Toyota’s Molten Metal Turned Lump Shows Post-Quake Challenge
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Iwaki Diecast Co.’s 15 electric furnaces shut down as the March 11 earthquake knocked out power, turning 12 tons of aluminum bubbling at 670-degrees Celsius into solid lumps of metal.
The supplier to Toyota Motor Corp. lost 440 pounds of spilled aluminum and a magnesium die-cast plant washed away by the tsunami that followed in Yamamoto, Miyagi prefecture. Diesel generators were brought in to restore power and it took four days to melt the blocks so parts production could resume on March 22, Managing Director Hiroto Yokoyama said.