Mamoru Kurihara and Hajime Yamagishi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
Auto-related manufacturers in the Tohoku region are struggling to resume operations after their production bases were ravaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.
While restoration work is rapidly moving forward at manufacturers' plants, many small and midsize auto parts makers remain unsure about when they will be able to resume full-scale operations.
Operations at Nissan Motor Co.'s Iwaki plant in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, were suspended after the earthquake.
On Tuesday, Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn visited the plant, where he told reporters he wanted production to partially resume in mid-April and on a full scale in early June.
The plant, the company's only base for the production of V6 engines for the Fuga, Skyline and other high-end models, was built in 1994 on a 200,000-square-meter tract of land. The annual production is about 560,000 engines.
Inside the plant, there were cracks in the floor, pieces of ceiling and walls laid scattered around, a duct had been displaced and a processing machine for engine parts was tilted to one side. Aluminum that was being molded remained in the same position as when the quake struck.
Nissan has dispatched employees from other factories, and about 300 workers are carrying out inspections and restoration work on the Iwaki plant's buildings and equipment.
Ghosn, who looked around the plant with a serious expression on his face, encouraged workers to deal with the difficult situation in a united manner. He said the entire world was closely following events in the disaster-hit areas.
Iwaki dealerships also have high hopes that the plant will be up and running again.
Toshio Matsumoto, the manager of Nissan's Taira dealership, said: "Not a single car passed in front of our shop [immediately after the quake]. But residents who had been evacuated started returning a couple of days ago. Demand [for automobiles] as an essential means of transportation in daily life is recovering gradually."
Suspension of the plant's operations has affected the supply of new cars, however.
"If the current situation continues for another month or two, a serious situation will develop. I hope the Iwaki plant will resume operations as soon as possible," Matsumoto said.
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Parts covered in mud
"This is a part for a compressor," an employee of Iwaki Diecast Co. in Yamamotocho, Miyagi Prefecture, said as he picked up a mud-covered item.
Although the town faces the Pacific Ocean, the headquarters of the midsize auto parts maker was not affected by the tsunami as it is located at an elevated position.
But the building of a subsidiary company and houses of employees were swept away. The company makes engines, transmissions, air conditioners and other parts for vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.
Equipment and parts are now unusable as they are covered in mud.
Meanwhile, the company's subcontractor in Narahamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, has been abandoned as it is in the 20-kilometer evacuation zone set up in the wake of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident.
"As the trouble [at the Narahamachi plant] probably will last a very long time, I might as well say the plant has ceased to exist," Iwaki Diecast President Yoshio Saito said with a sigh.
As Iwaki Diecast cannot procure parts from the subsidiary and subcontractor, it will produce them elsewhere.
Repairs to equipment at the company's main plant have been completed. But as the amount of electricity has been reduced by Tohoku Electric Power Co., it probably will take a couple of weeks for the plant to start full-scale operations. Damage caused by the disaster may total between 200 million yen and 300 million yen, the company said.
Although a major automaker offered to help in the reconstruction, Saito refused, saying the company wanted to rebuild on its own.
"We don't know what will happen next under the current circumstances. But we must try to keep going forward," Saito said, as he issued a stream of instructions to his employees.
(Mar. 31, 2011)
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