Organizations for Global Simultaneous New Model Launching

Toyota's GPC and Hyundai's Pilot Center

Abstract

Simultaneously launching new models globally becomes a problem with an increase in global production. Although Toyota Motor Corporation and Hyundai Motor Company have different production systems and have, almost at the same time, created organizations with similar functions to solve the problem of simultaneously launching new models globally. These organizations are Toyota’s Global Production Center (GPC) and Hyundai’s pilot center. Both were new organizations with their own pilot production lines instead of conventional mass production lines. However, Toyota’s GPC, which is a part of the mother factory system, plays a complementary role vis-à-vis the company’s domestic plants, while at Hyundai’s pilot center, which is a part of the model factory system, the pilot center functions independently of the domestic plants. This is how Toyota reduces the burden on its competitive mother factories in Japan, while Hyundai opts to maintain a distance from its domestic factories, which are not sources of its competitiveness.