Source : Procurement Leaders

Automotive giant Toyota, whose supply chain was hit hard by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last March, has announced that its plans to make the supply chain more resilient will be in place by the autumn.

Executive vice-president Shinichi Sasaki who overseas purchasing told Reuters that Toyota has mapped over 500 direct suppliers in Japan, which has identified 1,500 sites producing components, of this 300 were “at risk”, which are single sources for close to 1000 parts.

In order to reduce the risk that another disaster would bring, Toyota is asking its suppliers to spread production to multiple sites or to hold extra stock.

Sasaki said “We’ll know by the end of March what contingency measures will be taken by all the supply sources and have those in place by around autumn,"

"Our plan is to manage risk while at the same time reducing costs," he added.

Sasaki said that the new plans would see the supply chain recover within two weeks of another disaster.