Toyota’s production in Japan at its plants will be suspended for one week following a blast at the manufacturing facility of its main steel supplier.
The blast occurred at Aichi Steel Corp on January 8 and due to Toyota’s JIT (just in time) production process the auto-manufacturer does not have steel supplies to continue production while repair work is carried out at Aichi Steel Corp.
The suspension will take effect from Feb 8 till Feb 15 and may only affect production numbers of Japan. Given Toyota’s annual production of 4.0 million units in Japan past year, a week’s suspension of Toyota’s production in Japan means a loss of 98,000 vehicles.
Toyota deliveries for the year will probably not be affected, though some delays can be expected. With 10.15 million units sold globally last year, Toyota remains the world’s largest auto manufacturer. Earlier this month Toyota also confirmed its complete takeover of Daihatsu Motors in a share exchange that will be completed over a period of 6 months.