Toyota plans to fully normalise its production by October, one month ahead of its initial schedule, due to the recovery of its procurement network which was damaged by the 11 March quake-tsunami disaster, company officials said on Wednesday.
The procurement of parts from areas hit by the catastrophes has been delayed, but 30 parts types that had been unavailable are now in ready supply, the officials told Kyodo News. The automaker, therefore, will likely be able to manufacture its full vehicle range to meet customer demand by October, they said.
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The move by Toyota underscores recovering production systems of Japanese automakers as Nissan Motor and Honda also plan to normalize their output earlier than they planned soon after the quake.
Toyota will normalize the delivery time for most of its vehicles by August, the officials said.
Toyota also plans to restore its total production volume to a level planned before the March disaster by the end of this month.
The automaker is also considering operating a factory on some Thursdays, the auto industry’s designated holiday, to make up for the delay in output.
Japanese automakers reached a nonbinding agreement in May to close all plants on Thursdays and Fridays from July to September to help reduce power consumption on weekdays when electricity demand typically peaks, following the crisis at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
