TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese automakers have started to restart production at some factories in the country’s quake-hit northeast on Wednesday, but Toyota Motor Corp said it would shut down 18 assembly lines during a few days next week, due to a shortage of parts from its suppliers.
The limited impact of the damage highlighted Japan’s progress in earthquake resistance, but the earthquake raised concerns about the possibility of further disruptions to the global supply chain of components. precision.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by sales, announced a three-day shutdown of 18 production lines at 11 of its factories.
The group had suspended operations in three factories due to the earthquake, resulting in a loss of production of around 20,000 units. Toyota has already reduced its production targets due to the current shortage of semiconductors.
Murata Manufacturing, the world’s largest supplier of ceramic capacitors used in smartphones and cars, announced on Friday the resumption of production at two of the four factories that were shut down.
Two others remain out of service, a spokesperson for the Kyoto-based company said, noting that a fire at a factory producing inductors had damaged equipment.
Tech conglomerate Sony is gradually restarting production at three factories located in the quake-hit area, a spokesperson said.
Renesas Electronics Corp, which makes nearly a third of the microcontroller chips used in cars globally, said the shutdown of two factories and the partial shutdown of a third were extended.
(Report Shinji Kitamura, Tim Kelly, Sam Nussey, SatoshiSugiyama and Kantaro Komiya, French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
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