On the 20th, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment announced that it held a completion ceremony for a smart factory that will serve as a global production hub at the Ulsan Campus in Donggu, Ulsan. More than 400 attendees, including Kwon Oh-gap, chairman of HD Hyundai, Jeong Gi-seon, vice chairman, Jo Young-cheol, president of HD Hyundai XiteSolution, and Choi Cheol-gon, president of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, were present.
This construction is a project aimed at enhancing factory facilities and expanding production capacity, with approximately 200 billion won invested since 2023. The existing site, measuring a total of 234,710 square meters (about 71,000 pyong), has integrated the first and second factories, and expansions and reorganizations of the production lines, as well as the construction of a quality assurance center, have been carried out.
The production and logistics lines have been unified, and a real-time product tracking system has been introduced across all processes to optimize workflow and maximize production efficiency. The manufacturing line for sheet metal components has applied welding robots and vision sensors to enhance productivity and quality consistency, while the assembly line for construction equipment has introduced Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and AI-based quality inspection systems to increase the level of automation.
HD Hyundai Construction Equipment expects that this project will lead to an approximately 20% improvement in labor productivity and a reduction of about 35% in the time taken to complete products. The annual production capacity for excavators and wheel loaders is also expected to increase by 56%, from the existing 9,600 units to 15,000 units.
HD Hyundai Construction Equipment plans to cultivate the Ulsan Campus as a global production hub, termed the "Mother Plant," and to actively connect it with major overseas production subsidiaries and customization centers in the U.S. and Europe.