Toyota to halt Japan plants after parts supplier's system outage

[TOKYO] Toyota Motor is suspending output at all of its Japanese factories on Tuesday (Mar 1)  after disruptions to a supplier's systems, marking another production setback for the world's No 1 automaker.

The halt on Mar 1 is due to a system disruption at a supplier, Toyota said in a statement late on Monday.

The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that the parts maker is most likely Kojima Press Industry, an unlisted company based in Toyoda, and that its operations were taken down because of a cyberattack.

The incident may hurt Toyota's efforts to return to full production following factory halts in January and February because of chip shortages and Covid-related disruptions.

Toyota, which has remained relatively resilient to supply chain snags through most of the pandemic, has been trying to ramp up production to make up for lost output and meet soaring global demand for cars. 

The website for Kojima Press, which makes metal, plastic and electronic components, wasn't accessible late on Monday. 

A one-day stoppage for Toyota's factories in Japan translates into about 10,000-plus units, or 5 per cent of domestic production, according to the Nikkei.

Toyota operates 28 assembly lines at 14 plants in Japan.  

Toyota's production in January fell 15 per cent from a year earlier, after it had to halt output in the Chinese city of Tianjin when the government carried out multiple rounds of mass-testing on residents.

Earlier this month, some of Toyota's North American operations were affected by protests that shut some of the main trade routes between the US and Canada. 

The disruptions in the first 2 months of the year prompted Toyota cut its output goal for the fiscal year through March to 8.5 million vehicles from a previous target of 9 million. 

Toyota is investigating whether it can resume operations later this week, the Nikkei reported. BLOOMBERG