LexFather

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/07/h...le-in-alabama/

PRESS RELEASE:

ONE MILLIONTH VEHICLE ROLLS OFF HYUNDAI MOTOR MANUFACTURING ALABAMA ASSEMBLY LINE

Montgomery, Ala., November 30, 2009 - Today, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) President and CEO H.I. Kim, drove HMMA's 1,000,000 vehicle - a 2010 Sonata ? off the assembly line with Mayor Todd Strange, Hyo-Seung Kim, CEO and President of Sejong and HMMA Team Member Angela Collins joining him in Hyundai's top-selling vehicle in North America.
"Our guests of honor today are without a doubt the team members wearing the Hyundai logo on their chest," H.I. Kim proudly exclaimed to the crowd gathered for the ceremony. "We've over came many challenges since production began in 2005 and through it all our Team Members never turned away from those challenges. It is because of you that we were able to accomplish this tremendous milestone."

In a little more than four and one-half years, HMMA reached the 1,000,000 vehicle mark. The plant has produced two different vehicles since 2006, the Sonata and Santa Fe.

A total of 655,496 Sonatas and 344,504 Santa Fes were built to reach this achievement in the plant's short history.

"Most of you had never worked in automobile plant, but you embraced the opportunity to be trained to do a brand new job, with brand new equipment in a brand new manufacturing facility," explained Rick Neal, HMMA vice president and general counsel. "You learned to build cars in a very short time. Your vehicles have won numerous awards because you worked together as one team to build world class, high quality Hyundai vehicles. Congratulations to each and every one of you."

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, who helped bring Hyundai to Alabama during his tenure as director of the Alabama Development Office, congratulated Team Members for reaching 1,000,000 vehicles and helping to expand the automotive manufacturing sector in Alabama. Mayor Strange was one of the first representatives from Alabama to meet with Hyundai executives. More than eight years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, he flew to Seoul, South Korea to lure the global company to Montgomery.

Carver Senior High School's Drum Line, under the direction of Stephen Langford, entertained everyone with a raucous performance as the 2010 Sonata traveled down the quality inspection line. Plus, team members enjoyed spraying confetti over the sedan as it exited the line.

HMMA started producing Sonatas in May 2005. Santa Fes were added to the assembly lines in April 2006. The plant is currently manufacturing the 2010 Santa Fe and will soon begin assembling the "all new" 2011 Sonata.

HMMA employs more than 2,700 team members and has an annual economic impact of $420 million on the River Region.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

that's great. way to go hyundai. i bet the next million comes much faster.

LexBob2

Nice job.

I wonder if/when they'll build other models there.

IS-SV

The party is justified!

mmarshall

Yes, not only the party for the 1 millionth Hyundai built there, but for the fact that Hyundai can also produce vehicles there with good quality (I have reviewed both the new Santa Fe and new Sonata, and was impressed with both of them in their build quality). Consumer Reports has also given U.S.-built Hyundais better-than-average reliability ratings. In fact, the all-new, redesigned, American-built Sonatas, introduced in 2006, were notably more reliable than the previous-generation ones from South Korea.

It also helps dispel the old stereotype about workers in the southern U.S. being a bunch of hicks that cannot deal with modern auto plants and high-tech construction to precise standards. It is true that the Nissan/Infiniti plant at Canton, MS and the Mercedes plant at Tuscaloosa, AL had severe quality problems for several years. But, with the Mercedes plant, that may not have been the workers' fault, because Mercedes products from plants all over the world have had problems since the mid-1990's, which indicates design problems more than worker problems. And the Toyota plant at Georgetown, KY, the Saturn plant at Spring Hill, TN (where the reliable, S-class plastic-body cars were built), and Nissan's own sister plant at Smyrna, TN (just a few miles from Spring Hill), where they have not had the production problems they did at Canton, proved that workers from the American South CAN help produce quality vehicles.

IS-SV

Again I will avoid discussion of the stereotypes, in this case about people of the south, since it's old school and an out of date sweeping generalization, it's not relevant.

The south has a number of first class auto manufacturing facilities. In the modern era US domestic plant location and even COO is of less importance than good design and top tier manufacturing practices.

Hyundai deserves to celebrate it's success.

KA8

iTrader: (1)

Oh nice! didn't even realized it's been 4 yrs already. Good job Hyundai!

mmarshall

OK, fine. I was only discussing WHY it wasn't relevant. I thought it was an important point that should be brought up.....other plants in the South, not just this one, have proved that good products can be built there. I agree, though, that the matter does not have to be brought up any more.

LexBob2

I agree. Geographic differences don't matter much, if at all, these days.

mmarshall

That's also because robots and computers do so much of the work today. Still, you need skilled people for things the robots don't do, to run the robots, and to back them up.

On a slightly different note, I have to admit I was concerned when the new plant opened up in Alabama four years ago. You had not only an all-new work force for Sonata production, but in an all-new country, and an all-new, totally-redesigned Sonata at that...a classic recipe for potential problems. But, inspite of all that, the vehicles coming out of that plant have indeed been remarkable.....in reviews, I have been quite impressed with them, and have even helped some other people shop for and buy them. (One of those who came to me for advice and help on a new car was the President of our own Federal Employee union local...he liked the new Sonata, and bought one even though the plant wasn't unionized.....that tells you something)