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Steel Shortage Forces Toyota to Temporarily Halt Production in Japan
02/03/2016 - The world’s leading automaker plans to halt all of its domestic assembly lines next week because of a parts shortage, which was brought on by an accident at an affiliated steel mill.
In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. said all of its Japanese lines will be shut down from 8 February to 13 February, with a restart set for 15 February. Additionally, the company said it will close its directly owned and operated parts and components plants on 8 February.
Toyota’s Japanese plants account for more than 40 percent of its vehicle production, according to BloombergBusiness.
Toyota declined to say how the outage would disrupt production, but the company makes approximately 14,000 Lexus-, Toyota- and Scion- branded vehicles per day in Japan, according to Automotive News. About 17 percent of that output is exported to the United States, the publication said.
Toyota is taking the step as a result of an explosion at Toyota-affiliated Aichi Steel Corp.’s Chita plant. The explosion, which occurred 8 January, crippled the plant’s No. 2 bar mill.
Company officials said the bar mill’s reheat furnace exploded as it was being lit. Officials said they believe gas leaked from valves during the ignition process and accumulated in the furnace. The furnace wasn’t purged, as it should have been, and a pilot burner wound up igniting the gas, the company said.
The company said the bar mill won’t restart until March. Other areas of the plant, including its meltshop and other bar mills, are continuing to operate. In the meantime, the plant is supplying customers by drawing from inventory, buying from other manufacturers and shifting production to other Aichi plants.
Toyota owns one-third of Aichi, which makes specialty steel for engine, transmission and chassis components, BloombergBusiness said.
Toyota’s Japanese plants account for more than 40 percent of its vehicle production, according to BloombergBusiness.
Toyota declined to say how the outage would disrupt production, but the company makes approximately 14,000 Lexus-, Toyota- and Scion- branded vehicles per day in Japan, according to Automotive News. About 17 percent of that output is exported to the United States, the publication said.
Toyota is taking the step as a result of an explosion at Toyota-affiliated Aichi Steel Corp.’s Chita plant. The explosion, which occurred 8 January, crippled the plant’s No. 2 bar mill.
Company officials said the bar mill’s reheat furnace exploded as it was being lit. Officials said they believe gas leaked from valves during the ignition process and accumulated in the furnace. The furnace wasn’t purged, as it should have been, and a pilot burner wound up igniting the gas, the company said.
The company said the bar mill won’t restart until March. Other areas of the plant, including its meltshop and other bar mills, are continuing to operate. In the meantime, the plant is supplying customers by drawing from inventory, buying from other manufacturers and shifting production to other Aichi plants.
Toyota owns one-third of Aichi, which makes specialty steel for engine, transmission and chassis components, BloombergBusiness said.
