Automakers Feel Worsening Effects of Japan Crisis
March 19th, 2011Just in time… Your what hurts?
Via: AP:
A week after the disaster in Japan erupted, its impact on automakers around the world is worsening.
Most of Japan’s auto industry is shut down. Factories from Louisiana to Thailand are low on Japanese-made parts. Idled plants are costing companies hundreds of millions of dollars. And U.S. car dealers may not get the cars they order this spring.
If parts factories in Japan stay closed for several more weeks, dealers and manufacturers will feel deepening effects: fewer cars, diminished revenue and frustrated customers.
Analysts say it’s too early to calculate the cost to the overall industry. But Goldman Sachs estimates the shutdowns are costing Japanese automakers more than $150 million a day.
it’s a combination of JIT and too much outsourcing to too few suppliers. one would have thought these manufacturing-logistics brains would have learned from the Taiwan earthquake a few years ago. but no. no one wants to cut into their own juicy profit margin and build in redundnacy/risk diversification.
let me just say one word that will be relevant for future reference:
C-H-I-N-A.