Once again, Toyota vehicle production is hampered by an event beyond its control. An explosion at a brake supplier has left it scrambling for parts.
Toyota has suspended production on a trio of Japanese assembly plants due to an explosion at one of its key supplier’s factories.
The incident occurred on Monday at a facility operated by brake manufacturer Aisin Advics on a paint line. Four people were taken to the hospital, forcing both Aisin and Toyota to go scrambling to find alternative sources for key brake parts.
The incident has impacted several manufacturers, including minicar maker Suzuki, but Toyota appears to have taken the biggest hit, and the temporary shutdown comes as the third time this year the Japanese giant’s domestic factories have been idled by various natural and man-made disasters.
The first time was the result of another explosion, this one causing major damage at a steel plant operated by one of its key suppliers, Aichi Steel Corp., in February. That led to a shutdown of virtually all of Toyota’s Japanese assembly plans for a week.
Much of that production network was again idled in April following a series of deadly earthquakes that struck the southern part of Japan. That also led to parts shortages, a problem that affected not only Toyota but key rivals Honda and Nissan.
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The latest incident is expected to have a narrower – and shorter – impact, Toyota idling just three of its Japanese lines. One is operated by Hino Motors, a truck subsidiary. The other produces vehicles for Daihatsu, the minicar manufacturer that Toyota recently took over. The third operation is the Toyota East Japan plant which produces more mainstream passenger cars.
“We expect a full-scale recovery on June 6,” said a Toyota spokesperson, but they also cautioned the carmaker “will continue to monitor the parts supply status and decide on how to proceed with operations on each line, as necessary.”
The world’s largest automaker did not reveal the estimated impact of the temporary plant closures, but this year’s two previous shutdowns have cost Toyota tens of thousands of lost vehicles, some of which the maker hopes to recover through overtime and other increases in production during the rest of the year.
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Also unclear is what markets will be impacted by the latest disruption. Much of the output of the three plants appears to be earmarked for Japan, but some from the Toyota East Japan plant could be targeted for the U.S. The American market was one of several abroad affected by earthquake related shortages this spring.
Unexpected parts shortages and other problems can be vexing for any manufacturer, but anything that disrupts Toyota’s home market operations can have a particularly far-reaching impact. The automaker is more dependent on its Japanese plants than any of the country’s other major car manufacturers. Of the 4.0 million vehicles those factories produced in 2015, Toyota exported 46%.
Whether this year’s series of problems will lead to a review of its manufacturing strategy is uncertain, but Japanese automakers, on the whole, moved a significant amount of production off-share following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northern part of Japan in 2011. Much of the industry was shuttered for months as a result of that disaster – Toyota briefly ceding the global auto sales lead to rival General Motors that year.
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The various disasters that have cut the Japanese maker’s production this year have helped another rival, Germany’s Volkswagen AG, gain the global sales lead so far this year.