Today was filled with company visits. We first visited a Hyundai factory. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a large screen and many displayed parts of cars. This particular factory we visited produces a car every 50 seconds which is much faster than I would have ever believed. Every year, they produce over 300 thousand cars and only have 3 thousand workers. In total, the tour of the factory lasted about an hour, and I felt that I learned a lot from it.

The production of the cars is almost completely autonomous. The factory has many designated sections. For example, there are painting, assembly, and welding sections. Although some of these sections could be in different buildings, an assembly line connects everything. It was fascinating to see all of the robotic arms move throughout the shops without conflicting with each other. They even had a machine that worked 10 robotic arms simultaneously while welding and rotating parts. It cost the company over 2 billion dollars to construct it. I asked out of curiosity how the company is impacted by maintenance and equipment issues, and I was told that that the processes are barely affected. Each line works independently, and processes can be skipped for a later time. Hyundai also has a factory that produces robotics, so they are also able to fix problems quickly.

The next visit was TK Elevators. TKE had an excellent facility. They had fitness areas, golf simulators, basketball courts, and a theater. The factory also shared some similarities to Hyundai’s in terms of automation but to a lower degree. I found both of these tours very intriguing because I want to focus on robotics throughout my career in computer engineering. These visits could put into perspective the size and scale of projects being used for automation.