The company said in a statement that production could have continued at its Tsukuba plant and Komori Machinery, based near Tokyo, following damage and safety assessments, but that partner companies, particularly in the Tohoku area, had been badly affected.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the north eastern side of the country 11 March and the company formed a Disaster Countermeasures Office to assess the impact and temporarily ceased production until 18 March.

Neil Sutton, managing director at Komori UK said that "the factories are back into normal production as of this week" and that "the supply of spare parts was never in jeopardy".

He said that because of the way the company operates around the globe "we have a significant spares holding. We don't live with a 'just-in-time' philosophy. We have buffer stocks so supply should and will remain unaffected".

Komori is also aiding some 172 Japan-based customers, helping to repair 445 presses impacted by the disaster. It said more than 10 presses have shifted as much as 30cm in the quake, and customers reported broken motors, displaced units and water leaks.

Meanwhile, Roland DG said that its facilities in the Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture had not been affected by the disaster.