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Even Borneo feels the effects of the Thai flooding… Mukhriz offers two options to auto companies affected by Thai floods He said they could either use the existing capacity in Malaysia to support their factories in Thailand in order to complete their parts and components for overseas exports, or look at Malaysia as a base to manufacture more of these components. “We understand that these companies must ensure that their operations are not affected by the floods but at the same time, we must be careful as we don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of our neighbour’s situation,” he said yesterday. Mukhriz said the ministry had received enquiries from companies from all sectors including automotive that were affected by the Thai floods.

Honda’s plant in Lincoln will reduce production — but not employment — starting Wednesday due to parts shortages caused by recent flooding in Thailand. Upper management at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in Lincoln announced to employees today that production would be reduced by as much as 50 percent from Wednesday through Nov. 10, said Honda spokesman Mark Morrison in a phone interview. Also, production will cease completely on Nov. 11, he said. Read more: Anniston Star - Thailand floods forcing Honda production cuts in Lincoln

Honda Automobile (Thailand), while announcing that its motorcycle and power-part-manufacturing subsidiary would suspend operations only until Nov 4 Friday, said: "The company does not have a clear outlook for when vehicle production will resume, as its facilities remain flooded since October 8." The autoassembly plant in Rojana Industrial Park, Ayutthaya, was inundated on that date, but its parts suppliers were flooded four days before. (…) More than 400 Japanese auto manufacturers and electronics firms in six industrial parks north of Bangkok have been affected by the flood disaster.

Check this one out - a different kind of article on the Thai flooding. Aon Benfield has published a highly detailed report on the ongoing floods in Thailand, from their meteorological beginnings – extremely heavy monsoon rains – to the widespread damage they have inflicted on one of East Asia’s most vibrant economies – $6.5 billion, and counting. The report notes that “Thailand has declared a third of its provinces to be disaster zones as the country battles rising flood waters. The flooding situation is likely to continue for a few more weeks and has been bearing down on Bangkok over the past few days. The Thai capital sits on the bottom of a flood plain which has an average elevation of less than 2m (a little over 6 feet) above sea level.” Read more here .

Vivek Vaidya, automotive and transportation director at researcher Frost & Sullivan, talks about the outlook for Japanese automakers. Honda Motor Co. fell the most in more than a week after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company may take six months to resume production in Thailand after its factory became flooded. Vaidya speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia."

CHACHOENGSAO : Although Toyota Motor Thailand says the worst-case scenario is unlikely, the country's largest automobile manufacturer is still preparing flood prevention plans for its three plants, two of which face flooding risks.

"A car has 20,000 to 30,000 parts, and production will not be complete if even one part is missing," he said. The government should focus on the flood situation before talking about rehabilitation plans for businesses, says Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT). "We want the government to solve the flooding first so we can assess the damage. This is affecting not only Thailand, but also [company operations in] Japan and the rest of the world too. Rehabilitation plans can come later," said President Kyoichi Tanada after a crisis meeting with industry permanent secretary Witoon Simachokdee. The Industrial Estate Association earlier proposed that the government rehabilitate flood-hit industrial estates within 45 days, although Mr Tanada said that time line would differ for individual factories.

After the Japanese automakers, Ford announced that has suspended output in Thailand on parts-supply shortages, despite fears it may lose production of 30,000 vehicles. “We are working closely with our affected suppliers to return to production as quickly as possible,” Lewis Booth, chief financial officer at the Dearborn, Michigan-based carmaker, said. Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday said it would keep its Thai production suspended for a fourth week and reduce output in North America and South Africa. Further, production from October 31 through November 5 will be adjusted based on an ongoing assessment of the parts supply situation at each individual production line the company said. In addition, Toyota must now cut extra hours and weekend shifts at some plants from Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Canada. These measures are meant to conserve parts as the company faced serious disruptions due to a shortage of parts imported from suppliers in Thailand.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH MR TOYOTA ON THIS PAGE: RUNNING TOYOTA IN DIFFERENT TIMES NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Still recovering from the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown disaster, Asian automakers are now getting hit by another ecological nightmare: floods. Toyota, whose production capacity in Thailand is over 550,000 vehicles per year, said in a statement Thursday that a production halt at three plants in Thailand, in place since October 10, will remain at least until November 5. As a result of this supply disruption, Toyota will suspend production at several North American plants on Saturday and will suspend overtime at all North American assembly plants next week. Production at facilities in South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam will also be slowed. Honda said this week that floodwaters had entered one of its plants outside Bangkok that has an annual production capacity of 120,000 and has been closed since October 4. "Due to the inability t...

Floods affect auto production from Thailand to N.America * Deep supply chain links cut costs, but breaks prove expensive BANGKOK/TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Manufacturers of car parts are worst hit in Thailand and face a bleak key holiday selling season due to massive floods, which have shut down production. Japanese car makers that had just started to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami that disrupted their supply chains are now facing shortages of key parts made in Thailand, a key manufacturing base in Southeast Asia. Companies including Toyota Motor Co and Honda Motor Co have already curtailed production at plants as far away as North America because their Thai suppliers are under water. CARS AND SANDBAGS Toyota Motor officials in Thailand said the company had shifted ready-made parts used to produce pick-up trucks and modified pick-up trucks to its Gateway City facility in Thailand's Chachoengsao province. The facility there is 44 meters above sea level, said Vudhigorn ...

Toyota and other major automakers have begun scaling back production because of parts shortages from suppliers in flood-afflicted Thailand, just months after Japan’s own supply chains were decimated by a mammoth earthquake and tsunami. The production woes stemming from Thailand’s worst flooding in five decades — which has wiped out hundreds of factories in recent weeks — come just as Toyota and others bounce back from the March 11 quake disaster that destroyed autos parts suppliers in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region and upended car production around the world.

Letter from REED TRADEX in it's entirety: Dear Exhibitors, delegates, participants and supporters of METALEX, Reed Tradex has been monitoring the on-going flood situation in Thailand and updating ourselves daily regarding the vulnerability of Bangkok being affected in the coming weeks. We have consulted with many individuals and groups in order to assess what should be done in the best interest of all our local and foreign exhibitors, delegates, visitors and supporters. Although efforts at draining floodwater and rectification measures by authorities have been in place to minimize the impact, the situation remains difficult to predict.  While the central business district as well as the exhibition venue remain unaffected for now, it is generally accepted that the water overflow could eventually disrupt movement around Bangkok and the outlying areas.  This would inevitably mean that the scheduled timing of the event in 16-19 November 2011 is no longer appropriate as we place an...

Toyota New Zealand just took orders for 300 top-selling Hilux utes - but now is struggling to supply the one-tonne vehicles as factories which supply parts to its plants in Thailand are flooded. A ship that was to have left Thailand last week was supposed to have 220 Hilux utes on it, but only had 26 of the top-selling farm vehicles on board.

Auto production this month and next is expected to fall by about 150,000 units if major carmakers cannot resume operations soon, said Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) chairman Payungsak Chartsuthipol. Though many car-assembly plants are not flooded, their parts suppliers are, so they have had to suspend production. However, they are seeking ways to source the parts from overseas suppliers so as to resume operations, said Suparat Sirisuwannangura, president of the FTI's Automotive Industry Club.

Honda, probably the most affected automaker, on Tuesday said it has halted all its operations in Malaysia due to parts shortage caused by the floods in Thailand. Supplies from Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co. Ltd and other major suppliers which supply to Honda Malaysia have been interrupted because of the floods. The automaker has brought in 200 soldiers to secure its motorcycle plant in Bangkok, Thailand’s. Honda’s automotive factory in the Ayutthaya province has already overflowed, so the soldiers were brought in using personal ties to build a levy around a motorcycle facility. Toyota stopped production at the three plants from October 10 as some suppliers were severely damaged by the nation’s worst flooding in decades, causing delays in supplying parts.

AFG Member Fabrinet affected by flooding: Fabrinet (NYSE: FN), a provider of precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers of complex products, today announced an update on the impacts of flooding in Thailand. Fabrinet today announced that as of approximately 11:00PM Saturday night, Bangkok time, flood waters had infiltrated the offices and manufacturing floorspace at its Chokchai campus in Pathum Thani, Thailand. The manufacturing buildings at Chokchai, known as buildings 1 and 2, remain filled with water to a level of approximately 3.5 feet. Prior to the factory infiltration, the company took precautionary measures, where possible, to move or protect production and test equipment, inventory and tooling. The company has not yet been able to make a full assessment of the damage but believes it is unlikely that production would recommence at Chokchai for the remainder of the current quarter.

PETALING JAYA: Just months after production of Japanese cars recovered following the massive earthquake and tsunami, Japanese marques in Thailand have been hit by a flood crisis that threatens to stall production once again. Vehicle plants operated by Toyota, Honda, Isuzu and Ford in Thailand have been closed due to the crisis. Many car and electronics manufacturers located in Ayutthaya province were affected by severe flooding. Also, Malaysian companies such as Eng Teknologi Holdings Bhd said two of its subsidiaries operating in Ayutthaya had temporarily shut down their operations because of the floods. It believed the extent of the damage would be covered by insurance.

Volkswagen AG (VOW) will probably become the world’s biggest carmaker this year, vaulting past Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and General Motors Co. (GM) on gains in emerging markets. VW sales in China may rise almost 20 percent in 2011 and more than double in India, according to estimates at researcher J.D. Power & Associates. That’s a contrast to Toyota, which is suspending Southeast Asian plants because of floods in Thailand, months after an earthquake crippled production in Japan.

Thailand’s seven industrial estates that were flooded will be rehabilitated within 45 days after floodwaters recede with government financial aid, Deputy Prime Minister/Commerce Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said Monday. After meeting with engaged agencies and industrial entrepreneurs of the flooded industrial tracts—which comprise a significant portion of Thailand’s industrial capacity—the Factory Land, Saha Rattana Nakhon, Bang Pa-in, Rojana and Hi-Tech in the nearby central province of Ayutthaya, as well as the Bangkadi and Nava Nakorn estates in Pathum Thani.

Click here for the whole article. Analyst Comment by Vivek Vaidya, Vice President, APAC, Automotive & Transportation, and Vijay Rao, Research Manager, APAC, Automotive & Transportation Thailand has been inundated with severe floods in its recent history, and the automotive sector which has an annual production capacity of about 2 million units in 2010, is one of the hardest hit industries. The recent inundation of floods in Thailand has not only had a major effect on local automotive production and supply chain disturbances but is also likely to have a short  term effect on the regional and global supply of automotive parts and vehicle exports. Impact of the Flooding in Thailand - Current Situation: Halt of Automotive Production in Thailand Assembly Plants Thailand is currently experiencing the worst flooding in the last five decades. 26 of the 90 provinces in Thailand have been affected by floods and automotive assembly plants and parts maker factories located mainly in a...

At least 300 Japanese companies have been affected by flooding in Thailand and it could be months before all are fully up and running again, the local head of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) said on Monday. Floods have forced a series of huge industrial estates to close, the latest being the Nava Nakorn Industrial Zone in Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok, which has more than 270 plants employing 270,000 workers. That is seriously hampering the work of Japanese firms that have made Thailand their manufacturing and export base for Southeast Asia, Setsuo Iuchi, the president of JETRO Thailand, told Reuters.

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As leading auto maker Isuzu and newcomer Chery announced the operations of their new assembly plants in Thailand to serve higher export demands and local consumption, auto and parts makers will certainly be in search for new technologies and innovations to handle upcoming production challenges and promote productivity. Check out the advance info for AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING 2012

Floodwater is close to the point of overflowing the earthen barrier protecting the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate in Bang Pa-in district of Ayutthaya.

Thailand's auto exporters are being hit by supply-chain disruptions following the worst flooding the country has seen in nearly half a century. The Southeast Asian nation is a major production and export hub for global auto makers, including Toyota Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., and all three have now shut their plants in the country after weeks of worsening flooding overwhelmed a cluster of component plants in Ayutthaya, 67 kilometers, or 42 miles, north of Bangkok. Isuzu Motors Ltd. also halted production on Tuesday at its two Thai plants due to disruptions in parts supplies.

Some helicopter footage from the HONDA Plant in Ayutthaya.

US-based Ford Motor has become the latest casualty of severe flooding in Thailand, with its assembly plant in Rayong halting production for at least 48 hours because suppliers in Ayutthaya have been severely hit by floods. The second-largest US automaker said yesterday that production was suspended at the AutoAlliance Thailand facility for the next 48 hours to make a full assessment of inventory and logistics continuity. The company's production facilities in Rayong have not been affected by the floods. "Vehicles produced at AAT have a very high local content," said Peter Fleet, the president of Ford Asean. "A significant number of our parts suppliers are located in Ayutthaya. That's why we have to stop production for 48 hours to check out the suppliers, although our factory has not been affected by the floods."

Check out the 'official' flood maps: http://flood.longdo.com/  and http://flood.gistda.or.th/ Doesn't look good for Samut Prakan and Chonburi.

Amazing photo on MSNBC Photoblog

Isuzu Motors Ltd said Tuesday that it will halt production at its two plants in Thailand due to a disruption in supplies of some parts after the flood in the country. The Japanese truck maker will start halting operations at the two plants from the night shift on Tuesday and keep them idled until Friday, a spokesman at the company said. Thailand is facing its worst flood in decades, with around 30 of its 77 provinces inundated and over 260 people killed so far.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has admitted that Bangkok's flood prevention system has not been completed and her government is racing against time and the rising waters. Racing sands of time Foreign and Thai students of Rangsit University shovel sand into bags to make a flood wall along Khlong Rangsit. The canal, which is fed by the Chao Phraya River, is threatening to inundate the university and Muang Ake housing estate in Pathum Thani’s Muang district. THITI WANNAMONTHA In response to the situation, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has set up nearly 200 shelters to cater for possible evacuations.

About 100,000 workers face losing their jobs because of the disastrous flooding in Ayutthaya province. Damage to the industrial sector alone in Ayutthaya is valued at roughly 50 billion baht, said Phakorn Wangsirabat, who heads the Federation of Thai Industries in the province, yesterday. More than 300 of 2,150 factories in Ayutthaya have been affected by floods. So far, Saharattananakorn Industrial Estate and Rojana Industrial Park have been inundated, while Hi-Tech Industrial Estate is at risk with the water level there now at 4 metres, said Mr Pakorn.

Economic ripples from the nationwide flooding are reverberating, with rumours that some Japanese companies will relocate production facilities out of the country as some industrial estates are submerged and many more are threatened. Distressed companies are pressing for government relief, which could come in the form of a delay to the Bt300 minimum wage as well as other financial assistance.

Almost 200 factories including the plants of leading Japanese car manufacturer Honda and major electronics makers in Ayutthaya have been forced to close and evacuate workers.

The government is calling on the public to donate about 700,000 sandbags to guard Bangkok against the coming floodwater from the North. Rescue officials ride a boat along inundated Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya’s Uthai district to take stranded workers to safety.

Thailand's worst floods in more than half a century are threatening to swamp the capital, Bangkok, as early as next week after reaching a "crisis level," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said. At least 253 people have been killed as a result of the seasonal monsoon rains that have hit the country since July 25, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said on its website. About 30 of Thailand's 77 provinces remain underwater, the agency said. Read more here

Many factories in the Rojana Industrial Park of flood-hit Ayutthaya were heavily inundated yesterday evening after a section of a six-metre-high earth-filled embankment collapsed under high water pressure. Efforts to repair the two-metre-long collapsed section continued into the night. A Honda Automobile (Thailand) factory, which is located right in front of the damaged section, was the first to be hit by the rushing flood waters. The Honda factory was under 30 centimetres of water.

BANGKOK — Thailand's worst floods in decades have prompted the country's premier to postpone official visits to Singapore and Malaysia, a spokeswoman said on Sunday, as Bangkok braces for rising waters. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last week described the flooding, which has left more than 250 people dead and inundated huge swathes of the kingdom as a "serious crisis" and warned that the capital would not escape unscathed.

More than two million people have been affected by widespread flooding in Thailand, in what is the worst monsoon season in 50 years. The country is seeing its second month of flooding. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as swollen rivers and flood-control dykes burst. There are now fears that flooding will spread to the capital, Bangkok. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Ayutthaya, one of the worst hit areas.

Thailand ’s worst floods in more than half a century have reached a “crisis level” and threaten to swamp the capital, Bangkok, as early as next week, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said. “This will have a direct impact on Bangkok,” Yingluck said late yesterday in a nationally televised address. “We have to admit that this is more serious than in the past.” Flooded Factories More than a hundred factories producing auto parts, food and electronics have temporarily closed, according to the Federation of Thai Industries. 

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Thailand's automobile industry has shown immense growth in the recent times. The automotive industry of Thailand has managed to live up to its title 'Detroit of Asia', for a long time now. As a result, leading car makers have started to throng the place….

Several China-based auto-makers are currently preparing or considering to switch from importing to production in Thailand, a crucial step of localization aiming at shaking off import duties and augmenting ompetitiveness, and also a skillful move to bring themselves closer to the booming southeastern Asian market. In a tariff-fee zone about 100 kilometers east to the capital city Bangkok, workers are busy with all the metal-fusion and concrete-building, reving up their work under the supervision of Chen Rongyu, chairman of DFM Minitruck Thailand. Click here to read more….