Matsushita Resumes Production in Osaka

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.’s battery-making subsidiary partially resumed operations at its fire-damaged rechargeable battery plant in Osaka on November 1.

The fire on September 30 caused a major disruption of battery supply at Matsushita, which is replacing 46 million cellular phone batteries used in Nokia Corp.’s handsets due to overheating risks.

The accident came at a time when Matsushita was supplying rechargeable batteries for new products that its client companies were preparing to launch for the year-end holiday season.

Matsushita Battery has been trying to make up for part of the lost output by boosting production at other plants in Japan and China.