Buffalo, NY: Ford Assembly and Stamping Plants

1st Assembly, 1913: (Satellite, is this a remnant from 1915?)

2nd Assembly, 1915: (Satellite)

3rd Assembly, 1931-58: (Satellite)

Stamping, 1950-present: (Satellite)

Michael Maitland posted three images with the comment: "While looking at information on the history of the Buffalo, NY waterfront, came across this Ford Factory.  The installation of a critical breakwater allowed lake front development.  The Ford Furhmann [Fuhrmann] Assembly operated from 1931-58, then closed as assembly went to Lorain, OH.  Total output 1.2 million cars.  The building still stands, not sure of the use.  Ford's Woodlawn Stamp plant is several miles to the south and currently stamps out 425,000 tons of parts per year.   In between the two was the massive Bethlehem Lackawanna Steel works and the Shenango Steel company.  Presumed they supplied sheet steel and bar/wire.  Both gone now.  Have explored the Buffalo waterfront, well worth the visit to see the massive grain silo complexes."

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James Cavanaugh Photography posted
From my Archive. A 2005 view of the massive Terminal A building in Buffalo's Outer Harbor. Built in 1930 as the Ford Motor Co., Fuhrmann Assembly Plant, It remained in operation until 1958 with over 1.2 million Ford cars and trucks assembled there. The building was acquired by NFTA in 1967 for freight operations at the port but the building sits largely empty today.
James Cavanaugh Photography shared with the same comment.

Brian R. Wroblewski: That place is doomed. Too big, too old, & too run down. It's got an outdated, old school manufacturing layout inside & out. It's not good to convert to anything. It'd be more economically feasible to knock it down & start over. Problem there is, whoever tries anything with it is probably taking on a major environmental clean up too on top of whatever else they wanna do.

Paul Bauer: Brian R. Wroblewski yes to what you commented plus low ceiling height. Tops utilized the space for about 15 years as a grocery distribution center. It was very inefficient. Then, Tops moved to Lancaster with new facilities.

Henry Ford had an office in the building. It was very sparse!!!

Jim Cavanaugh: 559,000-square feet! Recent photos of the interior I saw showed it to be in terrible condition. Certainly large enough for a convention center, but inhospitable weather conditions for 4-5 months a year would make that doubtful.

[A comment indicates that the floor is heaved with broken concrete. The best suggestion I saw was interior boat storage.]

Joe Paracio posted
Ford Motor Company Fuhrmann Boulevard no year.
Jim Myers shared

 

Doug O. Dean commeted on Jim's share
Now known as terminal A. It was ford's buffalo assembly plant from 1930-1958.

Ford started assembly with the Model T with a plant at Kensington Ave. and Erie Railroad in 1913. In Dec 1915, Ford moved to Main St. and Rodney.

I included the area north of the park to capture the railroad names. The first plant would have been served by Erie and the second plant was served by NYC.

1950 Buffalo Quad @ 24,000

It is not obvious which railroad(s) served the third plant.

1948 Buffalo Quad @ 62,500

Stamping Plant

This 1950 plant occupies 88 acres. [Ford, clicked Buffalo Stamping Plant]

Tall presses need a tall building.

Street View, Jun 2023

Julio cabezas, Dec 2017, cropped

Ford invested $60m in 2022

WKBW

WKBW

gardnerweb
Ford invested $150m in the 2.5m sq. ft. plant in 2013.

I always wonder how much of the content of a modern manufacturing plant is Made in America.

4:39 video @ 0:11

The first application of robots in manufacturing was for "pick and place." They not only relieve humans of a very tedious job, but they can also easily handle larger pieces.

It looks like the press is a press inside a press. Note that after the big part comes down, there is a smaller part in the middle that comes down.

4:39 video @ 2:14

6 construction photos of the building (source)