President Shin Moon-hyun of Hyundai Wia Shandong Co., 4th R, holds a copy of the contract signed with Changfeng Motor to supply auto parts worth 1.2 trillion won on Feb. 25 in Rizhao, Shandong Province, China, with Chinese auto firm’s Vice President Dung Zuyi-fa, 3rd L, also holding a copy of the agreement. (Photo: Hyundai Wia)

Hyundai Wia Automotive Engines (Shandong) Co., an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, signed a contract with a Chinese automaker to export engines and parts worth about 1 trillion won. It is the first time an auto parts maker will export that many of its own engines and parts to a foreign carmaker.

Hyundai Wia said on Feb. 25 that its local subsidiary, Hyundai Wia Shandong, in Rizhao, Shandong Province, signed a contract with Changfeng Motor, a local complete car maker, to supply 840 billion won worth of engines and parts. Under the contract, the first shipment of 60,000 2.0 gasoline turbo engines will be made in August, next year, and the same number of engines will be shipped annually to the Chinese vehicle maker for five years totaling 300,000 engines, the company said.

The engines will be installed on new SUVs to be put on the market next year by the carmaker, which is yet to be unveiled. The auto parts maker expects to supply other auto parts including PTUs, couplings and other parts for 4-wheeld vehicles totaling some 1 trillion won in value together with the 300,000 engines to be supplied.

Hyundai Wia Shandong engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of automotive engines, engine spare parts, cast and forged roughcasts used in vehicles, and automotive components. The company was formerly known as WIA Automotive Engines (Shandong) Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Hyundai Wia Automotive Engine (Shandong) Company in October 2009. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Rizhao, China. Hyundai Wia Automotive Engine (Shandong) Company operates as a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company.

The company said it plans to apply IoT and big data technologies to its engine production factory in Seosan, in Chungcheong province, with the main aim of turning this facility into a smart factory by 2019.

The Asian auto parts maker explained that IoT sensors will be attached to machine tools to monitor the operation of machines in the factory in real time. These sensors will allow the company to detect unusual signs and prevent malfunction of machines. The firm also said it will introduce technologies for remote repair activities.

Built in 2015, Hyundai Wia’s Seosan factory produces 300,000 units of gasoline turbo engines and diesel engines per year. The company said that the implementation of smart manufacturing tools will improve the factory’s production efficiency.

Hyundai Wia also plans to sell its smart factory solutions to both Korean and foreign auto part makers. The company already formed a team early this year and has been gathering big data on its machine tools’ operation.
In June, Hyundai Group had announced the development of ‘smart tag’ technology, a wireless production control system to be implemented at the group’s factories.

The Korean conglomerate had already carried out trials of this smart tag at the beginning of the year at a number of the group’s manufacturing plants in South Korea, with plans to adopt the wireless control system at 34 factories around the world.
The smart tag system will be adopted in every stage of the production process, recording various information including the model number and the target market country, as well as the timeline of production from production facilities.

The new technology developed by Hyundai’s production technology development center, consists of a high-capacity memory, wireless chip and location-tracking sensor units. The smart tag has an embedded magnet, making it easy to attach the device on a steel chassis without tools.

Hyundai explained that the wireless chip can exchange car production information from memory systems with production facilities through a range of frequencies used exclusively in Hyundai and Kia factories. Korean car manufacturer Kia is controlled by the Hyundai Group.