Parts Shortages Spread to Japanese Operations in U.S.

[phantom power]

Parts shortages are spreading to U.S. assembly and repair operations of Japanese auto makers. Toyota Motor Corp. warned its U.S. dealers that they face a shortage of some replacement parts while Honda Motor Co. and Subaru of America this week said they would curb U.S. assembly operations to conserve parts.

Toyota said production of most replacement parts resumed in Japan on March 17, and shipments to the U.S. restarted shortly after that. However, the company has identified 233 replacement parts that are made by suppliers who sustained significant damage to plants in Japan from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Production of these parts won't resume for "at least 30 days," the company said in a memo to dealers. It added that "both the number of affected parts and length of production stoppage may increase."

Honda declined to say how much it would cut production or which plants are affected. It will reduce the hours that the affected plants operate each day. It has North American plants in Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Ontario, Canada, and Jalisco, México.

Honda has kept all of its plants closed in Japan since the quake and won't restart production until at least Sunday. Honda has canceled all dealer orders for May delivery for vehicles built in Japan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704559904576230601144901560.html

[GliderGuider]

1. And so it begins

The single biggest vulnerability of our globalized industrial civilization has always been the supply chains...

[phantom power]

2. Given that we are currently in a global recession...

It seems likely to me that some of what was lost simply won't be rebuilt, there or anywhere else.

[Old and In the Way]

3. They pioneered 'just-in-time' manufacturing that's designed to take

inventory build-ups out of the cycle. Works well, until you have a 9.0 earthquake/tsunami hit your manufacturing plants.

[GliderGuider]

4. Makes me wonder how many other ways there are for supply chains to snap.

There's lots of force majeure loose in the world these days.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. So your car part is delivered...

...just-in-time by a truck using delivered-just-in-time fuel, driven by a guy who's breakfast was delivered-just-in-time buy another delivered-just-in-time truck from a delivered-just-in-time warehouse.

[Nihil]

5. JIT ~= OFWO

I was taught this when being introduced to the JIT concept ...

"Just In Time" is very close to "Oh F*ck We're Out"

:shrug:

[Old and In the Way]

6. I knew it as 'JIT is just too late'. I can't tell you how many times small glitches

in the pipelines would cause line down situations in my last place of manufacturing employment. All it takes is one part in a BOM of hundreds to create the situation. And what is never said about the Japanese JIT models are that their supply chain partners were literally located next door, completely dependent on this business, and,really, managed by Toyota as their own production line. Not the same dynamics or culture here in the US.