Japan disaster.

[lawn_king]

Will kubota owners feel the effects of the disaster as far as attaining parts,etc?

 

[easygo]

I'm thinking that might be a possibility. But!!! I'm absolutely sure the poor people in Japan are going to put in an extreme effort for that problem to be as little as possible. We need them and they need us.

 

[richamor]

I had to take my new chainsaw back for some tweaking and I mentioned that to my dealer. He said that there should be enough in existing supply for the remainder of this year, but if it isn't replaced there could be problems later on.

I'm not worried about that, and I hope they aren't. The task before the Japanese is almost unimaginable. My heart goes out to them.

 

[Baby Grand]

Their core economy just got dealt a knock out punch to the chops. People can't get food, water, gas or electricity in parts of Tokyo. Think about that statement in terms of what it would mean in LA or NYC. There would be anarchy in the streets. I think everything will be affected, including tractor part availability for a little while.

I used to work in the semiconductor lithography OEM business. The "Fabs" that make chips are very sensitive to seismic activity and are designed to shut down when a quake happens to prevent damage to the equipment. When they shut down their in-process product is often rendered scrap. A big quake like they had will affect a huge area in this way. If what you need has a chip in it, chances are good it won't be available for a while.

 

[dodge man]

I imagine it depends on where there factories are located. A lot of their stuff in made in the USA, but a lot of it comes from Japan. If Kubotas stuff is made in a area where they had major quake damage, it could be a problem, if not, I think any problems would be short term.

 

[IslandTractor]

Their core economy just got dealt a knock out punch to the chops. People can't get food, water, gas or electricity in parts of Tokyo. Think about that statement in terms of what it would mean in LA or NYC. There would be anarchy in the streets. I think everything will be affected, including tractor part availability for a little while.

I would disagree with your "knock out punch" assessment. Clearly there has been a jolt and there will be temporary over reactions (people buying up all the food in Tokyo) but it is not like there is a true food or water shortage in Japan as they have just as much as they would have had four days ago Initial panic will subside especially in relatively unaffected areas such as Tokyo. They will make adjustments to food and power distribution to normalize or come close to normalizing operations in most areas of daily life relatively quickly given the general efficiency and public minded behavior of the Japanese people. I cannot think of another country (maybe Singapore) where the public would be more cooperative and willing to behave as their leaders request. That will certainly help get things back on a relatively even keel sooner.

I don't doubt that some factories will indeed be out of action for a long time but it is too early to tell exactly how that will influence things for a company like Kubota. Maybe there will be replacements available and maybe not. If the Kubota transmission factory was inundated by the tsunami wave (it wasn't) then that would certainly cause serious disruption but if the seat factory was destroyed they could pretty quickly find another supplier.

 

[ericher69]

Ridiculous that you are worried about parts for your tractor when the people of Japan are dying as we speak!

You should maybe worry more about the fallout that could affect the USA and Canada

Here's a video showing the possibility

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcMiNIz0X5Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[955er]

I sell fiber optic connector products, and we have already been told that sub-assembly parts on some big selling connector kits are no longer available due to the event. We are looking for other plants and sources to pick up the slack.

Definately affecting us.

 

[freddyr]

You have to remember that all of japan isn't destroyed. Toyota is opening its factories on thur. It depends on where the factories were located. It's really amazing to see the pictures. Glad i'm not in California but here in pa there is the Manderin fault which nobody talks about!

 

[Transit]

Even if a factory is not located in the earth quake area, shortages in power to run factory and the availability of supplies form other factories will have a dampening effect. It will be a slow recovery. And there is still the possibility of a double dip recession, station-flation or worse yet a depression.

No one really knows for sure, we need to see how it all plays out.