Efforts to get Japan’s industrial heartland up and running again are being disrupted by aftershocks that continue to hit the country a month after the tsunami disaster.
Repair teams have been working around the clock since 11 March, but factories are frequently being disrupted by the quake’s aftershocks and power blackouts.
Sumitomo Metal Industries has begun production of heavy plates for shipbuilding at its main plant in Kashima but manufacturing of products for vehicles remains suspended.
A magnitude 7.1 aftershock off Miyagi Prefecture last Thursday caused more damage and temporarily shut off power to a Toshiba.
“If blackouts repeatedly take place, we don’t know what to do,” a Toshiba employee told Asahi.com.
Another aftershock at Honda’s factory in Sayama forced an early closure of the plant just after it had resumed operations. Honda President Takanobu Ito predicts that full scale production remains two or possibly three months away.
Nissan also had to order its repairs workers to evacuate its Iwaki factory following shocks.
Meanwhile repairs at Japan’s devastated ports are holding up the supply of raw materials to plants. For instance, Asahi.com reported that Mitsubishi Chemical’s Kashima factory in Kamisu, will only start up in late-May because of the repairs are being made to the nearby port facilities.
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