Dramatic unseen footage of Japanese tsunami

Wow....

source;
www.autoblog.com

Honda cranks up output as auto sector sees comeback

The engine of the Ontario economy is starting to hum again, propelled mainly by a return to full production at Japanese auto makers’ plants.

Honda of Canada Manufacturing (HMC-N30.00-0.67-2.18%) in Alliston, Ont., said Wednesday that it will begin cranking out 1,600 vehicles a day in November, more than two years after it cut production during the recession and about eight months after it slashed output because of disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

The two Honda plants in Alliston, located about 90 kilometres north of Toronto, will also operate on two Saturdays a month – likely until at least the end of the year – mainly to build more models of the compact Civic. The top-selling passenger car was redesigned for the 2012 model year, and production and sales were just starting to gear up when the earthquake created chaos in the supply chain and made it difficult for auto makers to get enough parts.

Honda’s move means that two-thirds of Canada’s car and light truck assembly plants will be running on overtime. That’s a major boost for a Canadian economy still in the midst of an anemic recovery from the recession and one in which gross domestic product fell by 0.4 per cent in the second quarter.

“The key point is that auto production did slow significantly in the summer and it did affect the overall economy, but now it is back in full swing,” said Carlos Gomes, a Bank of Nova Scotia economist who follows the auto industry closely.

There were signs in September that the worst had passed, noted industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., of Richmond Hill, Ont.

Car production at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (TM-N66.91-0.43-0.64%) in Cambridge, Ont., rose 19 per cent that month from year-earlier levels, Mr. DesRosiers said, compared with a 6.2-per-cent decline in the first nine months of the year.

Since then, Toyota’s other plant in Woodstock, Ont., has returned to a full, two-shift operation and is also working overtime to boost output of the RAV4 crossover.

Nonetheless, when compared with vehicle production in the United States and Mexico, “we’ve been the laggard all year and remained so in September,” Mr. DesRosiers said.

While the assembly industry is located entirely in Ontario and most of the supply base is in that province as well, the production rebound will also contribute to national economic growth, Mr. Gomes said.

The rebound will add almost a full percentage point to the annual growth rate in the fourth quarter, he said. His forecast is that the economy will grow by 1.2 per cent this quarter.

Japan-based auto makers want to increase their inventories, which stood at just 40 days of supply in the U.S. market in September, compared with the usual figure of about 60 days. In addition, U.S. sales jumped by a surprising 10 per cent in September. That means all auto makers want to make sure they have enough vehicles on U.S. dealers’ lots in the fourth quarter.

The U.S. market is the destination for 80 per cent of the Civics, Acura MDX and ZDX models that roll off the Alliston assembly lines.

The shortage of Civics since March means there are several thousand back orders for the car at Canadian dealerships, Jerry Chenkin, executive vice-president of Honda Canada Inc. told reporters at the Alliston plant on Wednesday. Some customers have been waiting as long as 45 days, he said, but the increase in production should cut that to 30 days.

The Civic has been the best-selling passenger car in Canada for the past 13 years and led the second-place Hyundai Elantra by 1,122 vehicles at the end of September, despite a 12-per-cent sales decline in the first nine months of 2011.

Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/honda-cranks-up-output-as-auto-sector-sees-comeback/article2206417/

Japan's plants hum, but hurdles remain

By Hans Greimel
TOKYO -- Playing a frantic game of catch-up, Japan's automakers are running assembly plants at a pace faster than pre-earthquake schedules in order to boost inventories and recoup sales.

Toyota and Nissan are leading the surge, with output in Japan not only back to normal but exceeding year-ago levels. Mazda and Suzuki have reported their first year-over-year production increases since the March 11 quake, and Honda, Subaru and Mitsubishi are close behind.

But even as the companies return to full domestic output, big hurdles remain.

Some model variants are still in limited production because of lingering shortages of parts, especially microcontrollers. And even with output restored, it could take months for carmakers to rebuild prequake inventory levels, especially at U.S. dealerships.

Suppliers may struggle to keep pace with the surge. And automakers are rejiggering supply chains so they won't get burned again.

They are racing to find multiple sources for parts; tighten control over lower-tier suppliers; buy more parts overseas; and even bolster stockpiles, an abrupt change from Japan's treasured just-in-time approach.

Building inventories
Toyota is among the most aggressive in its supplier overhaul.

"We have instructed them to have a plan that allows them to go back to normal operations within two weeks of a major disaster," Shinichi Sasaki, Toyota Motor Corp.'s executive vice president for global purchasing, told Automotive News.

Toyota's domestic output rose 12 percent in August -- its first year-over-year increase since the earthquake. But it does not expect normal U.S. inventories until March.

Nissan's domestic production actually edged ahead of last year's in May. But not even Nissan says it can make all the car variants it wants. Because of pinched pipelines for some microcontrollers, the small computer chips that control everything from engines to entertainment systems, Nissan does not expect to return to unrestricted production until later this month.

Subaru says its Japan plant will be back to normal by the end of October. But it will take until March for the brand to achieve prequake U.S. inventory levels, especially for Japan-made models such as the Forester SUV and Impreza sedan.

Chips still down
Output of most models at Honda is almost back to normal. But it is still facing shortages of the redesigned Civic in the United States and the Brio small car for Asia. Because those cars were introduced after the quake, Honda couldn't stockpile enough microchips. Civic production should return to normal by the end of this month, and U.S. inventories of the model are expected to be restored by late November.

Nissan spokesman Toshitake Inoshita said: "In terms of raw production numbers, we have more than full production. But we are still waiting on some electronic chips."

Chip maker Renesas Electronics Corp. of Tokyo remains a bottleneck, but that will ease soon. The supplier, which controls about 41 percent of the global market for automotive microcontrollers, returned to prequake output at the end of September, spokeswoman Kyoko Okamoto said. That means a normal flow of chips will start to reach automakers this month.

But Renesas is far from recovered. It recouped prequake output by shifting work from its damaged Naka factory in Japan's quake zone to chip foundries in Singapore and Taiwan. The Naka factory is still limping along at just over half its prequake capacity. Until the factory is fully restored, it may be hard for Renesas to meet increased demand as automakers ramp up.
Masaya Yamashita, Honda Motor Co.'s global purchasing boss, says: "In order to supply to the carmakers, I think Tier 1 suppliers are really struggling to make deliveries to all of us. The parts are reaching us. But the inventory of parts in the chain is pretty tight."

The pinch has Toyota revising its famous low-inventory, just-in-time production system.

Normally, Toyota carries a two-month inventory of Renesas chips, global procurement chief Sasaki says. But it will raise that figure to as high as four months.

"Right now we are recalculating the optimal volume of inventory that is necessary based on our estimate of how long it will take production at our suppliers to resume after a disaster," he said.

Another new norm: paternalistic big-footing of lower-tier suppliers, a practice previously all but unknown.

Take Nippon Chemi-Con Corp., a maker of aluminum foil for electrolytic capacitors for the electrical system. Its factory was wiped out.

Toyota, which is accustomed to working intimately with Tier 1 and 2 suppliers, decided to get active with lower-tier suppliers that had been flying far below the radar. But when Toyota stepped in to help Nippon Chemi-Con, the industry supplier rebuffed Toyota as an interloper, according to an internal Toyota report reviewed by Automotive News.

Only after weeks of arm-twisting by did the supplier acquiesce to Toyota's help in pumping out 700 tons of liquid waste that had flooded the factory.

Paint battle
Toyota also butted heads with pigment maker Merck, which makes a pearl luster pigment called Xirallic. Merck's kilns in Onahama, Japan, were damaged and unable to supply the pigment, which is a component in many paint colors and is used in about 20 percent of Toyota's vehicles.

Merck rejected Toyota's offers of assistance, according to the Toyota report. So Toyota tried making its own pigments -- with mixed results. Of 67 missing colors, Toyota could successfully substitute only 37.

That was enough to tide Toyota over while Merck recovered. But Sasaki said Toyota asked Merck to establish a backup production site in Germany, the supplier's home country. Merck agreed.

Expect all automakers to keep lower-tier suppliers on a tight leash. Toyota, Nissan and Honda are demanding more control over where suppliers get their components.

"The parts and materials that remained the biggest issues for the longest time after the earthquake aren't the parts that we buy, but the parts or materials that the Tier 1 or Tier 2 suppliers buy," says Honda's Yamashita. When possible, he says, "we want to have dual sources."

Bouncing back
Change in monthly production in Japan, vs. 2010

April June Aug.

Toyota
–75% –13% 12%
Nissan
–49% 2% –3%
Honda
–81% –51% –17%

Source (via Carscoop);
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111010/OEM01/310109970/1117

Toyota-Honda U.S. Rebound Brings Call of ‘What Recession?': Cars

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.'s return to full production this month is boosting U.S. auto sales back near the pace reached before Japan's earthquake.

September light-vehicle sales, to be released Oct. 3, probably rose to a 12.8 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That would be the fastest pace since April, when lost output caused by Japan's tsunami crimped supply of parts and finished cars.

“Recovering inventory levels have helped to bring buyers back into the market,” said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates.

Jesse Toprak, who develops forecasts at TrueCar.com, went so far as to title his latest report “What Recession?” as the auto rebound defies consumer confidence that is near a two-year low.

Toyota has said it expects to reverse monthly U.S. sales declines beginning next month, and Honda is adding overtime shifts at two Ohio plants. Better supply also probably meant incentives rose from the lowest in almost six years.

“The big story this month was better inventory and favorable pricing” for consumers, said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com.

Sales declines at Toyota and Honda contributed to the U.S. auto sales pace slowing from a 13.1 million rate averaged in the year's first four months to as low as 11.6 million in June, according to researcher Autodata Corp.

Toyota Still Recovering
Toyota slipped behind Ford Motor Co. to third in U.S. sales this year through August, which was the first month in the past year that its global production increased. The Toyota City, Japan-based automaker is still recovering and may say sales dropped 15 percent, the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, leaving it in third again.

“With the launch of the new Camry, October should be even better,” said Paul Atkinson, who operates Toyota dealerships in Bryan and Madisonville, Texas. “We're selling as fast as they're coming off the damn truck.”

Toyota, ramping up production of the redesigned Camry sedan, may say sales dropped 15 percent, the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The Toyota City, Japan- based automaker's global production increased for the first time in 12 months in August.

Toyota shares fell 0.5 percent to 2,688 yen in Tokyo at the 3 p.m. close of Tokyo trading. Nissan Motor Co. gained 0.4 percent, while Honda fell 1.4 percent.

Overtime at Honda
Sales may decline 6.1 percent at Honda, the average of five analysts' estimates, after deliveries slid 20 percent or more in each of the past four months. The Tokyo-based automaker is scheduling overtime shifts at its Marysville and East Liberty assembly plants in Ohio, Ron Lietzke, a spokesman, said in a Sept. 28 phone interview.

Honda began the month with 32 days supply of vehicles, from 28 in August, Westlake Village, California-based J.D. Power said in a Sept. 22 statement. The industry standard is about 60 days.

General Motors Co. and Ford are anticipating that demand will keep increasing as the largest U.S. automakers negotiate labor contracts that boost production and add jobs.

GM, which reached a new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers this month, may report a 19 percent increase in September sales, the average of eight analysts' estimates. The Detroit-based automaker and union said the accord adds or retains 6,400 jobs and reopens an assembly plant in Tennessee.

Ford, Chrysler
Ford has discussed with the UAW adding as many as 10,000 union jobs in the U.S., according to three people familiar with the talks. Some of those workers would assemble Fusion sedans, which are currently made in Mexico, said one of the people who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.

Deliveries this month may rise 5.9 percent for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, the average of eight analysts' estimates.

Sales at Fiat SpA-controlled Chrysler Group LLC, which has extended its UAW contract to Oct. 19, may climb 20 percent, the average of seven analysts' estimates.

GM fell 58 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $20.18 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ford dropped 33 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $9.67.

Confidence among U.S. consumers stagnated in September near a two-year low as the share of households saying it was difficult to find a job climbed to the highest level in almost three decades. The Conference Board's sentiment index increased by 0.2 to 45.4 from an August reading that was the lowest since April 2009, the New York-based researcher said Sept. 27.

Auto Industry Shrinks
“The economy is stopped dead in its tracks,” George Magliano, a New York-based economist at IHS Automotive, said in a phone interview. “Considering that, the auto business is showing pretty good strength. The industry is hiring, it's producing more and there's pent-up demand.”
GM and Ford will be adding back only a portion of the jobs they shed during the recession that sent auto sales to a 27-year low of 10.4 million in 2009, according to Autodata Corp.

GM had about 49,000 U.S. hourly employees at the end of 2010, a year after its U.S.-backed bankruptcy. That's down from 111,000 such workers at the end of 2005, the company said in a Sept. 28 conference call with analysts.

Last year, about 962,000 U.S. workers were employed making vehicles and parts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington. That's down 32 percent from 1.41 million in 2005.

The downsizing of the industry, achieved in part by U.S.- backed bankruptcies for GM and Chrysler, meant cutting production capacity. That prevented U.S. automakers from raising output and offsetting industrywide constraints on inventory after the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March, said Alan Baum, an industry consultant at Baum & Associates.

‘Limited Ability'
GM, Ford and Chrysler “had a fairly limited ability to capitalize because there are a lot fewer auto plants and workers than there were four years ago,” said Baum, who is based in West Bloomfield, Michigan. “You can't just add a shift willy- nilly.”

Nissan, whose better supply of parts has buoyed inventory levels above its Japan-based rivals, may say deliveries climbed 18 percent, the average of five analysts' estimates.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., may combine to sell 20 percent more vehicles than a year earlier, according to the average of three estimates. Both automakers are based in Seoul.

J.D. Power today increased its estimate for the September auto-sales rate to 13 million from 12.9 million.

Industrywide deliveries may rise to 12.7 million cars and light trucks this year, the average of 18 analysts' estimates surveyed by Bloomberg in August. Sales may climb to 13.6 million in 2012, the average of 15 estimates. The U.S. averaged annual sales of 16.8 million vehicles from 2000 to 2007, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata.

The following table shows estimates for car and light-truck sales in the U.S. Estimates for companies are a percentage change from September 2010. Forecasts for the seasonally adjusted annual rate, or SAAR, are in millions of light vehicles.

September had 25 selling days, matching the year-earlier period.*T

GM Ford Chrysler SAAR
Himanshu Patel NA NA NA 12.8
(JPMorgan)
Rod Lache 21% 8.5% 22% 13.0
(Deutsche Bank)
Chris Ceraso 14% 4% 16% 12.6
(Credit Suisse)
Brian Johnson 17% 7% 25% 12.8
(Barclays)
Peter Nesvold 24% 1.6% NA 12.7
(Jefferies)
Patrick Archambault 15% -1.3% 13% 12.4
(Goldman Sachs)
Itay Michaeli NA NA NA 12.9
(Citigroup)
Adam Jonas NA NA NA 12.8
(Morgan Stanley)
George Magliano NA NA NA 12.4
(IHS Automotive)
Jeff Schuster NA NA NA 13.0
(J.D. Power)
Jessica Caldwell 19% 11% 23% 12.9
(Edmunds.com)
Jesse Toprak 21% 8.5% 20% 13.1
(TrueCar.com)
Alan Baum NA NA NA 12.8
(Baum & Associates)
Seth Weber 21% 8% 24% 12.8
(RBC)
Average 19% 5.9% 20% 12.8
*T
--Editors: Bill Koenig, Jamie Butters

Source;
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LS9L3G1A1I4H01-31KL3EA80KPOTH5QSRJ96RFGAM

Honda denies nuclear mission for robot

There was a report that Honda was going to outfit ASIMO with a few upgrades to help out in the disaster in Japan;

http://gizmodo.com/5830373/hondas-most-adorable-robot-is-about-to-go-nuclear

TOKYO — Japan's Honda has denied a press report it is hoping to retool its humanoid robot ASIMO to enable it to join emergency work inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.



The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun said in its Friday evening edition that Honda was aiming to upgrade the robot's upper body functions so that it can move its arms as smoothly as a human being.



US Honda spokeswoman Lauren Ebner said the report was "speculation."



"Although Honda hopes that ASIMO will someday be a helper to people, at this point the robot is solely a research and design project," Ebner said in a statement to AFP.



No official at Honda's head office in Tokyo was available for comment on Friday.



The current ASIMO, introduced in 2000 and resembling a small astronaut, stands 130 centimetres (4 feet 3 inches) tall. The bipedal bot can walk, run, carry trays, push carts and shake hands with people.



Asahi said that to work in the debris-strewn nuclear plant, ASIMO would likely be modified and fitted with tyres or caterpillar tracks.



The Fukushima plant has been leaking radiation from its reactors since its cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. At some hotspots radiation is high enough to be lethal to humans.



Robots have already been used inside the plant to take video footage, including the US-made PackBot and Japanese-made Quince crawler robots.



Source;

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7m9qLNugC96cUAu4BGNJPVA8Dxg?docId=CNG.1cc437d7d61fc59f3394a87a1a28abbb.171