Hyundai Transys is a unit of Hyundai Motor Group that was formed in 2019 through the merger of Hyundai Dymos and Hyundai Powertech, two automotive components manufacturers of powertrains and seats. The company has about 10,000 employees and operates 33 facilities in 11 countries. According to Thira, it selected the Alabama site for its initial U.S. implementation because local efforts to bring manufacturing jobs back from overseas have led Korean manufacturers to open new factories in Alabama. But the state's manufacturing industry has experienced a wave of mass layoffs, leading to a need for AMRs that can help increase employee productivity. "Owners and engineers at brownfield warehouses and factories who could not implement AMR automation without investing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars into retrofitting the floors can now save money on floor improvement and invest in automation, solving labor shortages that prevent them from meeting market demand," Thira CEO Peter Kim said in a release.