Recently, we spent an entire day at Hyundai Motor India Ltd’s Sriperumbudur facility. Situated on the outskirts of Chennai, HMIL’s plant in India is said to be among its most modern plants across the globe. This plant caters to the demand in both domestic and export markets, making it among the most important car manufacturing facilities in India.
The Hyundai Motor India Chennai facility is Hyundai Motor Company’s first successful integrated overseas plant. This facility has been established with an investment of more than US Dollars 2.7 Billion! No surprise then that Hyundai Motor India is Tamil Nadu’s largest investor. The Hyundai Motor India Chennai facility is spread over a total area of 535 acres, and comprises of two sub-divisions- Phase 1 and Phase 2. Both these sub divisions are highly flexible in nature and can manufacture any of the models from the car maker’s present line up.
The plant has over 9500 employees and while 34 percent of components come from Hyundai Motor Company, Korea, the remaining 66% are supplied from 119 vendors comprising of Korean and Indian companies.
Quite obviously, the manufacturing processes at Hyundai Motor India Chennai facility are at par with most manufacturers in the country and the very fact that cars for domestic market and export markets are rolled out from the same production lines, after having undergone the same manufacturing processes, goes on to say the quality production practices being employed by India’s second largest selling car maker. Lest we forget, Hyundai India also holds the tile of India’s biggest car exporter!
While Hyundai India employs the best manufacturing practices and stringent of quality checks, there’s more to Hyundai India’s production plant than just dolling out large numbers of well engineered vehicles.
Hyundai India takes pride in employing the most eco-friendly manufacturing practices. Worth a mention here is that this plant recycles 100% of the water that is used, leading to zero discharge of waste/untreated water. The manufacturing facility has more than 20,000 trees and more than 35,000 saplings. Hyundai says that the count of trees in this facility will stand at over 50,000 by the end of this year, making it among the most green of such facilities across the country. Hyundai has also put into use energy efficient T5 lamps and motors, automatic switch off system for electrical equipments, solar systems for water heating and light pipes and LEDs for street lights. In recognition of Hyundai’s efforts to promote environmental friendliness, the HMIL Chennai plant has been awarded the Green Award in the Large Industries segment by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Furthermore, Hyundai India has come up with Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF), to launch various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. All these activities are aimed at uplifting the social conditions in the locality. Hyundai India contributes INR 100 towards HMIF funds for every car it sells in the country.
