Toyota churns out over 200,000 vehicles every week from its various factories around the world, but the next set of figures is set to be significantly lower after the automaker was forced to shutdown production at more than a dozen plants in Japan.
The world’s biggest car company by volume (it produced 10 million units last year despite ongoing chip supply issues) said it was forced to suspend activity at 14 domestic factories making Toyota, Lexus and Daihatsu vehicles because of a computer system malfunction. Though Toyota has previously been hit by cyber attacks, this problem is believed to be a less sinister computer glitch that has prevented the firm from ordering new components.
A shortage of components is a big problem for Toyota, who is a major proponent of the just-in-time method of parts procurement, which means it only keeps a relatively small stock of components. That kind of system works well provided there are no hold-ups in the supply chain. But when you’re making 200,000 cars a week it doesn’t take long for the wheels to fall off if there are holdups – and we’re not just talking about the ones on the bZ4X.
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Early on Tuesday Toyota had paused production at 12 plants in Japan due to the glitch, but as the day progressed the firm’s Miyata facility in Fukuoka and its Daihatsu plant in Kyoto were also added to the list of idled factories. Toyota hasn’t confirmed when it plans to restart production or how much production it thinks it will lose due to the shutdowns but BBC News reports that the 14 plants contribute around one third of the company’s global production, which would put the loss at around 10,000 units per idled day.
Back in March 2022 Toyota was also forced to halt production at its Japanese sites due to a cyberattack on parts supplier Kojima Industries.