Supply-Chain Synchronization: Lessons from Hyundai Motor Company

TLDR

Integrating activities across supply‑chain organizations is a key challenge in supply‑chain management. Hyundai Motor Company coordinates production planning and scheduling through its production‑and‑sales‑control department, which holds regular cross‑functional meetings and applies scheduling policies. This coordination improves communication, fosters mutual understanding among functional areas, and ultimately enhances customer satisfaction.

Abstract

One of the challenges of supply-chain management is developing ways to effectively integrate activities across organizations on the supply chain. Hyundai Motor Company developed mechanisms to coordinate production planning and scheduling activities among supply-chain members. Hyundai Motor's production-and-sales-control (P/SC) department uses regularly scheduled cross-functional meetings and scheduling policies to coordinate supply-chain activities. When implementing this process, the P/SC department overcame structural, environmental, and behavioral problems. Although Hyundai management concedes that the process is not perfect, communication among supply-chain members has improved, and the P/SC group has successfully promoted mutual understanding and respect among functional areas. The primary benefit, ultimately, is improved customer satisfaction through better integration of functional activities.