AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/28 Report--

An employee at Hyundai's Ulsan factory was infected with novel coronavirus and production at the plant has been completely shut down, Yonhap news agency and South Korea's Daily Economic News reported on the 28th.

An employee at Hyundai Motor's factory in the southeastern South Korean city of Ulsan was tested positive for novel coronavirus, the report said. A spokesman for the Hyundai Automobile Union confirmed that an employee had been detected to be infected with novel coronavirus. It is said that the painting workshop where the employee works usually has more than 300 people, and the total number of factory employees is more than 4000. In addition, Hyundai Motor has immediately suspended production at the second plant in Ulsan, sterilized the interior of the plant, and checked contacts and immediately discussed countermeasures.

An employee at Hyundai's South Korean factory was diagnosed with novel coronavirus, the first reported case of the auto industry so far. Prior to this, the global auto parts supplier Weibaster in Germany has also been diagnosed by employees, resulting in the temporary closure of the headquarters and factory in Germany.

If employees are infected with novel coronavirus, if there is a diagnosis among the intensive contacts, the possibility of collective spread cannot be ruled out. Therefore, in order to prevent cross-infection among employees and the spread of the virus, the plant will be temporarily closed and shut down. In the automobile manufacturing industry, Chinese and foreign automobile companies are facing the test of epidemic prevention and control.

Affected by the supply of core components caused by the epidemic, Hyundai has stopped production at its South Korean plant several times. A few days after resuming work, the employee was diagnosed with novel coronavirus and the factory stopped production again. Hyundai factory production has been hit again.

Hyundai and Kia briefly halted production at South Korean factories in early February because of disruptions in the supply of wiring harnesses from China, which is said to account for 87 per cent of South Korean imports. From February 19 to 21, Hyundai and Kia again shut down production at several South Korean plants because of a shortage of parts in China. Hyundai Automotive said that although car harness parts made in China were being supplied to the factory one after another, the company decided to arrange the opening time of each factory flexibly because of the insufficient supply of car harness parts.

In addition, some production lines at Hyundai's Ulsan plant have been suspended since the 24th due to the case of COVID-19 among Hyundai's first-tier auto parts suppliers in South Korea, which disrupted the supply of spare parts.

Hyundai Motor has three production bases in South Korea (Ulsan, Yashan and Jeonju), of which Ulsan is the largest, operating five local factories and producing as many as 17 models. Under the continuing influence of the pneumonia epidemic, Hyundai's local production in South Korea can hardly be carried out normally, the problem of parts supply has not been eliminated, and employee infections have emerged again, which will also bring local car production to a standstill.

It is worth noting that South Korea has the largest number of novel coronavirus infections outside China. A total of 2022 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed and 13 deaths have been confirmed across South Korea, South Korean officials said on February 28.

Japanese and South Korean car companies have been seriously affected by the epidemic.

Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. said on the 26th that with the global epidemic, supply chain problems may affect its plant operations in Japan in the coming weeks. After maintaining normal production capacity in the week of March 2, Toyota will decide on March 9 how to continue the operation of the Japanese plant because of uncertainty in the supply of parts from China. Toyota has 16 vehicle and parts production plants in Japan, which is an important production site for Toyota.

After a brief shutdown at some of Nissan's Japanese plants, parts supply problems from China are now resurfacing a global shutdown crisis. Nissan is said to have purchased more than 800 parts from Hubei province, and Nissan will face shortages of many parts, including brake hoses and air-conditioning controllers, if these plants fail to resume production by Feb. 21. The company is preparing for possible production disruptions at factories in Japan, Europe and the United States.

Car companies are facing the test of epidemic prevention and control.

According to a report released by the China Automobile Association, the rework rate of the automobile industry has exceeded 75%. More and more car companies and parts suppliers return to normal production, but they also need to prevent the infection of employees at all times. Once employees are infected with novel coronavirus, the factory will be temporarily closed and shut down in order to prevent cross-infection and the spread of the virus.

In order for the factory to resume normal production, a number of car companies have issued a number of defensive measures. Including the safety and health protection of employees, the implementation of temperature measurement, internal disinfection in the factory, etc., at the same time to ensure adequate reserves of epidemic prevention materials, the implementation of publicity and so on. People in the industry believe that automobile companies should formulate comprehensive epidemic prevention measures that can be implemented for a long time, and formulate emergency plans.

The spare parts supply problems caused by the epidemic will continue, and the health of employees will also affect the production and operation of the factory. Chinese and foreign car companies are also facing the test of the epidemic.

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