JAGUAR Land Rover’s machines have roared back to life in Solihull – over a month since it a cyber attack at the company.
Production lines have been at a standstill since the start of September at the Lode Lane and Castle Bromwich factories following the attack.
The phased return began on Wednesday (October 8) at sites across the West Midlands and Merseyside.
Employees who work at the company’s stamping operations in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, and other key areas of its Solihull vehicle production plant, such as its body shop, paint shop and its Logistics Operations Centre (LOC) returned to work earlier this week.
JLR said: “This activity will be closely followed by vehicle manufacturing in Nitra, Slovakia, and restart of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport (MLA) production lines in the Solihull facility.”
The company has also announced a programme to fast-track payments to its direct suppliers. during the production restart phase.
Since the cyber incident, JLR has introduced solutions to support its suppliers, including establishing a dedicated supplier help desk and implementing a manual payment system to settle outstanding invoices, and re‑establishing automated supplier payment systems.
Following an initial phase with qualifying JLR suppliers critical to the restart of production, the scheme will be expanded, including to some non‑production suppliers.
Working with a banking partner, this short‑term financing scheme means qualifying JLR suppliers will receive a majority prepayment shortly after the point of order and a final true‑up payment on receipt of invoice. JLR’s typical supplier payment terms are 60‑days post invoice, so this scheme accelerates payments by as much as 120 days.
JLR will reimburse the financing costs for those JLR suppliers who use the scheme during the restart phase, as the company returns to full production.
Adrian Mardell, chief executive officer of JLR, said: “This week marks an important moment for JLR and all our stakeholders as we now restart our manufacturing operations following the cyber incident.
“Our suppliers are central to our success, and today we are launching a new financing arrangement that will enable us to pay our suppliers early, using the strength of our balance sheet to support their cashflows.
“I would like to thank everyone connected to JLR for their commitment, hard work and endeavour in recent weeks to bring us to this moment. We know there is much more to do but our recovery is firmly underway.”
