Toshiba Group's Status and Measures in Response to the 2011 Pacific Ocean Earthquake off the Tohoku Region
23 Mar, 2011
We wish to express our deepest condolences to those who suffered through the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku Region on March 11 in Japan. Toshiba’s thoughts and efforts are focused on assisting the people and the community struck by the unprecedented disaster.
1. Organizational approach
Toshiba started gathering information immediately after the earthquake and established an integrated control center headed by Mr. Sasaki, the president and CEO. The control center’s primary mission is to determine the extent of damage at Group companies; to support their early recovery; and to provide them with direction and to formulate strategies for resuming operations.
As damage sustained by Toshiba Group companies was comparatively moderate, the control center will now expand the scope of its activities to include support of reconstruction of damaged social infrastructure systems and implementation of various programs to provide relief to the community and people struck by the disaster. Toshiba has already received requests for assistance in reconstruction from customers, particularly in respect of social infrastructure systems, and we will continue to make best efforts to support recovery.
2. Assistance activities
1) Toshiba Group will make a donation equivalent to 500 million yen to assist relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. (Announced on March 13.) Details, including timing and allocation of the donation, are being discussed. Presently, the Group has started to donate cash and relief supplies that include food, daily necessities, TVs, personal computers, dry batteries, radios, washing machines and lighting equipment.
2) Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation will donate ten small-sized diagnostic ultrasound systems to the Japanese Red Cross Society. These systems are used to diagnose most parts of the body including the stomach and circulatory organs, and are often used to diagnose pulmonary embolism and economy-class syndrome, causes of concern during the long-term inactivity that can accompany taking shelter after evacuation.
3) Toshiba will repair at specially reduced prices earthquake- and tsunami-damaged Toshiba-brand TVs, personal computers and home appliances owned by individuals living in the area covered by the Disaster Relief Act (covering 167 municipalities in total in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures and in some parts of Aomori, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba, Nagano and Niigata prefectures).
4) Iwate Toshiba Electronics Co., Ltd. and Kitashiba Electric Co., Ltd., located close to the affected area, are ready to offer their bathing facilities for evacuees as soon as the fuel is secured. The two companies are also preparing to offer their residential facilities including company condominiums and dormitories for evacuees for a certain period of time.
3. Status of the Toshiba Group Employees in Japan
As of March 21, the safety of all but one of 74,104 Group employees living in Tohoku and Kanto were confirmed. Toshiba Group continues to make efforts to confirm the one employee’s safety.
4. Production facilities (excluding offices and sales branches)
1) The following Toshiba Corporation production facilities are operating normally, although some sustained minor damage.
Semiconductor facilities: Yokkaichi Operations (Mie Pref.) and Oita Operations (Oita Pref.)
Social Infrastructure facilities: Keihin Product Operations (Kanagawa Pref.), Hamakawasaki Operations (Kanagawa Pref.) , Fuchu Complex (Tokyo) , Komukai Operations (Kanagawa Pref.)
Digital Products facilities: Fukaya Operations (Saitama Pref.), Ome Operations (Tokyo)
2) The status of major Group companies in Tohoku and Northern Kanto which are now in the process of recovering operations is as follows.
Iwate Toshiba Electronics Co. Ltd., (location: Kitakami City, Iwate Pref.) will start to ramp-up production lines from March 28. To minimize impacts on customers, Toshiba has started to provide support at alternative production facilities, such as Oita Operations (Oita Pref.), Himeji Operations-Semiconductor (Hyogo Pref.) and Kaga Toshiba Electronics Corporation (Ishikawa Pref.).
Toshiba Mobile Display Co., Ltd. (Fukaya City, Saitama Pref.), a wholly-owned subsidiary and manufacturer of mid- and small-sized LCD displays, expects to take about a month to secure recovery of its manufacturing line in Fukaya. The company started to supply some products alternatively from the Ishikawa Works, the company’s another production facility located in Ishikawa Prefecture.
3) With respect to procurement, Toshiba continues to promote detailed investigations of the status of suppliers in order to determine the extent of the impact on production. Every effort is being made to secure materials and parts and to minimize impacts on production: Toshiba is investigating available stock, including channel inventory, parts and half-finished goods; negotiating with suppliers to switch production to locations outside the affected region; and promoting adoption of substitutes. Toshiba Group will also support the earliest recovery at suppliers with damaged manufacturing facilities by supplying necessary equipment and components.
5. Effects of rolling power outages
Toshiba Corporation is implementing various measures to save energy for reducing power consumption at its offices and production facilities, that include utilization of in-house power generation systems. Facilities in areas subject to rolling power outages are basically operating as usual except for the hours of outages. If the need arises, we will transfer part of the dates of operations to holidays.
6. Recruiting activities in Japan
To provide equal opportunity for all job applicants in Japan, including those in the affected region, Toshiba Group has postponed the start of recruiting activities from April 1, 2011, until after June. Details of recruiting schedules will be notified in due course.
New employees planned to join Toshiba Group in April, 2011, remains scheduled to enter on April 1.
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