Renesas Electronics Awarded “Special Effort Award” by Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG

Within a month of the earthquake in north-eastern Japan in March 2011, Renesas Electronics succeeded in reopening all factories except for the Naka facility, located nearest to the earthquake’s epicentre, which sustained significantly more damage. The company quickly diverted production to its other factories and outsourced part of the production to external foundries all while repairing the Naka factory and keeping customers informed of the supply situation. Production returned to pre-earthquake levels in October, one month ahead of schedule. Prior to the earthquake, Renesas Electronics had been working on setting up a “fab network” to spread production across several locations. The new structure had been partially implemented before March and plans have been accelerated since then to complete the network and involve third party facilities too.

“Renesas Electronics was awarded by Endress+Hauser Flowtec for their special efforts in recognition of a strong and reliable partnership in difficult times” says Stephan Anliker, Head of Division Logistics and Purchasing at Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG. “Renesas staff worked round the clock to outsource production, efficiently manage existing stocks, and keep us informed of progress. As a result, there was no interruption to the supply chain to Endress+Hauser Flowtec and the Special Effort Award is a small gesture of gratitude for the staff’s superb efforts.”

Uwe Lemke, Senior Sales Manager Distribution at Renesas Electronics Europe, adds: “We’re very honoured by Endress+Hauser Flowtec’s Special Effort Award for minimising the impact on our customers’ supplies following the earthquake. It certainly helped that our new fab network infrastructure was already partly in place at the time, and we plan to complete this initiative as quickly as possible to ensure even faster resumption of production following a comparable event.”