Fallout

Toyota Making Drastic Production Cuts in North America

Following Japanese quake, tsunami.

Toyota announced Tuesday that its North American plants will undergo serious production cuts due to a difficulty in getting parts from Japan in the wake of the country’s massive earthquake and tsunami. The company will suspend production on Mondays and Fridays through June 3, the company said, and only run 50 percent of production on the remaining days. Additionally, Canadian production will be suspended for the week beginning May 23, and U.S. production for the week beginning May 30. But the company stressed there will be no layoffs, and the non-production time will be used for “training and plant-improvement activities.” Toyota employs 25,000 manufacturing and research-and-development workers in nine plants in Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, California, and Mississippi, as well three plants in Canada and one in Mexico.