By Li Panpan

Japanese automaker Mazda said recently that it has begun to discuss measures to reduce its dependence on the Chinese parts supply chain, reported JW Insights.

Mazda was forced to significantly reduce production affected by the pandemic control in Shanghai early this year. Its senior managing executive officer Takeshi Mukai said it wants to “establish a system that can withstand control measures in the future” and has proposed to about 200 parts suppliers in China to increase inventory and transfer inventory to Japan in advance to prevent logistics disruption with Mazda paying for warehousing. For certain parts, Mazda also recommends that suppliers manufacture outside of the Chinese mainland.

In the long term, Mazda will restructure its supply chain, encourage suppliers to deploy production capacity in a decentralized manner with backups in multiple locations, and improve the attractiveness of suppliers producing components in Japan.