering spaces with comfy lounges or high-backed chairs where employees can discuss projects away from their office, or have a break with coffee or spiced chai latte from the café. In theory, this all translates to a better environment for creating the next great American automobile.
Vintage machines have been refurbished because you can’t buy them like this anymore.
As new as the building is, there’s a retro feel with polished concrete floors that look a hundred years old, and lots of cracks in those new floors convey just how much heavy machinery has been moving inside. There are four security zones in the building, and one of the most important is for the design studio where clay models, prototypes, and competitor models can be viewed side by side under ideal light and alongside massive windows overlooking an outdoor courtyard where vehicles can be reviewed at ground level.
In this age of drones carrying cameras, the building managers are devising ways to protect these studios and viewing spaces from prying eyes. That open-air ground-level courtyard will fill up with snow and rain, so it’s attached to Ford’s new version of a design dome, with 10 turntables for reviewing vehicles under a massive oculus light orb that can be set to recreate any light source at any time of day.
“It really allows us to reproduce the natural light and look at our products in the best, best way possible,” Elisangela Previte, Ford Design’s director of Global Business Operations, tells journalists on the tour. She also says Ford designers in Dearborn have been relying on virtual meetings with their overseas colleagues, and that will still happen. But now, the new space opens doors for more on-site visits for face-to-face collaboration. In fact, we’re told a team from Australia is headed to Dearborn soon for some discussions on products.
And that’s really the crux of why Ford is building its new headquarters: to make cars better. With more people under one roof and quicker access to other key areas, the process of conceiving, designing, developing, and eventually, launching a new vehicle becomes more collaborative, more efficient, and more rewarding. At least, that’s the theory.
We won’t know for sure for at least a few years until construction is completed. But for those of us who’ve spent much of our lives and careers in the Motor City, it will be strange to not see the Glass House reflecting sunlight over traffic on the Southfield Freeway.
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