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  1. Join Date
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    AutoWeek | Updated: 07/19/07, 3:57 pm et
    Several Japanese automakers said Wednesday that they would suspend production after an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit northwest Japan on Monday.

    Toyota Motor Corp. is one of the carmakers to hold production in 12 of its domestic car and parts factories due to damage done to its piston ring supplier, Riken Corp.

    Riken said they weren’t clear on when the factories would re-open. The company has two piston ring factories and nine affiliated ones affected by the quake. All are near the earthquake’s center in Kashiwazaki City.

    Along with Toyota, Suzuki Motor Corp., Mitsubishi Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru, will also halt production at some factories.

    Honda Motor Co. also may slow or halt production in their motorcycle and car plants.

    “There’s probably going to be some impact,” said Takeo Fukui, Honda chief executive, “We’re still investigating and don’t know how big the impact will be.”

    Mitsubishi said it would suspend some production facilities for a few days but had no estimates on the production lost. The automaker said it would make up the missed production during the holidays when they normally close.

    Other executives said they would investigate the possibility of other piston ring makers. Teikoku Piston Ring Co. said it had requests from several automakers to make up the production from Riken. A spokesperson from Honda agreed that it would seek parts from another vendor but added they would have to be checked for quality and compatibility.

    Riken said it would take a few days to repair and reposition the equipment in the affected factories. They will then be checked for precision and quality, a procedure that could take another few days, before going back to work
    Last edited by AG4; July 20th, 2007 at 02:19 PM.

Earthquake delays production for Japanese automakers