Automakers hit limits of 'just-in-time' supply chain management

This is the second in a Nikkei Asia series on supply chain nightmares that began with Apple's nightmare before Christmas, a look at how the crisis finally reached the maker of the iPhone. 

TOKYO -- The "just-in-time" manufacturing process enshrined by Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motor, has been tested in the car industry this year as never before.