Summary
6 April 2011
The Japanese car maker, Honda, says it plans to reduce the number of cars made at one of its UK factories. This is due to a parts shortage following the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The 3,000 workers at the plant will remain on full pay.
Reporter
Mark Gregory
The Honda plant in Swindon relies on components from Japan for its cars
Listen
Click to hear the report:
Report
Honda says it's cutting production at its Swindon plant, in southern England, by 50% from next week, as it grapples with shortages of key components from Japan.
Wide swathes of Japanese industry are working at well below full capacity due to power shortages, following the nuclear accident at Fukushima. The earthquake and tsunami devastated a region that's home to some key parts suppliers to the motor and electronics industries. The effect is being felt in the supply chains of many companies around the world, not just Japanese ones, that rely on Japanese made components.
The problem's been exacerbated by the prevalence of so-called 'just-in-time' production systems, where manufacturers don't keep large stockpiles of parts on-site. Instead, they rely on timely deliveries made just before the parts are needed, more efficient when things are going well, but prone to disruption if the parts don't arrive on time.
Mark Gregory, 大象传媒 News
Listen
Click to hear the vocabulary:
Vocabulary
- production
here, the number of cars made
- grapples with
struggles to deal with
- key components
crucial or important parts
- wide swathes
here, large parts
- devastated
wrecked or ravaged
- the supply chains
the systems used to get parts or materials for production
- rely on
depend on
- exacerbated
made worse
- prevalence of
common use or regular occurrence of
- prone to
likely to suffer from
