The Making of Hyundai Cars in Chennai: Plant Tour

[350Z]

Tour of an automobile manufacturing plant is always an enriching experience regardless of your previous number of visits. In 2013, we travelled to Hyundai headquarters in South Korea to witness state-of-the art manufacturing facility in Asan (http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...obal-hyundai-club-invitation-south-korea.html). Hyundai recently invited a group of selected journalists for an in-depth tour of its local nerve center on outskirts of Chennai which plays a key role towards growth of this brand on an international scale. The plant situated in Sriperumbudur makes Hyundai the largest car exporter in India and continues to cater various markets across the globe 24 x 7 x 365. There are multiple manufacturing facilities within the same vicinity which are cleverly utilized to balance the production requirements for local as well as international markets.

Foundation:

• Plant 1: September 1998

• Plant 2: October 2007

Investment:

• General: $2.7 Billion

• Vendor: $1.2 Billion

Area:

• Plant 1: 178,512 m²

• Plant 2: 191,735 m²

• Total Land: 535 Acres

Capacity:

• Plant 1: 3,30,000 Units Per Year

• Plant 2: 3,50,000 Units Per Year

• Man Power: 9,500 Employees

The combined production is 6,80,000 units per annum on 3 shift basis.

Production:

• Plant 1: Santro, i20, Accent, Elantra, Sonata

• Plant 2: i10, Grand i10, i20, Xcent, Verna Fluidic

Note that both units are flexible to accommodate the i20 in order to meet overall global demand.

 

[350Z]

Fast Facts:

• Hyundai India is among the largest investors and one of the biggest employers in Tamil Nadu.

• HMIL's manufacturing plant claims to have the most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in country.

• Hyundai has set up a research and development facility called Hyundai Motor India Engineering (HMIE) in the cyber city of Hyderabad.

• The company has also formed Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) to initiate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in the area.

• As HMC's global export hub for compact cars, Hyundai is the first automotive company in India to achieve the export of 10 lakh cars in just over a decade.

• Hyundai India currently exports vehicles to more than 110 countries. It has been the number one exporter of passenger cars for the sixth year in a row in India.

Association with Employees:

It's an open secret that Koreans are workaholics but company has taken essential steps to keep its employees contented and nurture a healthy working environment.

• There are four canteens that dish out 22,000 meals a day.

• Two well-equipped 24x7 medical centers and a modern gymnasium.

• Fleet of buses to every part of the city. They cover 6 lakh kilometers a month.

• Developmental programs: Yoga, spoken english, computer literacy, financial planning, etc.

• Home visits: To help and understand the employee's concerns if he / she is absent over a certain time.

• Care and share forum for employees' spouses, children's activity clubs and newly wed couples visit programmes etc.

 

[350Z]

On the southwest of Chennai lies the city of Sriperumbudur which houses a mini Hyundai land in itself in the form of Hyundai's mega factory. If sources are to be trusted, the company does not permit outsiders to drive in with a non-Hyundai car in premises. Therefore, visitors are ferried around in Korean machines. We were no exception. Waiting for us at the airport was a one-off Hyundai H1 Van that serves the official executives, while inside the plant we toured in ultra-comfortable Universe Bus. The tour began with an overview of Hyundai's corporate social responsibility initiatives. Some development projects by Hyundai Motor India Foundation include:

• Arts and Cultural Events: Supporting the Indo-Korean cultural centre events and organizing other cultural programs.

• Educational Programs: Supporting ITI programs, supply of benches and desks to schools, donation of cars and engines.

• Road Safety: Hyundai driving school, student traffic volunteer program, highways lights for 4 kms on either sides of the factory, Hyundai Accent cars for cops.

• Community Development: White band campaign, model village program, Global youth volunteer program, Go green campaign, renovation of government hospital.

The rain water is harvested in four ponds like this one with capacity of 2.75 lakh kiloliters. Enough to run entire plant uninterrupted for about a week.

The wooden crates (in which vehicle components are supplied in bulk) are reused to manufacture furniture which is donated to local schools.

Tada. A Hyundai branded table!

"Good environment. Good cars" is what labeled outside this reverse osmosis treatment zone.

It 100% recycles the water for in-plant processes. Additionally, treated sewage water is used for landscaping.

It also processes and sends out the waste paint sludge to cement industries for co-processing.

Green Belt spanning over 56 acres in the campus includes 20,666 trees and 35,000 saplings. Plus, there's a large farm house based on typical Korean theme.

​

 

[350Z]

Manufacturing a car is complicated process, especially when there's more than one model on same assembly line, but precision with which it's executed is truly applaudable.

Body shop is where it all begins with a simple sheet of metal that's ultimately transformed into our everyday cars.

Hyundai India's prime supplier of steel is Hyundai Steel Corporation and Tata Steel.

Massive rolls of sheet metal is cut, stamped and welded together in form of various body panels. Just like this one.

Ample of safety measures can be easily seen across the plant. Falling sparks are common in body shop. That's when the roof net comes to rescue.

Different panels are assembled in the main buck area. This is the phase when metal actually begins to look like a car.

A work-in-progress i10 with crew tasked with installation of all the doors.

There goes an Xcent with almost all job done in body shop.

Prepared body shells are then carried over to paint shop. Since paint shop is a highly sanitized and dust-free zone, visitors are not allowed to peek in.

 

[350Z]

We proceeded towards Plant #2 which rolls out i10, Grand i10, i20, Xcent and Fluidic Verna for both, domestic and international markets.

The shopfloor area measures upto 51,200 Sq.M with conveyor length of 1891.5 meters and total 174 stations, producing 53 cars per hour.

Parts from total 119 vendors are incorporated in each Hyundai manufactured in India.

Out of it, 42 are Korean vendors (for engine parts, headlamps, seats, air conditioner etc) and 77 are Indian vendors (for muffler, steel wheels, battery etc).

Neat samples explaining do's and don'ts for trim installation process are showcased right at the entrance of shopfloor.

Each unit is carefully assessed after manufacturing. If diagnosed with a bodywork issue, it's dispatched to touch up booth.

This sample explains some of the kinds of defects and the amount of time that it takes to fix them.

Painted body shells now arrive at trim line with all doors removed to enable easy access on the interiors.

Trim line is where the dashboard and other interior bits are put in (such as seat belts, roof lining etc).

A robotic machine first brings the dashboard of exact trim to the designated station.

The worker pulls out the machine and secures dashboard into the vehicle. It's amazing to understand how entire plants are synchronized to perfection.

If station X has body shell of left hand drive i10 at a specific time, the machine will fetch the left hand drive dashboard of exact variant.

Thanks to RFID technology due to which it has become possible. Entire plant runs on predetermined daily, weekly, monthly and yearly schedules.

Get this: Hyundai's Chennai Plant alone produces more than thousand variants of cars, including exports! One car is manufactured in every 72 seconds.

An ovenfresh set of rear bumpers ready to be installed.

 

[350Z]

Screens are equipped across the shopfloor indicating targets of each station.

A shelf storing coolant reservoirs. Starter motors are packed in the container on right.

Conveyer now moves the bodies to a section where engine, transmission and other components are clubbed together, better known as "chassis marriage".

This is where body meets the soul.

Finally the wheels, doors and remaining bits are installed so that car can head straight to the final line.

Left hand drive Grand i10. Though it has black bumpers but it features rear defogger, power windows etc which are still a farfetched dream for base variants in India.

Final line, as the name suggests, is where the final finishing happens.

Here all the scratch guards are removed from exterior panels to prepare for shower test. They're reapplied before the car is loaded for shipment.

Ever noticed OK stickers on windscreen? This is done when car passes OK line and undergoes various tests and is finally ready to be delivered to you.

 

[350Z]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft1vdjniqrk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhkUWgwjxi4​

 

[samkolkata]

Thanks for sharing. Was just amazed to see how cars are made in HMIL. Also the base variant of grand i10 with features like power windows and defoggers is really awesome. Hope HMIL launched it here..

 

[GrandRk]

Nice to have tour in HMIL along with your writeup. I also liked to video's posted especially the shop floor guy checking the fitting of the door by proper pulling it two times.

 

[Ambylovers]

Hi,
Hyundai is great in terms of launching their ideas to Indian Market. In the Competition of Car Interiors, The Cars from Hyundai are a very serious contender.
Its good to see their Manufacturing facilities in Tamilnadu, India.

 

[macsvin]

Thanks 350 Z for sharing such a nice information. I was not really aware that on single production line the manufacturers usally has different colors & models. I was thinking that per day per line they will be producing only 1 type of car like X Base models, Y top end models and so on.

 

[350Z]

Thanks 350 Z for sharing such a nice information. I was not really aware that on single production line the manufacturers usally has different colors & models. I was thinking that per day per line they will be producing only 1 type of car like X Base models, Y top end models and so on.

This is even more interesting: Cars on the same belt are painted in different colors at the same time! Same machine can spray in different colors because of separate nozzles.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[Figoian]

Hi Vibhor - Thanks for taking us for a tour in Hyundai. BTW, when is the Nissan Plant visit happening? Eagerly waiting for it as I have missed the VW one.

Also the base variant of grand i10 with features like power windows and defoggers is really awesome. Hope HMIL launched it here..

That's basically the demand & supply bro. They don't provide us even with bare minimum safety feature like Rear Wiper/Washer and Defogger and we (Indians) don't care it either. Rather, we are more interested in Body Colored Bumper and Fancy Alloys than safety. If we dare to say No-No to such products lacking safety, they would stop giving us as they don't have a choice.

 

[ASIR]

In 2008 i was selected as a Graduate Engineering Trainee at Plant 2. These photographs reminded me those thrilling days i was waiting for my dream job in an automobile production plant. Dream shattered due to some internal recruitment crisis and i was left in the waiting list for months. I then did my PG and started a small firm with couple of my friends and we are running profitable.

THank you 350 Z for a nice plant tour.

 

[gagan_1992]

Thanks 350Z for sharing. I was just amazed to see how cars are manufactured in Hyundai Motor India