Hyundai Kia Plant in Georgia: Stability or Responsiveness?
K. Ravi Kumar, Jisoo Yu, Duri Yi, S. P. Kim, and Sang-Cheol Nam
University of Southern California, USA and KAIST Business School, South Korea
Volume 6: 2012, pp. 31-58; ABSTRACT
Hyundai Kia Automotive Group was in big trouble at the end of the SE Asian crisis. While it had dominated domestically, its initial globalization efforts were disastrous. But with Chairman Chung firmly in control, the company had made remarkable improvements in technology and quality, combined with aggressive capacity expansion. Almost caught up in quality and technology with Toyota, it is looking at operational strategies such as fast response to vault itself ahead in the global auto industry. In its new plant in Georgia, USA, should it adopt an assemble-to-order strategy and use information technology elements like RFID and real-time planning to reduce work-in-process inventory and make to customer order? Will customers buy into this new philosophy? Will dealers and suppliers support this?
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