IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Nissan Motor Co. will ask subcontractors to build up their stocks of key parts or diversify production to ensure supplies will not be cut by a natural disaster as part of a major rewrite of the company’s disaster planning.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Nissan Motor Co. will ask subcontractors to build up their stocks of key parts or diversify production to ensure supplies will not be cut by a natural disaster as part of a major rewrite of the company’s disaster planning.
The company will also work more closely with second- and third-tier subcontractors and increase procurement from overseas manufacturers to strengthen a parts supply network that was severely disrupted by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
“If we come up with a ‘supply risk management chain,’ in which the concept of risk management is taken into consideration, ‘monozukuri’ power (craftsmanship) in Japan will be further strengthened,” said Toshiyuki Shiga, chief operating officer.
The need to strengthen the supply chain was identified in a post-quake review of the company’s business continuity plan (BCP), a back-up plan for dealing with natural disasters.
Its plant in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, which makes engines for the luxury Fuga model and other vehicles, suffered severe damage in the March 11 quake last year. Damage to subcontractors also caused major disruption to the parts supply network.
While the automaker was able to recover relatively quickly compared to other Japanese automakers, the review found 100 areas of the company’s contingency planning that required improvement and identified the parts supply network as a particular area of concern.
In the event of another natural disaster in Tohoku, Nissan plans to produce engine parts that are manufactured in Iwaki at its Yokohama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture.
President Carlos Ghosn visited the Iwaki plant on March 26 and thanked employees for their efforts following the disaster.
He said the workers had made the plant a role model for all Nissan plants by not only ensuring the swift recovery of their production lines, but also working hard to improve competitiveness in an extremely difficult situation.
The earthquake buckled the plant's concrete floor, causing up to 15 centimeters in difference in floor levels in some places.
The automaker was forced to replace nearly 40 percent of the flooring and repair the plant’s foundations but pre-quake output had been restored by mid-May last year.