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TOKYO: Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will resume some of its domestic production on Tuesday as a key parts supplier restarted a plant hit by last week's earthquake.
Riken Corp., the supplier at the centre of the recent stoppages, resumed some production Monday at its factory in Niigata prefecture making auto parts such as piston rings, seal rings and camshafts, a company official said.
Toyota Motor, which was forced to suspend all domestic production last Thursday because of a shortage of parts supplied by Riken, decided to resume partial production at 12 domestic plants from Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.
Other automakers such as Honda Motor and Nissan Motor have also curtailed their output following the quake.
Riken is a major supplier to Japanese automakers and its problems after last Monday's 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.
The quake and aftershocks in central Niigata and Nagano prefectures on July 16 killed 10 people, injured more than 1,000, destroyed buildings and roads and shut down Japan's largest nuclear power plant.
Automakers dispatched some 700 helpers to assist Riken get its factory up and running again.
The output problems have underscored the industry's heavy dependence on one supplier and the fragility of the "just-in-time" inventory system that means parts arrive at a plant just when they are needed to keep costs down.
"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. – AFP/ac
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