Automotive Industry Takes Steps to Prevent COVID Resurgence... Staggered Lunch Hours and Mask Production

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] The automotive industry has launched a separate program to prevent the resurgence of COVID-19. They plan to actively implement quarantine measures such as splitting meal times for production workers into two shifts, producing masks in-house, and strengthening online marketing.

According to the automotive industry on the 27th, Hyundai Kia Motors is promoting the separation of meal times between factory production workers and office workers and will make the installation of partitions between seats in the cafeteria permanent to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This is because meal times, when masks cannot be worn, have been identified as the most concerning factor in the spread of the virus.

Therefore, to block virus transmission during lunch hours, they are promoting staggered meal times by job group as part of social distancing. At Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan plant, production workers eat from 10:50 AM to 11:30 AM, and office workers from 11:30 AM to 12:10 PM.

Additionally, at Hyundai Kia Motors’ Namyang Research Center, employees are divided into four groups, with meal spaces and serving times staggered at 30-minute intervals starting from 11:30 AM. This is intended to prevent congestion in the cafeteria and maintain social distancing inside. They are also strengthening personal quarantine guidelines by expanding remote and flexible work systems, mandating mask-wearing for all employees, and enforcing compliance with quarantine rules. Events where many people gather, such as domestic and overseas business trips, group training, and meetings, are completely banned.

In particular, Hyundai Motor Group is strengthening quarantine by establishing an in-house mask production system and distributing masks to employees. Since July, Hyundai Motor Group has been producing 800,000 masks monthly to supply employees and their families, and manages workplace access by prohibiting floor-to-floor movement within buildings and restricting entry of outsiders.

Another automaker, Renault Samsung, has organized a COVID-19 response task force to combat the virus spread. They recommend employees take laptops home in preparation for remote work and have established a system to notify all employees of confirmed cases and contacts. At Renault Samsung’s AS Center, they provide antibacterial fogging services for visitor vehicles and promote customer safety through sterilization and disinfection of vehicles entering and leaving, as well as offering pickup and delivery services. Korea GM has launched a non-face-to-face purchase service through online quotation consultations, and SsangYong Motor is also strengthening non-face-to-face services by selling vehicles via home shopping.

At the level of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the overall quarantine system will be strengthened to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the industry. Jeong Manki, chairman of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, said, "Despite the industry's efforts to prevent the resurgence of COVID-19, considering the risk of recurring or expanding difficulties in parts supply and liquidity, the association plans to further strengthen its role as a bridge between the industry and the government to resolve these difficulties.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.