Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) recently detailed plans for a phased return to production. This comes after a bad cyber-attack in August that shut down its IT systems. The company, a subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors, has since successfully rebuilt much of its IT infrastructure. This is a significant step toward a full recovery program. The automaker’s factories are still closed through at least next month, putting thousands of employees in limbo.
A significant cyber-attack led JLR to take the decision to close down its IT networks. As a consequence, 30,000 of these workers have been furloughed since September 1. This disruption similarly impacted the nearly 100,000 people that work in JLR’s supply chain. JLR normally cranks out some 1,000 cars a day. That extraordinary production figure is the result of its three plants in Solihull, Wolverhampton and Halewood.
The firm’s program of recovery is “now well under way”, JLR spokespeople insisted. Yet even while shutting down progress to date on the future production lines, the automaker has started to rebuild basic operations. Their financial system which handles the wholesales of vehicles is up and running again. Well, now all JLR needs to do is sell and register vehicles…easy peasy! This next step is necessary to keep money flowing during this very difficult time.
“We are working 24/7 with those businesses to come up with a viable way of solving this and supporting them in this crucial period,” said Peter Kyle, emphasizing the urgency of the situation faced by suppliers. Industry Minister Chris McDonald highlighted the significance of JLR’s efforts, calling it “welcome progress towards JLR’s recovery.”
As Jaguar Land Rover works its way through these trying times, suppliers and interested parties voice their points of view. To paraphrase one supplier, “We don’t need more promises, we need assistance. This underscores the critical need for greater technical assistance and capacity-building support along the supply chain.
The government is already looking to support businesses affected by the cyber-attack. The most likely way forward currently appears to be buying finished module or component parts from JLR’s supply chain. This new initiative seeks to strengthen the economy that supports all the businesses that support JLR, and feed their workforce.
“I am acutely aware of the urgency of the situation and the difficulties that many of these companies are inevitably finding themselves, through no fault of course of their own,” a government official stated, acknowledging the broader impact of the crisis.