Toyota to halt Japan production for a week after blast at supplier

Kyodo News on Saturday said Toyota would stop overtime next week at all its production plants in Japan due to the supply chain disruption.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will suspend all domestic production of its vehicles from February 8 through February 13 as an explosion at a steel plant in central Japan in January has caused parts shortages. The shortage may negatively impact its affiliate, Toyota, which says it has only enough supply to keep its auto plants running until February 6.

Following that date, Toyota will monitor its supply on a day-to-day basis and decide accordingly.

Aichi Steel is a core supplier for Toyota Japan. An explosion earlier this month at an Aichi Steel plant operated by Toyota forced an end to production for certain steel components.

Toyota, which makes about 14,000 cars in Japan daily, posted worldwide sales of 10.15 million in 2015, keeping its title as the world’s largest-selling carmaker.

Toyota has a total of 16 company-owned factories in Japan.

Production was also suspended at Volkswagen’s Emden factory in northwest Germany and its factory in Kassel Friday due to technical problems at the stamping plant, local media reported.

The steelmaker aims to recover from the accident by the end of March, and initially planned to weather it for the time being by using alternative production lines and entrusting production to other steelmakers.