News on Japan: Disaster will effect exports of cars, electronics, parts etc

News On Japan

http://newsonjapan.com/

Japan crisis spells doom for giant tech companies

Analysts say the fact that Japan is home to several technology giants including Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Canon and Fujitsu may mean that production lines or manufacture are really going to face a hard time. Since Friday's earthquake, Sony has been forced to shut down its production in six northeastern factories which are responsible for much of the company's disc and drive manufacturing.

Toshiba which makes 35 per cent of the Nand flash memory chips that store information in mobile phones, tablets such as the iPad and digital cameras, has also shut its factories after Tokyo Electric Power Co. requested companies to cut down on electricity consumption. The $63.3 billion microchip industry - representing over 20 per cent of the world's production - is also threatened by the events of the last week. (Business Day)

Japan crisis a threat to companies' supply routes

The disaster in Japan has exposed a problem with how multinational companies do business: The system they use to keep supplies rolling in is lean and cost-effective - yet vulnerable to sudden shocks. Factories, ports, roads, railways and airports in northern Japan have been shut down or damaged because of the stricken nuclear plant in the region. So auto and technology companies are cut off from suppliers in the disaster zone. Some have had to stop or slow production.

"When you're running incredibly lean and you're going global, you become very vulnerable to supply disruptions," says Stanley Fawcett, a professor of global supply chain management at Brigham Young University. The risks are higher because so many companies keep they inventories low to save money. They can't sustain production for long without new supplies. (AP)





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http://newsonjapan.com/

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Analysis: Worst case nuclear cloud seen limited to Japan

Japan radiation fears may mask cholera, typhoid threat

This is just the tip of the radio active iceberg. Japan is not very big to begin with and a large piece of it may not be able to be used for decades. Keep them in your prayers they will need every one they can get.

American people are so poor they can't help.

16 other countries including the USA are sending help to Japan.
I feel sorry for those people there. Bad enough with the earthquake and now the added crisis with the nuclear radiation. It will be years before things get back to normal there. It will also effect businesses and jobs in the USA. Auto repair shops will not be able to get parts for Japanese cars and trucks, like Toyota and Nissan. Auto dealerships that sell those cars may fold up. And stores selling Japanese made TV's, Computers and other products could go out of business. And at least this will slow down hiring in the US even more.
Only entrepreneurs will survive. Those that can sell hard to find parts and etc.
And this is predicted to last for years before Japan will ever get back to normal.
So we maybe without appliances & things and parts for years.

Carol in CA wrote:16 other countries including the USA are sending help to Japan.
I feel sorry for those people there. Bad enough with the earthquake and now the added crisis with the nuclear radiation. It will be years before things get back to normal there. It will also effect businesses and jobs in the USA. Auto repair shops will not be able to get parts for Japanese cars and trucks, like Toyota and Nissan. Auto dealerships that sell those cars may fold up. And stores selling Japanese made TV's, Computers and other products could go out of business. And at least this will slow down hiring in the US even more.
Only entrepreneurs will survive. Those that can sell hard to find parts and etc.
And this is predicted to last for years before Japan will ever get back to normal.
So we maybe without appliances & things and parts for years.

Maybe this will start a buy American campaign? The price of Japanese cars will skyrocket.

Buy America sounds good. But look who they hire in our factories, illegal aliens for cheap labor instead of out of work Americans.

This is just great. Millions of Americans lost their savings and retirement and homes and families to Corporate Greed on Wall Street and yet an Earthquake in another country garners more media attention and financial support from the United States?

What about Unemployed Americans who have been destitute since one year ago when our unemployment benefits ran out? This is why I won't vote for anyone currently in Congress nor re-elect President Obama.

Even if we got a major earthquake here and a nuclear power plant disaster, the government would still ignore the 99ers.
The money would probable go to funding the banks, government offices that were damaged and some money to help rebuild the elites mansions.

I don't think it will be that bad in most cases. Car parts shouldn't be that hard to get. I am pretty sure that most electronics are made in China now, if they aren't companies will just buy Chinese tvs. My understanding is that superconductors will be hard to get though.

I guess if things go to heck maybe Obama can say he inherited this from Japan!

hee hee very funny 1208.

lendmeflight2 wrote: I am pretty sure that most electronics are made in China now, if they aren't companies will just buy Chinese tvs. My understanding is that superconductors will be hard to get though.

Japanese electronics like cameras, audio equipment, chip makers and a ton of other products other than TVs: Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic, NEC, Sanyo, Seiko, Sharp, Alpine, Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Casio, Kenwood, Nikon, Aiwa, JVC, Fuji, Denon, Olympus and about another 100 others. They make the silicon for chips, flash drives for smart phones, Blu-Ray players, flash drives for Ipads, printers, lenses, the list is very long.

kemcha wrote:This is just great. Millions of Americans lost their savings and retirement and homes and families to Corporate Greed on Wall Street and yet an Earthquake in another country garners more media attention and financial support from the United States?

What about Unemployed Americans who have been destitute since one year ago when our unemployment benefits ran out? This is why I won't vote for anyone currently in Congress nor re-elect President Obama.

Uh lets's see. Almost half a million people in shelters & homeless with no heat & limited food & water, medical care, at least ten thousand people dead or missing, nuclear plants releasing radiation. Not to mention miles and miles of horrific tsunami damage along the entire north coast. It's tragic and helping is called compassion. The old us versus them mentality at this time is IMO in very poor taste.

:891011:

exhaustedandtired/1208 wrote:I guess if things go to heck maybe Obama can say he inherited this from Japan!

LMAO........Good one...I have a lot of friends that work at the Georgetown Ky Toyota plant and they were told no more over time,they are not slowing down the lines they will still run 52sec.tach times,that's the time a car rolls off the line,that being said they do rely on a lot of electronics from Japan.If you go to the plant they have sea containers full of parts which is unusual for a Japanese company being that historically they get there parts J.I.T.,just in time, but for some reason they stocked up.It is believed that because Toyota in Ky depends on and also owns a lot of companys in Ky that are local suppliers they will work around this somehow.There has been no mention of lay-offs nor do they seem to woried about the electronic parts they get from the mainland. My friend whose a supervisor has stated that they have been working locally with a few select manufacturers to devolpe redundent lines to make the parts they rely on from Japan.

I don't know anything about car manufacturing but I heard all hybrids are built in Japan FWIW.