Words in the News

Japanese disasters hit UK car production

Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

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bbclearningenglish.com

The Japanese car maker, Honda, says it plans to reduce the number of cars made at one of its

UK factories. This is due to a parts shortage following the recent earthquake and tsunami in

Japan. The 3,000 workers at the plant will remain on full pay. Mark Gregory reports.

Honda says it's cutting production at its Swindon plant, in southern England, by 50% from

next week, as it grapples with shortages of key components from Japan.

Wide swathes of Japanese industry are working at well below full capacity due to power

shortages, following the nuclear accident at Fukushima. The earthquake and tsunami

devastated a region that's home to some key parts suppliers to the motor and electronics

industries. The effect is being felt in the supply chains of many companies around the world,

not just Japanese ones, that rely on Japanese made components.

The problem's been exacerbated by the prevalence of so-called 'just-in-time' production

systems, where manufacturers don't keep large stockpiles of parts on-site. Instead, they rely

on timely deliveries made just before the parts are needed, more efficient when things are

going well, but prone to disruption if the parts don't arrive on time.

Mark Gregory, BBC News

Vocabulary and definitions

production- here, the number of cars made

grapples with -struggles to deal with

key components- crucial or important parts

wide swathes -here, large parts

devastated- wrecked or ravaged

the supply chains- the systems used to get parts or materials for production

rely on -depend on

exacerbated -made worse

prevalence of -common use or regular occurrence of

prone to- likely to suffer from

COURTESY:BBC