Japan Earthquakes Shut Down Lexus Manufacturing Plants

[krew]

krew

All Lexus manufacturing plants across the country will be closed over the next week.

View the original article post

 

[meth.ix]

That really sucks, but at least the ES and RX, some of the most popular models are still being made right now.

 

[mmcartalk]

Yes, Japan has been a magnet for large destructive earthquakes for millions of years. This probably is not the proper thread for me to go into the details of earthquake science, but, in one brief sentence, the country sits right on top of part of what is arguably the most active tectonic fault-zone on the planet...the Pacific "Ring of Fire" that basically encircles that ocean.

The last major earthquake to hit the country (the one that heavily damaged the Fukushima nuclear power-plant with its Tsunami-wave) also affected production from several Japanese automakers, not just Toyota and Lexus.

 

[Hamed Al Ketbi]

This is really bad to hear since in the Middle-East, one of the most selling car is the Lexus LX570.
But it is Japan, they can make everything as normal as it was.
RIP to the people who died in Japan.

 

[corradoMR2]

2011 all over again, and almost during the same month. I remember clearly since my CT just docked at the Vancouver port the day of the earthquake! I'm beginning to think that further expansion of production outside Japan may have a viable business case seeing the risk of downtime in Japan is increasing over time. On a more serious note, it's sad more lives have been lost.

 

[mmcartalk]

2011 all over again, and almost during the same month. I remember clearly since my CT just docked at the Vancouver port the day of the earthquake! I'm beginning to think that further expansion of production outside Japan may have a viable business case seeing the risk of downtime in Japan is increasing over time. On a more serious note, it's sad more lives have been lost.

And, unfortunately, we can expect more in the future. Japan is one of the most seismic (earthquake-sensitive) countries on the planet.

 

[krew]

As an update, the Tahara plant will be restarting next week -- here are more details:

Toyota will gradually bring the plants back online, with most in operation by April 28. Still, some will remain down, including its Motomachi plant in central Japan and its Miyata plant near the quake zone, both of which make Lexus vehicles.

Toyota offered no timeline for restarting those plants. They manufacture the popular Lexus RX and NX crossovers, as well as the GS and ES sedans and the CT hybrid hatchback.

Toyota’s Tahara plant, which makes other Lexus vehicles, including the GX SUV, the IS and LS sedans and the RC coupe, as well as the Toyota 4Runner SUV, will be fully online April 28.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20160420/OEM/160429997/

 

[James]

God bless all the families affected there in Japan. Just wondering how backed up would buying an NX here in the states be? Was planning on getting one here in the next few months.

 

[krew]

God bless all the families affected there in Japan. Just wondering how backed up would buying an NX here in the states be? Was planning on getting one here in the next few months.

I wouldn't expect to wait too long, if at all.

 

[krew]

Just closing the loop on this story, all Lexus & Toyota plants will restart production by May 5th:

Toyota City, Japan, April 27, 2016―Between May 6 and 14, Toyota will resume production on all vehicle assembly lines in Japan after a scheduled holiday between April 29 and May 5. The vehicle assembly lines that have remained suspended*until this point will restart production, in addition to those that have or will have started operation this week.
Going forward, we will proceed to make further decisions about operation while closely monitoring and securing the parts supply situation, etc..

For reference: On April 20, Toyota announced that it would restart production of most vehicle assembly lines in stages between April 25 and 28, after suspension due to parts shortages resulting from the severe earthquakes that struck Japan's island of Kyushu.

http://newsroom.toyota.co.jp/en/detail/11935925

 

[Joaquin Ruhi]

Flash forward over 2 years, and history repeats in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido on September 6. Fortunately, it seems that the production stoppages should be nowhere as extensive or long-lasting as those in the aftermath of the 2016 quake. Although, as of this writing, the myriad international Toyota and Lexus official newsrooms remain silent on the subject, here's a report from Hans Greimel of Automotive News:

Toyota halts production in Japan after deadly quake
September 7, 2018 - Hans Greimel

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. is stopping most of its auto production in Japan as a result of a deadly earthquake in northern Japan.

Due to the interruption in its supply chain there, Japan's largest automaker will idle factories beginning Saturday, the company said.

Toyota will halt planned production at its Kyushu, Tahara and Toyota Auto Body plants. Those factories make Lexus vehicles and the Toyota Land Cruiser, among others, some of which are bound for the U.S. markets.

Spokeswoman Akiko Kita said, starting on Monday, the shutdown will affect all Toyota and Lexus lines in Japan, except for two Daihatsu plants that also manufacture Toyota-brand vehicles.

Toyota has 18 plants that produce vehicles in Japan.

The company could not immediately comment on the supply chain impact on overseas operations.

The earthquake struck the northernmost island of Hokkaido before dawn on Sept. 6, killing more than a dozen people and leaving the entire island without power.

Authorities were slowly restoring utilities on Friday but swaths of the region remain offline.

Toyota has a plant in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, that makes automatic transmissions, continuously variable transmissions and transfer cases.

It was still without power on Friday night, Toyota said.

A spokesman for Toyota's North American business said the initial production halt is not likely to have much impact on North American operations.

The automaker could not say when production will resume.

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...thquake?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[ssun30]

Don't worry. They will still be more efficient than some manufacturers at production and inventory management even with a minor hiccup. This is not the 2011 level disaster that was almost a reboot of the whole country's economy.

 

[zeusus]

There has been quite a bit of activity around the ring of fire recently.


https://nypost.com/2018/08/22/ring-of-fire-hit-with-70-earthquakes-in-just-48-hours/

Fears are mounting that the catastrophic “Big One” earthquake could rip through California, killing thousands, after 70 quakes rocked the deadly Ring of Fire in just 48 hours.

A cluster of 16 “significant” quakes — above magnitude 4.5 — hit yesterday following 53 that shook the region along the disaster zone on Sunday.

The earthquakes rattled Indonesia, Bolivia, Japan and Fiji but didn’t reach the western coast of the US, which sits on the horseshoe-shaped “Ring of Fire” fault line.

The Ring of Fire has caused a number of devastating earthquakes over the years and is where two of the Earth’s huge tectonic plates meet.

It’s a string of 452 volcanoes and sites of high seismic activity that encircle the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Joaquin Ruhi]

Both the Toyota Global Newsroom and Automotive News' Hans Greimel have issued updates. Here are key excerpts:

Toyota aims to restart production in stages on its vehicle assembly lines between Tuesday 11 September and Thursday 13 September. Motomachi and some lines of the Tahara plant will restart on the 11th, while the rest of Tahara and the Kyushu plant will restart on the 13th.

Toyota spokesman Jean-Yves Jault said the company is still evaluating whether the Japan suspension will have any impact on production in North American or elsewhere overseas.

Toyota said late last week it would halt almost all auto production in Japan because power outages left one of its factories and those of suppliers in the dark.

The earthquake hit the northernmost island of Hokkaido early Thursday, killing a reported 39 people and leaving the entire island – an area the size of the state of Indiana, with more than 5 million people – without power. Authorities worked over the weekend to restore electricity.

The blackouts hit Toyota’s supply line. The automaker has a plant in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, that makes automatic transmissions, continuously variable transmissions and transfer cases.

That plant was expected to resume operation on Monday.

But Toyota also sources parts from two key suppliers in the region that also lost power.

Denso, Toyota’s biggest supplier, has a plant in Chitose, Hokkaido that makes electronics parts such as semiconductor sensors. A Denso spokesman said it resumed partial operation on Monday, but Denso could not say when it would be restored to normal output.

Meanwhile, Aisin Seiki, another Toyota Group mainstay, had three Hokkaido factories knocked out. Those plants, which did not sustain serious damage, make water pumps, timing chain case covers and belts for continuously variable transmissions, among other components.

Aisin restarted one of the plants over the weekend and was expected to bring the others back online either Monday or Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

Toyota’s operations in Japan churn out an average of 13,000 cars a day, and the automaker is expected to have lost at least that much output through its partial shutdown.

Toyota said it also had enough parts inventory to keep operating after the quake, at least in the initial days. But it opted to suspend operations nationwide in order to maintain a balanced inventory and because the outlook for restoring power in Hokkaido was unclear.

“In that case, TPS [Toyota Production System] principles guide us to stop all the lines and check and visualize the problem and consider countermeasures,” Jault said.

“This would also lead to a smoother re-start afterwards.”