HYUNDAI NORTH AMERICA

Automotive Manufacuring Facility Conceptual Process and Facility Design

In January of 2001, Seoul, Korea-based Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) enjoyed a 60% market share in its native country, but was looking to strengthen its global presence in the automotive industry. Buoyed by a 30% increase in North American sales in 2000, HMC acted quickly to help secure a greater market share on the North American continent. HMC’s project team leaders turned to Context Design Group to create a conceptual design for a new, highly flexible manufacturing facility capable of producing 300,000 vehicles per year.


HMC in conjunction with KPMG charged Context Design Group's team members with designing a facility that would be state-of-the-art in the automotive industry at the start of production in 2005. Context’s project team  members conducted an intensive series of master planning sessions, working with HMC team leaders to define the operational and aesthetic goals for the new facility. Drawing on its extensive industry experience, Context set out to design a facility that would be highly flexible to adapt to changing market needs while minimizing HMC’s initial capital investment.


The result is a 2.8 million square foot facility that represents the newest generation of car manufacturing techniques. The site master plan hinges on a compact final assembly area containing two assembly lines. The two lines are designed using a finger concept, allowing both the building and production capacity to expand with with minimal capital investment and little disruption to the manufacturing process.  With a heavy emphasis on the outsourcing of subassemblies, Context Design Group reduced the line-side storage to just two hours, allowing for a smaller building footprint. An on-site supplier sequencing center provides space to kit and sequence subassemblies for Just-in-Time delivery to the line.


The site is master planned to accommodate a 300% increase in the Body Shop square footage, doubling of the Paint Shop capacity and a 50% increase in the assembly line’s production volume, all with minimal disruptions to daily operations.  Throughout the design process, Context Design Group worked closely with HMC’s project team as well as with key material and equipment suppliers to ensure a highly efficient process flow, materials handling concept, building design and site layout that would allow Hyundai to expand quickly and easily to meet increased market demand.


* Completed as an OA-FMP Project