Japanese firm Renesas Electronics released its CSR & Environmental Report 2011 this week, containing information about the company's disaster recovery efforts following the earthquake in March and a review of its business continuity plans (BCPs).

According to the report, "This disaster, which struck such a vast region, revealed our BCPs were not thorough enough. In other words, due to the significant scale of the disaster, the assumptions that we used to establish our BCPs failed to include ancillary factors that might prevent stable production, such as the possible impact of disasters on our suppliers, the widening of nuclear evacuation zones, and the possibility of rolling blackouts and electricity shortage. And owing to the shortcomings of our BCPs, we caused significant impact on the production plans of our customers."

Renesas is implementing an "alternate production network" as part of a framework designed to minimize its exposure to the risks presented by such a devastating event.

"One of the most important lessons we learned through the disaster was that we must establish a flexible structure to enable efficient information sharing and alternate procurement and production, not only for the Renesas Electronics Group, but also for the entire supply chain. And such a structure must be realized through the synchronization of BCPs of all parties involved in the Renesas Electronics Group’s supply chain. In preparation for large-scale disasters like the Great East Japan Earthquake, we will promote the comprehensive review and revision of our BCPs. And through enhanced BCPs, we aim to establish a structure and frameworks to minimize the Group’s and related parties’ exposure to a variety of risks and enable stable production or quickest possible production resumption."