Published on June 6th, 2011 | by Daniel Sherman Fernandez
0Honda Production In Japan To Recover Faster Than Predicted
Honda in Japan aims to bring its Japanese assembly plants back to normal output by this summer, bumping up its recovery several months from earlier forecasts. The automaker wants its Sayama and Suzuka factories, its only domestic assembly plants, operating at pre-earthquake levels by August. Honda had previously said it expected to restore normal production on a global basis by year end.
Honda also expects displaced engineers from the company’s quake-ravaged R&D center to return to work at the facility by mid-June. One person died there and several were injured when the ceiling at the body design unit came crashing down during the 9.0-magnitude temblor. In March, Honda transferred 1,000 R&D employees, or about 10 percent of the center’s work force, to other buildings on site or facilities elsewhere in Japan while repairs were made.