Jaguar Land Rover reveals supplier aid and partial production restart after cyber attack

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced efforts to help its supply chain and a partial restart of operations following August’s crippling cyber attack.

The company said “qualifying” supplier companies would be eligible for early payments due to the disruption caused by the temporary shutdown of its factories over a month ago.

At the same time, it said the phased restart of its manufacturing sites would begin at its Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre and its Battery Assembly Centre in the West Midlands from Wednesday.

“JLR colleagues will also begin to return on Wednesday to the company’s stamping operations in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, UK, and other key areas of its Solihull vehicle production plant, such as its body shop, paint shop and its Logistics Operations Centre, which feeds parts to JLR’s global manufacturing sites,” a statement said.

The prospect of production staff getting back to work will come as a huge relief to workers and suppliers alike. The shutdown is currently into its sixth week, costing JLR at least £5m a day.

Companies which supply JLR both directly and indirectly have suffered, though the carmaker is understood to have met its financial commitments to all partners it deals with.

Firms further down the chain complained last week that they were yet to receive any support, despite the offer of a £1.5bn loan guarantee by the government.