The development of the Hyundai Production System: The historical evolution

• Published in: Journal of manufacturing systems Vol. 43; pp. 47 - 57
• Main Authors: Nunes, Fabiano, Vaccaro, Guilherme Luís Roehe, Antunes, José Antônio Valle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2017
• Subjects: Critical incident analysis; Historical evolution; Hyundai; Production system; Production system; Critical incident analysis; Historical evolution; Hyundai
• ISSN: 0278-6125; 1878-6642
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmsy.2017.02.003

•The Hyundai Production System, arose from the need of Hyundai Motor Company to compete in the global automotive market.•Since the company’s inception in 1967, processes and methods were applied in pursuit of a production system, since the use of mass production concepts, past the frustrated attempt of adoption of TPS to focus on setting up your own production system.•Since the publication of Lee and Jo [35], the theme Hyundai production System emerges as a possible new model for production systems. While the Toyota Production System (TPS) and its derivations have been widely adopted by industrial or services organizations along the past 50 years, alternative production systems have shown relevant results. In recent decades, a Korean vehicle producer has attracted attention due to its significant raise of market-share in the automotive world industry. The Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) developed a production system characterized by: Modularization, Automation, Just-in-Sequence, Supply Chain Management, and Flexible Manufacturing Systems. Based on literature and documental review, this paper discusses critical incidents and key features that shaped the Hyundai Production System (HPS). The paper chronologically characterizes the critical incidents identified, and analyzes the attempts to introduce different features in this system, considering these events. As main result, the influence of contextual features and historical events on the decisions made by the HMC are analyzed, seeking to provide better understanding about the development of HPS.