Japan Foundry Rebuilds; Orders Scarce

YAMAMOTO, Japan-When last month's earthquake jolted Iwaki Diecast Co.'s main plant here, molten aluminum poured from crucibles, setting fire to the factory floor. Atsushi Kamata grabbed an extinguisher and, along with other workers, quickly subdued the blaze.But Mr. Kamata, a managing director at the manufacturer of cast-metal parts for car and electronics companies, says it didn't take long for the severity of the hurdles ahead to sink in. For six weeks, Mr. Kamata and his colleagues have struggled to repair badly damaged machinery, restore electric power and restart production of critical components for Toyota Motor Corp., BMW AG, Ford Motor Co. and

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