Toyota to be Back at Full Production by the End of 2011

Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, tens of thousands of lives have been affected and are still being affected by this tragedy.  It also has affected many businesses in the area, including Japanese automaker Toyota.

Since the devastation occurred, Toyota’s factories in the United States have been severely affected as well, due to slowdowns in Toyota factories in Japan.  These factories make parts specific to Toyota’s vehicles and have been slowed down or halted due to a disrupted power supply caused by the damage done by the earthquake and tsunami to a main nuclear plant.

The automaker announced that its output would start to increase in July for its Japanese plants and in August for its overseas manufacturing and be back to normal by November or December of this year, which is good news for the manufacturing industry in Japan and the rest of the world, with plants in 26 other countries.  Currently, the company’s Japanese factories are working at about half of their potential, and outside of Japan, Toyota factories are achieving about 40% of their potential.

Hopefully the company will ramp up production even faster, as the CEO of Commons Asset Management, Tetsuro Ii, predicts, “According to what we’re hearing directly from companies, it looks like the recovery on the ground is faster than people think, and Toyota may well restart production even faster than they stated in this announcement.”