Tech bytes for tea?

Parts shortages has severely disrupted the supply chain in Japan and for major IT manufacturers around the world. The magnitude-9 earthquake, followed by the Tsunami and accident at the nuclear plant, has led to closures of factories around Japan.

Bloomberg reports that Sony has shut five more plants while Toyota Motor has extended production halts, 11 days after the worst earthquake in Japan on record.

Sony is Japan’s biggest exporter of consumer electronics. The five plants in the central and southern regions will stop work until March 31.It said that the plants produce LCD TVs, broadcasting equipment, headphones, camcorders, cameras, and mobile phones. Sony now has 12 plants where operations have been halted. The factories halted earlier manufacture products like Blu-ray discs and semiconductor lasers.It said that some production may be shifted overseas if the parts and materials shortage continue.

Toyota is the world’s biggest carmaker. All of its domestic car assembly will halt until March 26. It has lost production of 140,000 thousand vehicles, because of the shortage of electronic parts, plastics and rubber, the spokeswoman for Toyota said.

Honda has also extended the closure of three of its plants until at least March 27.

Canon has closed a factory in Nagasaki, some 680 miles from Fukushima until tomorrow, citing component shortage. It is the largest camera maker in the world.

Toshiba said that a factory makig small LCD panels may remain closed for a month. It has shut two plants so far.

Other manufacturers whose plants have been halted include Fujitsu, Panasonic, Hitachi, Hino Motors, Isuzu Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Japan Tobacco and Kikkoman. None of them have decided when they will resume full production at the factories affected by the disaster.

Reopening of factories

On a brighter note, some factories that have been halted earlier due to the disaster are being reopened.

Nissan Motor, Japan’s second-largest carmaker said that operations at six factories are restarting while some vehicle assembly will also resume.

Canon resumed partial production at three factories in northern Japan, while Denso said that all of its plants has partially resumed. It is Japan’s largest auto-parts maker.

Sony has also restarted partial operations at a battery factory in Tochigi prefecture. It is the company’s third to resume production after the disasters.