Hacker, what happened to Toyota’s auto plants
Toyota has announced the suspension of production in Japan due to a cyber attack that hit one of its suppliers. Russia's involvement is suspected. All the details
Japanese carmaker Toyota said it had to stop production in Japan as of Tuesday due to a cyber attack. The estimated loss of output is 13,000 vehicles.
Information is scarce, but the company has talked about a possible cyberattack that hit its supplier of plastic parts and electronic components. The company name is Kojima Industries.
DOES RUSSIA HAVE TO DO IT?
The identity of the authors and the reasons are unclear. The timing, perhaps, is relevant: Japan joined Western allies in imposing financial sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine . However, it is not certain that there is a correlation between the two.
The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, however, said that an investigation into the alleged attack will be opened and an attempt will be made to establish whether or not Russia is involved.
WHAT JAPAN HAS DONE
On Sunday Kishida announced that Japan, as well as the United States and the European Union, will exclude some Russian banks from the SWIFT network, the international standard for financial payments. In addition to this, Tokyo will send emergency aid worth $ 100 million to Ukraine.
HOW LONG WILL THE TOYOTA LOCK LAST
Toyota has fourteen factories in Japan, which are worth about one third of its global production. The company said it still doesn't know if the hiatus will last more than a day. The closure also affects sites managed by the automaker's partners, such as Hino Motors and Daihatsu.
Toyota's production line is structured to follow a just-in-time approach ("just in time"): it means that – to maximize manufacturing and cost efficiency, limiting warehouse costs – the components necessary for the production of vehicles they arrive at the factory shortly before the start of production.
TOYOTA'S PROBLEMS
However, this approach is difficult to apply in the current context, made up of continuous "hitches" in the supply chains and shortages of critical components. Of course, Toyota – the largest carmaker in the world – was affected by this context.
In February, however, it had to stop production in North America due to the lack of supply of auto parts caused by the protests of truck drivers in Canada, who blocked the Ambassador Bridge: it is the most crowded land border crossing in the entire region. fundamental for trade between Canada and the United States and for the North American automotive industry.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/toyota-attacco-informatico-stop-produzione/ on Mon, 28 Feb 2022 15:02:48 +0000.