From the factory - A visit to the Hyundai Motor India Chennai plant

A tour around one of the largest automobile plants in the country is special. We visit the Hyundai factory in Sriperumbudur near Chennai to know the process of car making live.

With an investment of over 2.7 billion USD and vendor investment of 1.2 billion USD, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is Tamil Nadu’s largest investor. Hyundai’s plant near Chennai is a fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant and boasts advance production, quality and testing capabilities. Spread over a total area of 535 acres, there are two plants inside producing 680,000 units between them. While Plant 1 has a production capacity of 330,000 units, Plant 2 can produce 350,000 units. Together, the Hyundai plant employs a total of 9,500 employees.

Hyundai Motor Limited India has been India’s number one exporter for the past eight years consecutively. In 2013, Hyundai sold a total of 380,000 units domestically and exported 110,000 units. This year, the company has sold 137,661 units during the period January to April and has exported 56,187 units for the same period.

Hyundai’s global brand value is tagged at 9 billion USD and company's present growth rate revolves around 20.5%. Hyundai has been the fastest growing automotive brand since 2005.

A total of 119 Korean and Indian companies have been appointed as vendors that provide 66% of the total supply of the components, while the remaining 34% comes directly from Hyundai Motor Company. Of the 119 companies, 42 Korean vendors provide components like engine parts, headlamps, seats, body parts and AC. The rest of 77 companies are Indian vendors, who provide components like muffler, steel wheel, battery, accelerator and alternator.

While Hyundai plant is one of the largest in India, it also has the best of the eco-friendly manufacturing practices to conserve resources and reduce consumption to the maximum. The plant is a zero discharge unit meaning it recycles 100% of the waste water. The treated water is re-utilized for in-plant purposes while the treated sewage water is used for landscaping. The waste paint sludges are processed and sent to cement industries for co-processing. Rain water harvesting is done on a large scale with over 4 ponds collecting a total of 2.75 lakh kilo liters. The plant has a 56 acre green belt with lawn and flowering shrubs along with 20,666 trees and 35,000 saplings. Even the wood that’s left out from the packing material are reused to make in-house furniture and donated to local schools in the form of benches.

Hyundai India is also planning to reduce energy consumption between 3-4% annually. Energy efficient T5 lamps and motors are used in production shops to conserve energy. Online monitoring and automatic switch off system for electrical equipment, solar water heating system, solar light pipes for office lighting and LED lights for street lighting are some other practices for energy consumption. To save propane consumption, heat recovery system has also been installed. For all the efforts, HMIL has been awarded the Green Award in the Large Industries category for the year 2011-2012 by the Tamil Nadu government.

Coming to the car making process, all the panels of the car are pressed at the Press shop and welded together at the Body shop mostly controlled by robots making the human intervention less and to ensure consistent build quality. The finished body then goes to the Paint shop where environment friendly water based process is employed.

From the Paint shop, the painted bodies are sent to the Assembly shop into the Trim line first. From the Trim line, the car goes to the Chassis line where engine and suspension parts are fitted and sent on to the Final line. When all the parts are fitted, the car goes to the OK line for inspection and is sent to the Roll & Brake testing. After this comes the real road test. The car goes through the showers afterwards and sent to the Final Inspection line.

Hyundai has also formed Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) in 2006 to initiate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in the areas of health care, educational and vocational training, environment, road safety, art, science, technology, etc. The activities of HMIF include Happy Move, Hyundai Traffic Squad, Educational and Vocational Training Program, Medical Camps and Hyundai Driving School. HMIF is funded directly from HMIL's earnings with a contribution of Rs.100 for every car sold in the Indian market.