The Friday Report Blog: March 17th, 2023

Sewon America To Build New EV Facility Near Hyundai Metaplant

South Korea-based auto parts manufacturer Sewon America has announced plans to invest over $300 million in a production facility in Rincon, Georgia. The new facility will supply electric vehicle (EV) body parts for vehicle manufacturer Hyundai’s $5.5 billion Metaplant. Sewon’s new plant is its second plant in Georgia and is expected to create over 700 jobs.

To date, suppliers for the Hyundai Metaplant have committed over $1.8 billion in investment money in the state of Georgia. In November of last year, Joon Georgia announced a $317 million investment to construct a facility in Bulloch County. Hyundai Mobis followed with a $926 million investment in an EV plant in Bryan County.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has stated that the Hyundai Metaplant is the largest economic development project in the state’s history. It is estimated that the Metaplant will create over 8,000 jobs in Georgia’s coastal region.

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Target Introduces Drive-Up Returns

Target has announced that customers will be able to make free returns from their vehicles. The retailer expects its Drive Up Returns option to be available nationwide at its nearly 2,000 locations by the end of the summer.

Drive Up Returns will be available to customers that have made purchases through a Target.com account. New and unopened items will be eligible for return within 90 days of purchase. Customers will be able to set up returns through the Target app and an employee will pick up the order once the customer arrives.

In addition to Drive Up Returns, Target also owns and operates same-day order pick-up service Drive Up. Same-day order fulfillment services for the retailer grew nearly 7% last year and now makes up more than 10% of its total sales.

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Save Mart Announces Robotic Grocery-Picking Facility

Save Mart recently announced the opening of an automated dark store in Mountain View, California that will provide same-day grocery delivery and pickup service. The fleet of robots that will be used in the dark store are supplied by startup company Fulfill Solutions.

The company’s delivery and pickup service, Lucky Now, utilizes a combination of machine learning, computer vision, and sensor fusion technologies to track inventory, transport products, and pack orders across all grocery categories. The company states that Fulfil’s robots will enable grocers to cut costs in their e-commerce operations as well as reduce carbon emissions and prevent food waste. In addition, the robots will monitor each item’s position in the facility while tracking their origins as well as expiration dates.

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