Hitachi Construction Machinery has confirmed that five of its production facilities were damaged during the earthquake and tsunami that struck mainland Japan on Saturday.
The company has revealed that six of its production facilities were damaged by the tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on 11 March. Five of those facilities are based in the Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture, while a sixth, Hitachi Automotive Systems is in Fukushima, the town at the centre of the growing nuclear crisis in the north of Japan.
“HCM’s buildings and production facilities have suffered damages, mainly at production bases in Ibaraki prefecture. The company will make the safety of its employees the first priority, and will continue to gather details on the status of damages to production facilities, while closely monitoring conditions of utilities such as the availability of electric power,” said the company in a statement.
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Meanwhile manufacturer Komatsu has announced that some of its branches have been extensively damaged by the tsunami and one of its first concerns was for missing employees.
“Among our facilities in the concerned regions, some facilities of the Ibaraki and Oyama plants have mainly been damaged. No substantial damages have been incurred by either the Kooriyama Plant or Komatsu Utility,” said the company.
“There are a few employees of the Komatsu Group whose safety we are working to confirm. As our top priority task, we are looking into their safety together with that of their families.”
The company added that it is continuing the inspection and repairs of its plants in the affacted regions. While it has been able to recommence production at some facilities it said: “With respect to resuming overall production, it remains indefinite as of this date. Concerning affected suppliers, we are inspecting their facilities and supporting their recovery to normal production.”
A major obstacle for Japan’s exporters as the country rebuilds will be repairing and re-opening ports. One of the worst hit was the Port of Hitachinaka, a major hub for both Hitachi and Komatsu’s export operation.
“It has been seriously damaged, we are concerned about the effects even after resuming our production,” said a Komatsu spokesman.
According to analysts, existing inventory can meet demand in the short term, but questions remain about suppliers and the country’s ports. Daiwa Securities Group says that in some related industries, the effect of the closure of many plants and factories in the areas devastated by the tsunami is already being felt globally.
In a report on the disaster, it warned that the global supply of lithium-ion batteries and electronic components, products manufactured by, among others, Hitachi, Sanyo and Sony could be drastically affected. With Japan accounting for almost 40% of the world’s electronics and audio-visual components, it could take up to three months for output to recover fully, the report said.
“We believe the impact on the electronics supply chain will be substantial,” said the report.
Such shortages in the supply chain could harm vehicle and machine production, not just the electronics industry.
Herbert Deiss, head of purchasing at BMW, said at the company’s annual press conference that it is still unclear how much damage has been done to its operation by the disaser.
“We do not face any immediate consequences, but we are analysing how our second- and third-tier suppliers are affected. This will take seven to ten days.”