A Trip to the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Plant

Posted by Alabama Tourism intern Brooke Franco:

As a part of my internship, I recently had the opportunity to visit the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant located right off I-65 outside of Montgomery. I was amazed at what I was able to see on the tour of this facility. This particular Hyundai Plant produces the Hyundai Santa Fes and Hyundai Sonatas. They offer guided one and a half hour tours Mondays-Fridays three times a day, and only one evening tour per week, with a reservation.

The tour started off as our guide gave us a brief overview of the history of Hyundai, the plant itself, and the car making process. They then showed us a brief video about how the plant was run and gave us an idea of things to look for as we were on our tour. The entire facility is huge, spanning several miles. The tours are given on trams driven by your guide and take you as up close as you can to seeing how the process is done.

I was completely amazed with the robots and the technology that the plant uses in making its cars. Hundreds of robots are used that perform jobs like welding, stamping parts of the car from steel, putting in the car consoles, and placing on the windshields, all in a matter of a few seconds.

The tour first takes you into the stamping section where steel is cut, transformed into recognizable parts of a car, and then welded on to create what looks like a car body. You are next taken into the general assembly building where the majority of the production is done. Watch as the wiring, engine, battery, seats, windows, doors, and everything else are put into the car by both workers and robots. As cars leave this building they are drivable and ready for the rigorous testing done to each vehicle. Your final stop of the tour takes you to where the engines are assembled as robots cut the parts that are assembled by team members.

Overall, I was very impressed with the tour and watching how the facility was run. I was really impressed with the fact that so many of the Hyundai team members stopped and waved to the tram as the tour passed along, and that they seemed to be so happy to have visitors. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone!