Is our BCP ready? - Manufacturers jolted into production line suspensions by Kumamoto quakes

I mentioned in my previous blog that we have made progress to deal with the emergency situation caused by big earthquake after the hard experiences. But the following articles remind me that we need to address BCP (Business Continuity Plan) more practically. We have faced supply-chain issues in the manufacturing at the offshore Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 in 2011, and we do again... Let's see how big companies are doing. 

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 

Newspapers reported "Toyota Motor Corp. said Sunday, Apr 17 it will shut down vehicle assembly in Japan over the course of this week because of parts shortages stemming from the two strong earthquakes in Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan.
 

The world’s biggest automaker posted the announcement on its website Sunday, Apr 17.

"The shutdown will begin on Monday, Apr 18 at a factory in Kumamoto and progress to other plants through Friday, Apr 22."

Toyota said Continuity of operations would depend on the availability of parts.

Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc. has already suspended output at three vehicle assembly plants in Fukuoka Prefecture since Thursday, after a magnitude-6.5 quake rocked Kumamoto Prefecture.

On Tuesday or later, operations will be halted at Toyota’s four flagship plants in Aichi Prefecture and at Toyota Auto Body Co. and Toyota Motor East Japan Inc. Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., both Toyota units, also suspended many of the production lines for Toyota vehicles.”

Among other automakers, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. suspended its production lines in Okayama Prefecture from Monday night to Tuesday.

Many other firms were forced to suspend operations and evacuate workers.

Aisin Seiki Co. has stopped production at two plants in the city of Kumamoto that make engine parts, while microchip maker Renesas Electronics Corp., also in the city, has suspended production of semiconductors for vehicles and sees no prospect of resuming operations anytime soon because of continuing aftershocks.

Officials at Honda Motor Co.’s motorcycle plant in the town of Ozu in Kumamoto Prefecture are having difficulty assessing damage at its facilities, a company source said.

Operations were partially restored at a Panasonic Corp. plant in the town of Nagomi in Kumamoto Prefecture after Thursday’s temblor, but were suspended again after the stronger quake early Saturday.

A Sony Corp. semiconductor plant in Isahaya, Nagasaki Prefecture, was partially shut after the Saturday quake, and employees who were working the overnight shift evacuated.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said production was suspended at its semiconductor and engineering plants, both in Kumamoto.


.....Apparently their BCP (I assume they have BCP in place) don't work well....

 

 

Image Credit: Yahoo.com

 

Genpact, the global BPO company I am working for, has 70 operation centers in 19 countries. For the customers who need service in English, there would be enough back-up when any of them got suspended by earthquake or any other disasters. For customers who needs service in Japanese, we have 4 operation centers in China. They also would be back-up each other. Overall there would be enough facilities to ensure Business Continuity in Genpact. But as observed above, we need to check if we put practical BCP in place which will work well in the real situation.

 

If you would like to learn more about BCP, please visit Wikipedia:

 

English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_continuity_planning

 

Japanese https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8B%E6%A5%AD%E7%B6%99%E7%B6%9A%E8%A8%88%E7%94%BB

 

Would like all readers share their thoughts or opinions in the comments below. Would love to hear from you!

 

 

Please visit my LinkedIn page as well J

https://jp.linkedin.com/in/riekokoguchi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share what we’ve learned from Earthquake - Strongest earthquake since 2011 strikes Kumamoto area in Japan

A magnitude-6.5 earthquake knocked down houses and buckled roads in Kyushu on Thursday, Apr 14. The temblor logged a 7, the highest level on the Japanese intensity scale.



Image Credit: Wikipedia

As Kyushu residents attempted to get through a sleepless night, another strong earthquake rocked Kumamoto early Saturday, Apr 16 injuring more than 1,000, bringing the combined death toll from Thursday’s quake to at least 48.

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at 1:25 a.m. and registered 7 again on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7 in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was more powerful than the temblor that barely a day earlier.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 



The damage caused by Saturday’s quake and others in its wake has included collapsed houses, landslides, blackouts that have left more than 200,000 households without power, and water outages in 385,000 homes across Kumamoto, Oita and Miyazaki prefectures. The total number of quakes exceeds 860 since Apr 14, and 190,000 people have evacuated to the cars, tents and public buildings.
This is the strongest earthquake in the nation since the offshore Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

We have learned a lot from Great East Japan Earthquake as a nation. The actions taken right after the quake were very different from 2011 – quick and organized this time. I would like to introduce some examples:

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced on Friday, Apr 15 that the ministry would dispatch up to 25,000 Self-Defense Forces personnel to Kumamoto for rescue operations, with 5,000 more than initially planned, and he did it next day. Co-working with local rescue teams, they saved many lives who asked for help under collapsed houses.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 

There are several people who are missing due to the landslide, and the heavy machineries are used for finding them. These heavily machineries can be operated remotely against the risk of having another landslide.

 

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 

The convenience-store industry moved quickly as well. They have a nation-wide supply-chain network. They had their supply-chain in Kumamoto recovered much faster than 2011, and provided aid of foods and drinks to the evacuees.

 

 

SNS became powerful tool in the emergency situation. People can easily confirm the safe of the family and friends in the impacted area, and exchange the necessary information by SNS. For example, the media reported that one woman who evacuated to the city hall sent a message seeking toilet papers, and they were sent quickly from across the country.

 

Image Credit: Yahoo.com

 

Of course there are still many areas to be improved, but we have definitely learned and made progress in many ways to deal with the emergency situation caused by the big earthquake.

 

Recently there are big earthquakes happened not only in Japan but globally. As an earthquake-ridden country, Japan has developed technologies, measures and processes against earthquakes for many years. I think it would be useful to share these with the world so that we can save lives as much as possible and minimize the damages by earthquake.

 

 

Here is the Japan's traditional and modern earthquake construction techniques including quake-resistant building methods. You may be interested in: http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan311/tmrw2-trad.html

 

Would like all readers share their thoughts or opinions in the comments below. Would love to hear from you!

 

 

Please visit my LinkedIn page as well J

https://jp.linkedin.com/in/riekokoguchi