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Shortage of high-strength bolts hammers maintenance, construction projects in Japan - The Mainichi

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Shortage of high-strength bolts hammers maintenance, construction projects in Japan

Special steel wire used to make high-strength bolts is seen at bolt manufacturing firm Tsukimori Kogyo, in Yao, Osaka Prefecture. (Mainichi/Kenta Suzuki)

A shortage of high-strength bolts in Japan has delayed maintenance of a Rugby World Cup venue and hampered the construction of day care and other facilities, sparking a government probe.

It is believed that the shortage stems from excessive orders from construction companies and other firms as they rush ahead with projects before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. But in spite of the probe by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, there are no immediate prospects of the shortage abating.

High-strength bolts, which range from 3 to 13 centimeters in length and 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter, are used to join the steel frames of buildings and bridges, among other uses.

One venue hit by the shortage was Egao Kenko Stadium in the southwestern Japan city of Kumamoto. Maintenance of the venue ahead of the Rugby World Cup was supposed to be completed in mid-February, but now the completion date has been shoved back to the end of June. The delay is due to a shortage of 1,500 bolts that will be used to put up giant monitors at the stadium. The Kumamoto Prefectural Government, which is in charge of the project, was finally able to secure the bolts it needed in March after seeking assistance from industry groups.

"We were worried about whether we would make it in time for the World Cup, a prefectural official confided.

The operator of a day care center being built in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka similarly found itself up against the wall last September. In a bolt from the blue, the construction company building it said that the center would not be ready for opening in April due to the shortage.

This left the operator panicking, but a director, who had experience in the construction industry, used his connections to try to secure the bolts himself, and by January this year he had managed to obtain most of the about 2,000 bolts that were required, and handed them over to the construction company. The day care center was accordingly completed in late May, roughly two months behind the original construction schedule, but because the facility was not ready by the start of the nursing year, in April, it had to temporarily borrow another building nearby. Because of this it was only able to secure about 30 pupils -- around half of the original number it intended to enroll.

"If we hadn't been able to obtain the bolts, there's no knowing when the facility would have been completed," the director reflected.

Separately in the Shiga Prefecture city of Omihachiman in western Japan, the opening of a certified child care center -- initially slated for April this year -- was pushed back by a full year because construction was delayed due to a lack of bolts. A perplexed city official commented, "We had other facilities temporarily accept those who had already applied. It was an unprecedented situation."

An infrastructure ministry survey announced in May found that high-strength bolts were in tight supply across Japan. Ninety-four percent of the 451 construction companies that responded to the survey said they had to delay or cancel projects as a result. The situation even affected major construction firms. A representative of Kajima Corp. commented, "In some construction projects, delays in the delivery time of bolts have emerged."

The situation has tightened the screws on bolt manufacturers. Tsukimori Kogyo, based in the western Japan city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, has been flooded with orders since last autumn. It is one of only eight companies in Japan that produce high-strength bolts, alongside Nippon Steel Bolten Corp. in Osaka and Shinko Bolt Ltd. in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kobe Steel Ltd. Normally it would take about a month and a half for an order to be delivered, but at present, the waiting time is around eight months.

The shortage is believed to have been caused by a rush to open new facilities and redevelop existing ones in the capital ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games, leading to a spike in demand for bolts. Industry officials noted that it started to become difficult to secure high-strength bolts from around last summer, when Olympic-related construction moved into full swing and redevelopment projects got underway in the capital.

Construction companies themselves are believed to have aggravated the shortage by placing excessive orders for bolts due to fears that they may run out. In addition, there has been a decline in skilled welders due to aging in the workforce, resulting in greater use of high-strength bolts. As it is easier to use them than to weld steel, this is pushing up long-term demand.

The infrastructure industry is trying to alleviate the problem through the elimination of excessive orders. To prevent construction companies and other firms from placing orders when they have no construction plans or from doubling up their orders through multiple suppliers, the ministry has created a template for ordering bolts. The aim is to encourage companies to refrain from placing excessive orders by having them specify the construction period and the necessary number of bolts when they place orders. Such a move is rare for a government body, but for the time being there seem to be few alternatives.

There remain doubts, however, about how effective the ministry's move will be. "There are many projects, such as those for the Olympics, for which the construction deadline is strict, and demand is concentrated at a specified time. We need to secure the necessary number of bolts, so I doubt whether just writing out orders will solve the problem," a figure associated with one major construction company commented.

(Japanese original by Hiroshi Hisano, Fukuoka Business News Department, Kenta Suzuki, Osaka Business News Department, and Munehisa Ishida, Tokyo Business News Department)

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