Car production in Japan will soon resume at normal rates after a key component supplier resumed output on Monday.
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Piston ring and transmission seal maker Riken, affected by the major earthquake a week ago, resumed operations on Monday, the Associated Press (AP) reported, and over half of Toyota’s stalled assembly lines will start running tomorrow, while Mazda and Honda also plan to re-start production.
The disruption appeared to have caused minimal effects on importers of Japanese brands here in the UK, most of which source their higher-volume cars from European or UK plants. Nissan’s local unit told just-auto on Friday that production schedules at three Japanese plants had been revised and that any lost output would be made up in August, while Toyota was unaware of any supply consequences of the ‘quake.
Riken’s plant is in Kashiwazaki, in north-central Japan, near the epicentre of the magnitude 6.8 earthquake on 16 July.
A company spokeswoman told AP on Monday that Riken had replaces damaged equipment and restores the factory’s gas and water supplies.
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By GlobalData“We resumed production today, although there is a delay in some lines,” the supplier said in a statement. Production of key parts, including piston rings and seal rings, had nearly returned to normal, the company told the Associated Press.
Toyota said 20 of its 31 vehicle assembly lines would be running by Tuesday, although later plans were still undecided.
Its 12 factories in Japan had suspended operations since Thursday with the loss of about 46,000 vehicles, which may climb to about 55,000, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told the news agency.
Ford affiliate Mazda was due to start operations on Monday evening at one of two factories there, spokeswoman Aya Takahashi told AP. The other factory will resume work on Tuesday. The company’s output loss is 4,500 vehicles.
Honda Motor told just-auto that two plants closed on Monday would also stay shut on Tuesday: the Yachiyo Industry in Yokkaichi which builds vehicles and its own Kumamoto facility which makes engines.
Honda said car production would resume at Saitama and only the second shift would work at Suzuka. The first shift there tomorrow has been cancelled and two other car plants would also remain closed, the automaker added.
Honda said it would also re-start motorcycle production at Hamamatsu on Tuesday.
Nissan Motor has halted some plants until Wednesday and Mitsubishi spokesman Tetsuji Inoue told the Associated Press the company would decide later on Monday whether it would resume production at its three domestic plants from Tuesday. The company had said earlier it would halt most operations all day Monday.
