Toyota plants in Japan forced to close after system failure

Toyota was forced to shut down production at its Japanese plants on 29 August 2023, although production is set to restart on 30 August 2023.

The firm has announced that 25 lines at its 12 domestic plants will resume production, save for the Toyota Motor Kyushu Miyata Plant and the Daihatsu Kyoto Plant. Operations are expected to resume at all Toyota plants at its second shift of 30 August 2023.

Toyota states that operations are expected to continue at all its plants in Japan by the second shift of 30 August 2023

Toyota has denied internet speculation that the shutdown was due to a cyberattack, instead attributing the disruption to a malfunction of its production ordering system. It additionally states that it is currently investigating the cause of this malfunction. The failure, which occurred during the daytime on 28 August 2023, saw 28 lines at its 14 plants suspending production from the evening shift of 28 August 2023.

The firm has long been a champion and pioneer of just-in-time logistics and lean manufacturing, strategies that have helped keep its logistics costs down but also mean that any disruption in the supply chain could cascade into larger disruptions further down the manufacturing line.

Toyota states that it had manufactured a total of 1,951,349 Toyota and Lexus-branded vehicles in Japan cumulatively in 2023, marking a sizeable jump after the firm manufactured a total of 2,656,009 Toyota and Lexus-branded vehicles in Japan in 2022.

Sales and production by the firm were both up year-on-year as a result of a recovery from the impact of semiconductor shortages, in addition to a rebound from the impact of the spread of COVID-19.