Tour of quake zone shows Akio Toyoda 'the depth of destruction'

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda toured Japan's earthquake disaster zone, including the damaged assembly plant opened there in January, as the world's largest automaker struggles to get a grip on the supplier crisis and resume production.

Toyoda's trip on Sunday and Monday took him to Miyagi prefecture, near the epicenter of the killer March 11 quake and an area being positioned by Toyota as its domestic center for small car production.

The vast majority of the carmaker's 18 Japanese assembly plants remain closed. Toyota started limited production of the Toyota Prius and Lexus HS250h and Lexus CT 200h hybrids on Monday. But those lines are scheduled to pause on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the carmaker has identified about 500 parts in short supply that must be carefully monitored to ensure production can resume smoothly.

Among the sites Toyoda visited was the Central Motors Co. assembly plant in Ohira,which opened in January and makes the Yaris sedan for export to the United States. That facility, which received light damage to the building and machinery, has been closed since the quake.

Go and see

Toyoda, grandson of the carmaker's founder, also visited a local plant run by supplier Toyota Boshoku and another parts plant run by affiliate Toyota Tohoku. He also stopped by four dealerships, as well as the shipping port of nearby Sendai city, where Toyota loads the Yaris.

The struck region is "one of our production bases, those directly hit and vastly affected include our dealers, suppliers and numerous other partners," Toyoda said in a statement. "Seeing the devastation with my own eyes brought home to me the depth of destruction."

The company did not give details about the condition of the various plants he visited.

But Toyoda's whirlwind trip underscored one of the company's guiding business principles: Genchi genbutsu--Toyotaspeak for "Go and see for yourself." Pictures of the visit show the CEO clad in a heavy work coat and sporting a hardhat as he surveyed the scene.

Limited output of hybrid vehicles continued Tuesday. But the lines were expected to take a break Wednesday to assess the balance of components in stock, before reopening on Thursday.

The Prius is made at Toyota's Tsutsumi plant near the company's Toyota City headquarters in central Japan, while the Lexus models are made at Toyota Motor Kyushu in southern Japan.

The rest of the company's assembly lines are all shuttered as it scrambles to guarantee a continuous flow of parts from its suppliers. Toyota previously had suspended its 18 domestic assembly plants through Sunday, saying it would lose production of 140,000 vehicles.

In a sign that lost production figures might grow, Toyota warned last week that its North American plants may also cut production due to shortages of parts from Japan.

Toyota has been in contact with all its suppliers hit by the quake. But it is still trying to assess which ones are ready to restart production and which can sustain output, spokesman Masami Doi said. Part of the reason for Wednesday's Prius production shutdown is to make sure the factories have a balanced inventory of parts to continue production at a slow but steady pace.

Checking suppliers

Toyota wants to ensure that suppliers are matching pre-quake quality expectations.

"We are checking the supply and quality of parts very carefully," Doi said. "So right now, speed is the not the top priority for us. We are starting up production gradually."

Toyota declined to give volume figures for how many hybrids are being produced during this week's brief restart. But Doi said lines were operating at more than half capacity.

Toyota has two assembly plants in the region of northern Japan hammered by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake. One includes the Central plant Miyagi prefecture--which was visited by Toyoda--and another is operated by Kanto Auto Works, Ltd., in neighboring Iwate prefecture.

The Central plant suffered damage to its wall and some pipes and hand machinery jostled out of place but had no major structural or equipment problems, Toyota has said. The Kanto Auto plant also had some of its stamping machines displaced by the quake's shaking.

While the Central plant makes the Yaris, Kanto Auto makes the Yaris sedan, as well as the Scion XB and Scion XD for the U.S. market.

By Hans Greimel- Automotive News