Toyota has extended a production shutdown of up to 10 vehicle assembly lines at six plants in Japan due to a shortage of components following an explosion at a key supplier. An explosion was reported at the Chuo Spring Co plant in Fujioka in north-central Aichi prefecture, damaging the building.
The automaker has 14 assembly plants in Japan, producing vehicles for sale domestically and internationally. export.
The automaker said it was having difficulty procuring suspension springs and other devices for several models, including the RAV4 and Landcruiser SUVs, following an explosion at a plant owned by Chuo Spring that, as a result, Two workers were reportedly injured. The cause of the accident, which occurred in the plant's steel cooling shop, is under investigation.
Production lines at the Takaoka and Tsutsumi plants, both in Toyota City in central Japan, have been shut down.
Toyota said it had closed 10 production lines, other factories are also likely to be affected. The automaker cannot say when production will resume as it struggles to find alternative component suppliers.
Single sourcing of components and on-time production, while cost-effective and efficient, aggravated the situation as the automaker had minimal inventories.
In August, Toyota closed all 14 of its domestic factories due to a system update that caused a glitch. The cause of the malfunction was “insufficient disk space.” A cyber attack has been ruled out as a cause.
The incident comes at a time when tensions between China and Japan have risen due to the release of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
