Japanese Parts Paralysis: Honda UK Goes To Half Power
Living with container transit times in your head, you know when the parts pipeline from Japan to overseas locations should run dry. Japan to Europe is about four weeks. And exactly 4 weeks after the tsunami hit in Tohoku, Honda will set its Swindon plant in the UK to max conserve. According to Reuters, Honda will reduce its UK output by half, starting on April 11.
Once parts supplies have stabilized, full production will resume.
That, however could be a while off. Like the other majors, Honda will begin production in Japan on March 11. Most likely, Honda will go slow at home. The Japanese industry battles with parts outages and missing parts. All eyes of the industry are on the Japanese factories and how they will do in the coming weeks. And in any case, once the pipeline starts to fill, it will take a month again for parts coming out at the other end.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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What do you guys think of the used Japanese market? I'm looking for a used Honda Fit, and am afraid this will inflate the prices even more.
This may lead in the short-term to sourcing strategies that include dual sources for critical components. Then after a while, everyone will forget about this lesson and get back to "fill up the capacity of a single supplier for volume reductions!" Anyone interested isending their kids to college for a profession that will become increasingly more in demand for talent over the next 20 years, look no further than Supply Chain Management, Purchasing, and Logistics. Welcome to the global economy and the risk associated with predictably unpredictable Black Swan events.
Chrysler cancelled overtime this week at plants in Canada and Mexico to conserve parts from Japan. Its Brampton, Ontario, plant make Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 vehicles. The Toluca, Mexico, plant makes its Dodge Journey and the Fiat 500, which Chrysler is now introducing to the U.S. market. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada said it is inevitable that it will be forced to temporarily shut down its plants because of parts shortages from Japan.