Failure Of Toyota's Just In Time Supply Chain Severly Limits Production To June And Beyond

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) plans to adjust production in May due to parts availability following the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Previously, TEMA had announced production suspensions on Mondays and Fridays during the period April 15 through April 25. TEMA will continue the Monday and Friday production suspension pattern during the period April 26-June 3. During the same period, production will run at 50 percent on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Additionally, Canadian production will be suspended the week of May 23 (in conjunction with the scheduled Victoria Day holiday) and U.S. production will be suspended the week of May 30 (in conjunction with the scheduled Memorial Day holiday).

No layoffs are planned during this period. Team members will utilize non-production time for training and plant improvement activities.

"We are trying to continue production as much as possible and keep our workforce intact in order to facilitate a smooth transition back to full production when all parts are available," said Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of TEMA.

Production plans beyond June 3 will be determined at a later date.



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monster - 4/21/2011 11:00:22 AM

0 Boost

For once the title fits the article.

Agent009 - 4/21/2011 11:04:08 AM

0 Boost

They pioneered the "Just In Time" principle and in general it worksv exceptionally well.

The problem is when just one critical part can not be sourced: IE: By disaster or strike the whole house of cards tumbles down.

Steve - 4/21/2011 11:57:05 AM

+2 Boost

And without JIT, car prices would be higher ALL the time (not just after a crisis), and we'd have that to complain about.

BTW, I missed your article titled "Failure in Twin Towers' Design Results in Collapse and Thousands of Deaths."

g2ok - 4/21/2011 11:37:40 AM

+5 Boost

There is no failure. Toyota is well regarded benchmark for the lean supply chain strategy. You fail to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster in Japan and Japan's contribution to the global economy. Every high tech company is likely to have an impact.

olscuul - 4/21/2011 8:41:20 PM

+1 Boost

JIT has been beneficial for quite while, but a pretty big flaw has been exposed.
The question now is where should it be practiced?
Maybe Japan is not the right place to base it.

freshseth83 - 4/22/2011 12:15:06 AM

+2 Boost

Then where base it? Somewhere other than your home country? That's funny.

800over - 4/23/2011 10:43:02 AM

+1 Boost

Didn't you post almost the identical thread 3 weeks ago 009? Pretty weak.