Toyota restarts all Kumamoto quake-affected assembly lines

Representative for the world's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., said Friday that production had been restarted at all of its assembly lines that were suspended following a number of powerful earthquakes that rocked regions in Japan's southwest last month.

The powerful temblors that struck in the middle of the month and battered Kumamoto Prefecture and the surrounding regions, caused major disruption to key supply chains for the automaker, its officials said.

Due to damaged sustained after the quakes at a subsidiary of the Toyota group, Aisin Seiki Co., which supplies door parts, most of Toyota's assembly lines across the nation had to be shuttered due to a lack of parts.

Some of the assembly lines were rebooted towards the end of last month, as Aisin managed to secure parts supplies from other sources and by shifting its own production base.

Four of Toyota's major plants in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, which produces its latest range of Prius hybrid vehicles, were shuttered in the wake of the quakes, but restarted on April 25.

Other major Japanese automakers also experienced similar supply chain problems as a result of the quakes and led to their assembly lines also being shut down. Endit