We only had one company visit today, but it was debatably our most exciting yet. After sleeping in a bit, we checked out of our beautiful hotel after a short stay of only one night. We boarded our bus for what seems like the 1000th time, and set out for the 30-minute journey to the massive Hyundai Motors Ulsan Plant, the largest the company has. It spans over 5,000,000 square meters and employs over 32,000 people. It has 5 separate car factories within it, in addition to engine, transmission, and other car part production areas. It is set up like a small city, complete with 20+ restaurants that serve 45,000 free meals to employees every day, a hospital, its own fire and police departments, and more. The scope is truly incredible. After a brief introduction to the company, where I learned most of the facts I just wrote, we had the chance to sit in a number of the company’s cars including electric and luxury Genesis models. After taking a funny group picture with Dr. Yun sitting in the driver’s seat, we were all given Bluetooth earpieces to listen to our guide talk as we drove throughout the facility, which was a cool high-tech touch. It was about a 5-minute drive to Car Factory 3, where we got off the bus and had the rare opportunity to actually tour the plant and watch cars being assembled. It was very interesting to watch the car parts zooming around the plant on robotic arms, being delivered to the employees who would put them where they were needed as the car bodies made the slow journey down the assembly line. All-in-all, the plant completes a car about every 10 seconds, for a grand total of 1,400,000 cars per year. About 1,000,000 of these are exported, with the US being the number one country to receive them. After this tour was complete, we drove over to see the shipping port where the cars are driven onto enormous boats to be sent to their final destinations. Cars are driven onto the boats by 280 skilled driving specialists who park the cars less than 4 inches from one another on all sides, allowing 4-6 thousand cars to fit at once, depending on the model. This was the last part of our tour, and after saying goodbye to our guide, we were off for our final destination of the trip, the largest port city in Korea, Busan. On the way, we stopped at Haeundae Beach, where we took a nice walk on the nearby sidewalk, took in the ocean views, and enjoyed a classic American lunch at TGI Friday’s. We then checked into our final hotel for this trip. 3 days to go, and I know they’re going to fly by!
