Toyota suspended output for both shifts last week Friday and Saturday at its main Lexus assembly plant in southwestern Japan to confirm the stability of its supply chain. There were no reports of damage at the Miyata assembly plant, in Fukuoka prefecture on Japan’s western island of Kyushu, nor at nearby engine and transaxle plants, a Toyota spokesman said.
After canceling the first production shift on Friday, Toyota decided to also cancel the second and to continue idling the operations on Saturday. The company needed more time to dig into lower tiers of the supply chain to ensure deliveries of sub-components wouldn’t be interrupted, the spokesman said. Toyota will reassess the supply chain this week and make a decision about resuming output on Monday. Toyota also suspended operations at an engine factory and at a transaxle factory near the assembly plant.
The plant, operated by Toyota subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu, builds the Lexus HS, ES and CT cars, along with the RX and NX crossovers. The Toyota Sai hybrid is also built at the factory. The plant has annual capacity of 340,000 vehicles.
