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Niala Boodhoo · Lessons Learned From The Japanese Earthquake
August 17th, 2011
It’s been five months since the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The human toll from the disaster has been well documented, along with the ongoing nuclear safety issues. And, Japan is seeing a food safety issue, as well.
As I reported back in March, the economic ties between Japan and the Midwest are strong. Governors from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota are attending the 43rd annual joint meeting of the Midwest U.S. – Japan Association in Tokyo next month, the Japan External Trade Organization reported in its most recent newsletter.
Just a few miles inland from Japan's coastline, months after the disaster (Kasper Nybo via Flickr Creative Commons)
Most recent manufacturing output data shows that the U.S. auto industry has been able to bounce back from disruptions because of the earthquake, Reuters reports.
But it’s not just the auto industry. Also in the JETRO newsletter: the story of healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories, which has its global headquarters just north of Chicago, and how it dealt with the earthquake.
Abbott has 2,400 workers in Japan, and said it learned lessons about how to deal with its people and its operations. For example, the company found that it had good relationships with its first and second tier suppliers. Further down the chain, with its suppliers’ suppliers, was just as vital, but harder to track.
“We saw first-hand the importance of drilling down to identify the basic components of the product supply chain and developing contingency plans for every element, especially for single-sourced items,” said Corlis Murray, an Abbott vice president of global engineering services. You can read the whole story here.
