Toyota and Honda revising JIT methods to avoid future crisis problems

Filed in archive News on January 1, 2009

Toyota and Honda considering modifying supply chain to avoid supplier bankruptcies.

According to Left Lane News, Toyota and Honda say that they are considering modifying their "just in time" supply chain methods in order to avoid any production delays that might be caused by supplier bankruptcies. Concern across the auto industry that General Motors or Chrysler might not succeed in their restructuring plans has led to fear that many suppliers might be crippled or bankrupted as a result.

Toyota and Honda produce many vehicles in North America using the same suppliers as GM and Chrysler - as well as Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Hyundai, among others.

"We continue contingency planning even after the bailout," Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota's North American manufacturing unit in Erlanger, Kentucky, told the press.