A Toyota assembly plant in Zarate, Argentina, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Strains on global supply chains have cost the auto industry the ability to produce several million vehicles this year. © Reuters

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

Shortages and rising costs prompt overhaul procurement practices

ERI SUGIURA, Contributing writer, and AKITO TANAKA, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

December 10, 2021 06:06 JST

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.