Hyundai Motor Group completes test bed HMGICS in Singapore to demonstrate future mobility

[비즈니스포스트] Hyundai Motor Group has built a human-centered smart urban mobility hub in Singapore and is taking on a new challenge toward becoming a 100-year company.

Hyundai Motor Group has established the ‘Hyundai Motor Group Singapore Global Innovation Center (HMGICS)’ in Singapore to research, demonstrate and produce human-centered future mobility.

In order to lead the next 50 years of electrification beyond the 50 years of the internal combustion engine era, Hyundai Motor Group plans to make HMGICS one of the two axes of the group’s innovation along with the Ulsan electric vehicle plant, which will be completed in 2025.

Hyundai Motor Group held a completion ceremony at HMGICS, located in the Jurong Innovation District in western Singapore, on the 21st.

HMGICS is researching and demonstrating human-centered future mobility based on Hyundai Motor Group’s ‘business innovation’ such as ‘technological innovation’ based on an intelligent and automated manufacturing platform, ‘manufacturing innovation’ centered on a multi-product flexible production system, and △building a sales model based on customer experience. It is a test bed that does this.

The completion ceremony was attended by key figures in the political relations between the two countries, including Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor Company President Jang Jae-hoon, and President Kim Yong-hwa.

Chairman Chung Eui-sun said in his welcoming speech, “Singapore and Hyundai Motor Group have a common innovation DNA that moves toward a better future,” and “Based on this spirit, Hyundai Motor Group seeks to achieve innovation through new, people-centered technologies.”

He added, “I am confident that through HMGICS, we will be able to create innovative mobility solutions that can bring positive changes to human development.”

Hyundai Motor Group said, “We decided that Singapore was the best place to build HMGICS due to its excellent infrastructure, including open policies, economy, and excellent talent.”

Jurong Innovation District, where HMGICS is located, is an area being developed in accordance with the economic reform plan announced by the Singapore government in 2016, and is being reborn as a high-tech industrial complex leading the digital transformation (DT) that fosters manufacturing and converts the entire process to digital. .

HMGICS was established on a site of approximately 44,000 m2 (13,000 pyeong) in the Jurong Innovation District, with a total floor area of ​​approximately 90,000 m2 (27,000 pyeong), two underground levels, and seven above-ground floors.

It consists of a complex space equipped with all facilities in one building, including small-scale manufacturing facilities, workspace for research and development (R&D) and office work, and customer experience facilities.

The first floor is home to an automatic logistics system, smart farm, brand experience space, and customer vehicle delivery space, while the second and fourth floors have office space, and the third floor is a smart manufacturing facility and customer experience space. A sky track was installed on the 5th floor rooftop for vehicle test drives and testing.

HMGICS began operations early this year and is producing the IONIQ 5 and self-driving robotaxi. It can produce more than 30,000 electric vehicles per year.

In order to optimize production for various orders from customers, Hyundai Motor Group introduced the ‘Cell’ system, a flexible production method that can produce different types of mobility simultaneously instead of a conveyor belt, to HMGICS.

This allows workers and production robots to produce mobility to suit a variety of vehicle needs in a single oval-shaped cell. Even if the number of car models produced increases, production planning and lead time can be shortened with optimized algorithms.

Hyundai Motor Group has established a data platform that can standardize and manage all information generated in the business area for flexible production. By building a 5G communication network throughout the building, we have also created an environment where data can be quickly transmitted and analyzed in real time.

We also built a meta factory that reproduces a digital twin (twin factory) in a virtual three-dimensional space and can be simulated and controlled as if operating a real factory.

In HMGICS, robots and people are organically connected and collaborate. Using digital twins, when workers give instructions in a virtual space, robots deployed in each process, such as parts, car body, and assembly, calculate the optimal timing and path and perform work.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to increase production efficiency by gradually introducing the manufacturing platform developed and proven by HMGICS to new global electric vehicle plants, such as the Georgia Electric Vehicle (HMGMA) plant in the U.S. and the Ulsan Electric Vehicle (EV) plant in Korea, which is scheduled for completion in 2025. I made a plan.

“HMGICS is a smart urban mobility hub where urban infrastructure, mobility, and people are connected based on new concept technology solutions,” said Hong-Beom Jeong, Executive Director of HMGICS, Hyundai Motor Group. “It is a human-centered manufacturing system that combines cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, information and communication technology, and robotics.” “This will be the new standard,” he said.

Hyundai Motor Group has also established a customer-centered platform in HMGICS that spans from ordering to delivery of mobility.

When a customer orders a vehicle by applying specifications such as trim, color, and options online through a smartphone, HMGICS produces the vehicle according to the customer’s order.

Once manufactured, the vehicle is moved to the 620m long sky track located on the roof of the building and subjected to driving tests. Customers can also test drive at Skytrack.

HMGICS applied transparent glass to part of the building so that customers visiting to deliver their vehicles can look into the exhibition space from outside.

The third floor of the building provides a service that allows customers to experience the process of creating a vehicle in a virtual space through a virtual reality (VR) tour.

On the first and third floors of HMGICS, a futuristic farm called ‘Smart Farm’ using cutting-edge technologies such as robotics was installed.

Singapore has only 1% of agricultural land and relies on imports for more than 90% of its food. Hyundai Motor Group has set a goal to contribute to solving Singapore’s food issues through smart farms.

At the completion ceremony on this day, Hyundai Motor Group signed a business agreement (MOU) with local universities and government research institutes to build a future mobility ecosystem in Singapore through HMGICS.

HMGICS signed an MOU to build a technology development ecosystem with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Agency for Science and Technology, a technology development research institute under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, and decided to establish Singapore’s first joint research institute among universities, government, and companies.

The joint research lab utilizes Singapore’s outstanding talent to research next-generation autonomous production operating systems such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and metaverse.

An MOU to build an industrial ecosystem was signed with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF).

Through this, the two allied organizations and Hyundai Motor Group decided to cooperate in creating a sustainable and differentiated future mobility ecosystem based on HMGICS’ innovative manufacturing technology platform.

In addition, prior to the completion ceremony, Hyundai Motor Company signed a ‘Hydrogen Mobility Ecosystem Building Cooperation MOU’ with Singaporean logistics company PTCL and agreed to jointly cooperate in building and developing Singapore’s hydrogen mobility ecosystem.

PTCL is a major logistics company in Singapore that operates transportation, warehousing, and rental businesses, and is known to have shown great interest in introducing hydrogen mobility to transform into an eco-friendly logistics business.

President Jang Jae-hoon said, “Hyundai Motor Group will continue various collaboration strategies with Singapore to develop future mobility production and technological innovation solutions and build and develop a sustainable ecosystem,” adding, “We will continue to present newer mobility paradigms through creative attempts.” “We will continue to strive to do so,” he said. Reporter Heo Won-seok