Daihatsu Motor’s Global Production Capacity: Production Undergoes Reorganization to Improve Factory Utilization

Japanese automaker Daihatsu Motor has five automobile plants in Japan and another three production bases in Indonesia and Malaysia. In FY 2020, due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, production decreased in Indonesia and Malaysia, utilization rate falling below 50% in Indonesia. On the other hand, in Japan, the operation rate was maintained at about 88% in FY 2020, despite operation was suspended due to the pandemic, shortage of semiconductor supply, and delay in parts supply which resulted from a fire at Daihatsu’s parts supplier.

In FY 2020, the operating rates of the main domestic factories, Shiga Plant and Oita No. 1 Plant, exceeded 100%. Since the production of popular models has been concentrated at the Shiga factory, in recent years Daihatsu has set up a system to carry out parallel production of the Tanto and other in-demand models in Kyoto and Oita with an aim to make factory utilization more effective. However, the operating rate of the Kyoto Plant has been sluggish, falling below 50% in FY 2020. It appears that the factory is undergoing renovation work, and productivity is expected to improve after the completion of the upgrade scheduled for 2022.