Teamwork produces winners. This is true in sports, business, churches, families, etc. I love to see winning teams celebrate.

I experienced that Thursday night, March 10, as Billy Allgood, General Manager of Hyundai of Auburn invited me to speak at his Awards Banquet. His dealership sold more cars than any other automobile dealership in Lee County during 2010. He talked about the team effort.

He took all of his employees and their spouses to the Hyundai plant here in Montgomery to let his people experience the bigger team that supplied all their cars. He invited other team members such as bankers, etc. to celebrate.

Part of the evening was a tour of the Hyundai Plant. This is amazing to see. Hyundai is a real team in action.

The plant in Montgomery has 3.5 million square feet. That is as big as 17 Wal-Mart Super Centers! They have 2,500 team members and they produce 1,370 cars per day. That is over 300,000 for the year. That is about one car coming off the assembly line every minute.

The whole process starts with huge rolls of steel that are cut into blanks. They are stamped into doors, hoods, trunks, etc. and the process starts. It is done mostly with robots. The precision with which every robot and every person fits into the specific responsibility is amazing.

I was impressed that the doors for the cars are made first and placed on the skeleton vehicle. It is then dunked into a paint vat several times to get the best paint job. The doors are then taken off as the skeleton starts on the assembly line for all the various parts. The doors are placed on a conveyor belt that goes up about 25 feet. The conveyor belt is constantly moving, something like a small electric train. Those doors travel around for about five hours, then when the car assembly is complete those doors show up at the precise second that the car is ready for them and the same doors go back on the same car! Amazing!

The Hyundai Plant is home for a great team. The Team Members wear Team Wear as they do team work. Team Member’s shirts have his/her first name on the shirt so all Team Members can call each other by their first name.

As we took the tour on the tram, assembly line team members would smile and wave and cheer. They cheered for each other. They even cheered for us visitors. It really was a team experience.

The company cares for its team members. It is ergonomically sound. Since all assembly line workers are not the same height, the pedestal that carries each car down the assemble line is set and fluctuates at a different height so that tall team members don’t have to bend over too far, or short team members don’t have to strain to do their work. The platforms fit the team members’ needs.

Each person on the assembly line is important. Each job must be done well. There is a pull cable near every work station in case a team member sees a safety problem or a quality defect. The team member can pull the cable and the assembly line will stop until the problem is corrected. That makes each team member feel responsible and important.

Jesus put together a team – the church. Each person is important and responsible. Hyundai can start a process with a flat piece of steel, and six hours later wind up with a beautiful car. God can orchestrate His team to assist Him in taking a nobody and transforming that person into a somebody. When each team member in the church does his/her part, miraculous things occur.

Read about the greatest team assembled in Acts 2:42-47. And you and I have been drafted for that team!