Checking out of our hotel in Pohang, we begin to file onto the bus to Ulsan where we will see Hyundai museum and their base of operations in South Korea. Today was another long day of travel, but after the temple stay, we’ve luckily gotten much more used to it.

After arriving in Ulsan, we were given 30 minutes to eat lunch and roam, ending with most of us meeting in the cafe to discuss our final presentations over coffee. Then, with an idea laid out for our presentation, our free time ran out and we began the tour of the small exhibit we were led to. Our guide gave us a quick overview of Hyundai’s history, detailing their start as Pony progressing all the way to current day where the rebranded Hyundai Motor Group has purchased KIA and is a dominant force in the international automobile market. Shortly after finishing our time in the exhibit, we were loaded back onto our bus and taken to the Ulsan production plant where we were given the opportunity to watch the actual cars be made.

In the factory, we saw an interesting combination of both manual and autonomous labor. While every single function had technology incorporated in one way or another to make it more efficient, many jobs on the line were simply impossible (or at minimum less efficient) for a machine to handle, showing the value of the human worker on every level. While the frames were all hammered out by mechanical arms and machines, we got the opportunity to watch all of the workers on the floor assemble the internals of the cars, placing insulation, engines, gaskets, and endless other components into the frames with astonishing speeds. Almost every single station on the line had an outstanding turnover rate, with a new car completed practically every minute. The level of coordination on display was beyond impressive, and seeing how technology assisted in this process was certainly interesting in itself. From conveyor belts that moved the frames, workers, and parts in unison to work stations that would automatically move the staff closer to and farther from the cars overhead depending on the part that needed added, there was always some way technology was speeding the process along.