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Posts Tagged ‘Japanese parts’

After the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there was a major scramble to find alternative electronic parts for the major industries in the country. Two of the most affective industries were the automotive and consumer sectors which contribute a huge chunk to Japan’s economy. Japanese technology has always been regarded as highly effective, innovative, and reliable. Japan has the respect of the world not just because of their enduring spirit, but also because of Japanese technology.

The disruption from the disaster caused everything to go up and many Japanese firms either shut down, decreased work force, or went on shortened work weeks. Some of the component parts that were severely affected were Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) parts NAND flash memory parts, microchips and microcontrollers, LCD panel displays which includes materials and parts, among many others.

Some firms chose to get their parts from Korea, Taiwan, France, which has a good record in quality control and standards. Other companies decided to ride out the problem and try to manage. Most companies who rely on Japanese parts were willing to use up existing inventory and depend on the Japanese strength of being able to bounce back. One reason for this decision was because the prices of many parts rose by as much as 20%. By holding out until the prices stabilize again would mean a possible drop in production but no issues with quality or the performance of the finished products.

Some of the Japanese companies who have either closed down plants or slowed down on their production output are Toshiba and their NAN flash memory chips, microprocessors, and image sensors; Texas Instruments with 2 plants in Japan also makes computer chips; Hynix which manufactures wafer parts; auto manufacturing firms like Toyota, Honda, Nissan; and Sumitomo, to name just a few.

According to Renault-Samsung, a company that manufactures the Nissan Almera and Sunny, the disruption will affect their sales because they rely for Japan to supply them with 10% of the required components. A spokeman from Renault-Samsung says, ”So far we are doing fine but should the crisis be prolonged, it would cause an emergency.”