Not All U.S. Factory Closures Are Made In Japan

All told, it takes about 3 weeks for a shipborne container from Japan to reach its destination at the West Coast. To the East Coast, it’s about 5 weeks. With the Japanese earthquake and tsunami three weeks old, we should see the first real stateside disruptions by now. And we do. But not all originate in Japan.

Ford will stop production at plants in Flat Rock and in Kentucky next week. Nissan “will adjust its production schedule,” says the Freep, “mostly because of the impact of the earthquake in Japan three weeks ago.”

At Ford’s pickup plant in Kentucky, the “undisclosed parts shortages” come at the right moment. “Demand for pickup sales has declined,” the Freep writes.

Ford halts Flat Rock not because it doesn’t have enough parts. It has way too many Mustangs. Its supply is good for 116 days.

Nissan will stop production at factories in Tennessee, Mississippi and Mexico from a few days to a week because supply of parts from Japan is getting low.

Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario, plant will shut now next week. “The latest shutdown is caused by a shortage of 3.6-litre Pentastar engines as well as plastic components, which house fuses,” writes the Windsor Star. Oddly, “the engines are assembled in Trenton, Mich., while the plastic fuse boxes are built in Mexico.”

Meanwhile in Japan, the “auto industry faces a vexing chicken-or-egg question. Are carmakers not producing cars because they can’t get parts? Or are parts makers not supplying parts because they’re getting no orders?” Automotive News’ Asian Editor Hans Greimel found no definitive answer. “Most Tier 1 suppliers here say they are ready to go — if only their automaking customers would fire up their factories and start placing orders again. But automakers say plants are down because the parts are, too.”