At Hyundai’s EV plant in Singapore, robotic arms, AI and robot dogs are some of the new features used to assemble cars in specialized cells. It’s a new automaking method taking place in smaller, more flexible microfactories instead of traditional production lines. But is the future of car manufacturing leaning towards more automation?

WSJ explains how microfactories could change the way cars are made and what that means for the future of automaking.

0:00 Singapore’s new EV factory
1:00 Microfactories vs. traditional factories 
3:10 How microfactories affect labor
4:31 Are microfactories the future?

News Explainers
Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news.

#Cars #Manufacturing #WSJ

This may look like just another car factory, but it's actually a new microfactory, manned by autonomous robot dogs and robotic arms monitored by AI.

It's designed to change the way cars are produced, and it's been built in the heart of 1 of the smallest and most expensive countries in the world, Singapore.

Typically car manufacturers don't build car factories in dense urban cities like Singapore.

But here It's going to be different from most car factories.

Robots are going to do a lot of the manufacturing, and it's going to be a much more flexible model.

Microfactories reinvent the way cars are made by automating most of the process and building them in a cell rather than along a production line.

This could be the future in which we talk in a couple of years from now.

Microfactories are 1 of the biggest changes to car making in a generation.

And if the concept is proven, it could shape the future of the industry.

For over 100 years, cars have been built in large plants, manned by hundreds of workers.

The trend has been towards building bigger factories.

Tesla's Gigafactory facility, located near Austin, Texas, covers more than 10 million square feet of factory floor space and has the capacity to build more than 250,000 vehicles a year.

By comparison, Hyundai's new micro-factory in Singapore stands just over 935,000 square feet.

The car makers to the plant could produce up to 30,000 cars a year.

Hyundai has pushed aside the traditional assembly process to allow for a much smaller footprint.

Behind me, there are robots that are putting together the final finishing touches on a car.

Typically, in a more conventional manufacturing process, that would actually largely be done by humans.

It would be done in a long assembly line, which doesn't allow for much customization.

In traditional auto factories, vehicles travel along a linear path and parts are installed along an assembly line.

While the procedure is increasingly automated, the basic process hasn't significantly changed.

It's a cell-based model, which means that there are different cells around the factory floor that are focused on different tasks, and that actually allows for a lot more automation.

In each cell, robots are tasked with installing several components of the car before it's moved to the next zone.

Cells can be modified with different instructions, from installing parts in an identical car design to assembling a different vehicle altogether.

Hyundai says that more than 50% of the manufacturing process at a Singapore micro factory is done by robots.

Automated ground vehicles move the cars around the factory, while four-legged robots equipped with AI cameras monitor and analyze the assembly.

the robot dogs are then fixed by human workers.

Even though we're a small factory, we're producing cars as a mass manufacturer.

So what allows us to do that is the usage of flexible automation and a large portion of systems intelligence behind to orchestrate the manufacturing.

Hyundai says because production is highly automated, only about 100 workers would be needed to produce the plant's capacity of 30,000 cars per year.

That means a worker at the micro factory could produce 2 to 3 times the number of cars compared to a person in a traditional factory.

For sure we will still need large scale factories.

We will still need to produce as many cars as possible in the most effective way when it comes to overall mobility.

But we feel that the answer is not only that, and that in an urban environment, having a smaller factory that allows us to produce as many different types of mobility devices in a cost-effective way is absolutely critical.

Hyundai's plant in Singapore is the country's first auto factory in over 40 years.

While micro factories could allow wealthier countries to rebuild manufacturing industries, the move toward greater automation will mean fewer manual jobs for workers.

In a typical assembly plant, you would think for the assembly operation of high single digit to low double digit percentage of automation, of automated tasks, we are at around 50% already.

When it comes to Logistics, the provision at the right time of the right part to the right cell, is again something where we've automated over 60% already.

It's also in very low double digits in other factories.

Microfactories are largely untested ground for the auto industry.

Arrival, an EV startup producing vans, has committed to manufacturing their vehicles out of microfactories.

However, the company has only delivered a small number of the vehicles it forecasted out of its plant in the UK.

Arrival has struggled to ramp up production and have pushed back a planned second microfactory in the US.

For now, Hyundai says it's the only major car maker to start building vehicles out of 1.

We have a thesis for the future of mobility.

As we test the market, if we realize that this is right, you could see smart urban mobility hubs in many different urban environments.

While the concept behind microfactories remains unproven at a mass scale, They provide a glimpse into what car making could look like as the industry heads towards a future that is more automated.


Speaker 0: This may look like just another car factory, but it's actually a new microfactory, manned by autonomous robot dogs and robotic arms monitored by AI. It's designed to change the way cars are produced, and it's been built in the heart of 1 of the smallest and most expensive countries in the world, Singapore.

Speaker 1: Typically car manufacturers don't build car factories in dense urban cities like Singapore. But here It's going to be different from most car factories. Robots are going to do a lot of the manufacturing, and it's going to be a much more flexible model.

Speaker 0: Microfactories reinvent the way cars are made by automating most of the process and building them in a cell rather than along a production line.

Speaker 2: This could be the future in which we talk in a couple of years from now.

Speaker 0: Microfactories are 1 of the biggest changes to car making in a generation. And if the concept is proven, it could shape the future of the industry. For over 100 years, cars have been built in large plants, manned by hundreds of workers. The trend has been towards building bigger factories. Tesla's Gigafactory facility, located near Austin, Texas, covers more than 10 million square feet of factory floor space and has the capacity to build more than 250,000 vehicles a year.

By comparison, Hyundai's new micro-factory in Singapore stands just over 935,000 square feet. The car makers to the plant could produce up to 30,000 cars a year. Hyundai has pushed aside the traditional assembly process to allow for a much smaller footprint.

Speaker 1: Behind me, there are robots that are putting together the final finishing touches on a car. Typically, in a more conventional manufacturing process, that would actually largely be done by humans. It would be done in a long assembly line, which doesn't allow for much customization.

Speaker 0: In traditional auto factories, vehicles travel along a linear path and parts are installed along an assembly line. While the procedure is increasingly automated, the basic process hasn't significantly changed.

Speaker 1: Here it's different. It's a cell-based model, which means that there are different cells around the factory floor that are focused on different tasks, and that actually allows for a lot more automation.

Speaker 0: In each cell, robots are tasked with installing several components of the car before it's moved to the next zone. Cells can be modified with different instructions, from installing parts in an identical car design to assembling a different vehicle altogether. Hyundai says that more than 50% of the manufacturing process at a Singapore micro factory is done by robots. Automated ground vehicles move the cars around the factory, while four-legged robots equipped with AI cameras monitor and analyze the assembly. Issues identified by

Speaker 2: the robot dogs are then fixed by human workers. Even though we're a small factory, we're producing cars as a mass manufacturer. So what allows us to do that is the usage of flexible automation and a large portion of systems intelligence behind to orchestrate the manufacturing.

Speaker 0: Hyundai says because production is highly automated, only about 100 workers would be needed to produce the plant's capacity of 30,000 cars per year. That means a worker at the micro factory could produce 2 to 3 times the number of cars compared to a person in a traditional factory.

Speaker 2: For sure we will still need large scale factories. We will still need to produce as many cars as possible in the most effective way when it comes to overall mobility. But we feel that the answer is not only that, and that in an urban environment, having a smaller factory that allows us to produce as many different types of mobility devices in a cost-effective way is absolutely critical.

Speaker 0: Hyundai's plant in Singapore is the country's first auto factory in over 40 years. While micro factories could allow wealthier countries to rebuild manufacturing industries, the move toward greater automation will mean fewer manual jobs for workers.

Speaker 2: In a typical assembly plant, you would think for the assembly operation of high single digit to low double digit percentage of automation, of automated tasks, we are at around 50% already. When it comes to Logistics, the provision at the right time of the right part to the right cell, is again something where we've automated over 60% already. It's also in very low double digits in other factories. It's essentially manual.

Speaker 0: Microfactories are largely untested ground for the auto industry. Arrival, an EV startup producing vans, has committed to manufacturing their vehicles out of microfactories. However, the company has only delivered a small number of the vehicles it forecasted out of its plant in the UK. Arrival has struggled to ramp up production and have pushed back a planned second microfactory in the US. For now, Hyundai says it's the only major car maker to start building vehicles out of 1.

Speaker 2: We have a thesis for the future of mobility. As we test the market, if we realize that this is right, you could see smart urban mobility hubs in many different urban environments.

Speaker 0: While the concept behind microfactories remains unproven at a mass scale, They provide a glimpse into what car making could look like as the industry heads towards a future that is more automated.

See all The Wall Street Journal transcripts on Youtube

How Microfactories Could Revolutionize Car Manufacturing | WSJ