Toyota suspends production at three Japan plants due to heavy rains

Due to heavy rain that have been hitting Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation announced on Tuesday that the company had decided to cancel day shift at its three factories until further notice. The factories involved which are run by its subsidiary are located in Miyagi and Iwate prefecture.

Reuters reported that the suspension was only for day shift and Toyota has not decided whether the afternoon and evening shift works will be suspended too or not. Osaki River had overflown due to continuous heavy rain forcing the company to make such decision.

The decision came as a precaution step to ensure the safety of the workers. A representative from Toyota, Kayo Doi told The Wall Street Journal that there is no damage reported in all three factories yet. The factories involved are the manufacturing hub for production of Toyota hybrid car, Aqua or known as Prius C.   

Japan Disaster Management agency also had released a statement urging some 926,000 to evacuate as of Friday Morning as fear for safety rises. According to Tokyo Electric Co, around 12,000 houses in Tochigi and Ibaraki have power outages and it is not known whether Toyota's plants are experiencing the same problem.

According to International Business Times, the heavy rain battered the city after Typhoon Etau hit the country. The heavy rain is causing a flood in Aichi prefecture forcing the people to evacuate. Currently, there are 25 people were reported missing, 27 injured, while 3,500 people have been evacuated to evacuation centers.

The news is a blow to the company as it just announced a few days earlier that its plants workers will need to work overtime in the next six months starting October. The company is currently facing labor shortage to help ramp up the production making sure its latest car launched, the new Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid will be enough.

The latest plan which will affect all of its plants will see its worker working extra two hours per day and manufacturing will also continue on weekend and holiday. Toyota also offers increased wage and higher bonus to temporary workers up to $835 to combat labor shortage. The labor shortage in Japan is increasing as the country population is declining with more aging people yearly.

Toyota has been hit by a series of disruption to its supply chain due to natural disaster for a few times. In 2011, it needs to put Japan production on halted after an earthquake hits the country and later on the same year, flood in Thailand forced Toyota to do the same thing again.