Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that last week's earthquake would reduce its production by some 55,000 vehicles but it aims to make up for it by the end of the year.
Toyota Motor said it would resume some of its domestic production on Tuesday after a shutdown since Thursday caused by a shortage of parts supplied by Riken Corp. that hit the entire Japanese auto industry.
Riken restarted some of its production Monday at a plant northwest of Tokyo that was hit by the 6.8-magnitude earthquake a week earlier.
Toyota Motor president Katsuaki Watanabe said his company was keeping its target for the whole group to produce 9.42 million vehicles for this year as it battles US rival General Motors for the world number one spot.
“It is our task to limit the impact as much as possible. We want to recover the shortfall by the end of the year,” he told a press conference.
Other automakers also curtailed output following the quake.
Japan's number two manufacturer Honda Motor said it would resume production at some of its Japanese plants on Tuesday, while number three Nissan Motor said its six domestic plants would remain closed until at least Wednesday.
“We're looking at being able to recover the shortfall in August and September,” a Nissan spokeswoman said.
Riken resumed some production Monday at its factory in Niigata prefecture making auto parts such as piston rings, seal rings and camshafts.
Riken is a major supplier to local automakers and its problems after the earthquake slammed the brakes on Japan's entire automobile output. It was unclear how long it would take for Riken to start shipping parts again.
“Production of our products, for example a piston ring, takes time. We are now checking our inventories and the damage done to products that were half done or nearly finished,” a Riken spokesman said.
“We will be speaking with our customers and will try to respond to their needs on an individual basis,” he said.
Automakers dispatched some 700 helpers to assist Riken get its factory up and running again after last Monday's quake.
The output problems have underscored the industry's heavy dependence on one supplier and the fragility of the “just-in-time” inventory system.
“The recent event highlighted the risk of a too lean supply structure,” Fitch Ratings analyst Tatsuya Mizuno wrote in a report.
But he predicted that Riken's production would recover within a week or so, enabling automakers to catch up with their planned output levels, with no effect on their credit ratings.
Toyota's Watanabe acknowledged that the company needed to take a look at its heavy dependence on one supplier.
“We realised again that infrastructure is very important,” he said. “We will review that point, which is our next step.”
