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New Delhi: Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover on Tuesday have said that they are restarting their operation in a phased manner, starting from October 8th, following a cyber attack that took down the Britain-based marquee automaker early September. JLR have also announced an agreement for a new financing solution in order to support the cash flow of qualifying JLR suppliers.
JLR have said a programme to fast-track payment to their direct supplier, some of which had laid off workers after their revenues dried up during the hacking. At the start, the scheme will be limited to the critical suppliers needed to restart production, but it will be expanded later. The phased return of the staff will start with some sites in the West Midlands and Merseyside.
Employees who work in facilities which prepare pressed metal bodywork at the company’s sites in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull will also be brought back and even those who work in the Solihull car plant’s body shop and paint shop.
JLR says that the move will be followed keenly by the resumption of vehicle manufacturing in Nitra, Slovakia. The Range Rover and Range Rover Sport production lines in Solihull are expected to restart soon. However, it remains unclear when the JLR’s Halewood plant on Merseyside will have an output.
Experts have said that the normal running of production lines will be a while. JLR have also said that an accelerated-payment scheme to help their suppliers, many of whom have been financially struggling.
The suppliers that have direct contact with the company will be getting paid for new orders right after they have been placed, rather than up to two months after delivery. JLR says this will allow them to get funds up to 120 days earlier than usual. The expectation is that these companies will be offering a similar option to their own suppliers, which will allow for the funds to flow rapidly down the supply chain.
The scheme is being funded by JLR themselves, using credit provided by a commercial bank. This is unrelated to the £1.5 billion loan guarantee recently offered by the UK government. Experts, of course, have said that despite everything, this isn’t the end of the crisis for many smaller suppliers. Some are quite heavily relying on JLR and have little or no income beyond the brand.
