After the earthquake: further factory closures in Japan due to typhoon
The earthquake in Japan was only the beginning: Typhoon "Dolphin" has forced Toyota to halt 17 production lines. The company is prioritizing employee safety and managing disruptions to global shipping routes.
The earthquake in Japan this week was only the beginning: according to reports in the country, the typhoon "Dolphin" that struck the Japanese islands overnight has led to widespread closure of automotive manufacturing plants. Toyota announced the closure of 17 production lines at nine plants across Japan.
The list of plants includes Toyota's production sites in Motomachi, Tsutsumi, and Takaoka. These plants are located in the huge complex also known as "Toyota City," where most of Toyota's production, R&D, and development facilities are located. In addition, Toyota also announced the closure of its subsidiary Daihatsu's plants in Kyoto.
The closure of the production lines is not due only to concerns for the lives of employees: according to Toyota's spokesperson, the step was taken also due to the damage to global shipping routes. Unlike the closure of the plants after the earthquake, which affected a relatively small number of models, this time the halted production lines produce the Corolla, Camry, Prius, and RAV4, as well as the electric Toyota CHR and several variants of the Toyota Land Cruiser. Alongside these, production of the Lexus RZ has also been halted, as well as the Lexus LBX.
The production halt is not expected to affect the Israeli car market, mainly because it is not a closure resulting from damage to production lines but a decision by the manufacturer to evacuate employees and prepare for difficulties in maritime transport, meaning the production lines will likely resume operation at the end of the storm.
Alongside the production shutdown at Toyota due to the typhoon, other car manufacturers are dealing with the consequences of the earthquake. According to Honda's publications, some of the manufacturer's plants that were shut down in the earthquake will only resume operation on August 19, while Mitsubishi and Nissan have already returned to production.
It should be noted that due to natural disasters, the Japanese automotive industry usually operates on a "backup industry" model. Today, most car manufacturers produce cars within a very narrow time window using the JIT (Just In Time) method. In the past, companies held huge inventories of parts, but in the eighties and nineties, they moved to a model requiring external suppliers, turning the assembly process into a precise "dance" where parts from subcontractors enter the factory and exit as a finished car.
In recent years, the need to reduce overhead costs required manufacturers to minimize warehouse inventories, demanding greater precision in the supply chain. Following the Fukushima disaster, the damage was so extensive that manufacturers devised alternative production plans for each model, allowing them to switch to different suppliers within hours. This is now being implemented across the industry.
In the case of the Japanese chip manufacturer Renesas, which supplies, among others, Toyota, production resumed this week ahead of the planned date. A Renesas spokesperson said:
"We have spent the last 15 years strengthening our business continuity plans, including measures to increase the company's resilience and strengthen the supply chain in the event of earthquakes."
