Toyota Shuts Japan Plants for One Day After Supplier’s Computer Virus

Japanese factories account for roughly a third of Toyota’s annual production. A Toyota plant in Japan.

Photo: joe white/Reuters

TOKYO— Toyota Motor Corp. TM -1.31% on Tuesday shut down all 14 of its factories in Japan after a supplier suffered a computer-virus attack, but the company said the factories would reopen Wednesday.

The supplier, Kojima Industries Corp., said it had server trouble Saturday night and discovered a virus and a threatening message after restarting the server. After struggling with the problem over the weekend, Kojima said it concluded Monday that it couldn’t get its systems in place to work with customers properly on Tuesday.

Toyota TM -1.31% said the problem at Kojima, a supplier of plastic parts for car interiors, led to the one-day shutdown Tuesday at all its factories in Japan. On Tuesday morning, it said production would resume Wednesday morning.

“We deeply apologize for causing great worries and problems for our customers,” Kojima said in a written statement.

The shutdown is the latest problem to hit Toyota’s production, A global semiconductor shortage has forced factories to operate below full capacity for much of the past year.

The company said in February that it expected global production of Toyota and Lexus vehicles to total 8.5 million vehicles in the year ending March 2022, down from its November forecast of nine million.

Japanese factories produce roughly a third of Toyota’s annual output.

The Covid pandemic has strained global supply chains, causing freight backlogs that have driven up costs. Now, some companies are looking for longer-term solutions to prepare for future supply-chain crises, even if those strategies come at a high cost. Photo Illustration: Jacob Reynolds

—Peter Landers contributed to this article.

Write to Sean McLain at [email protected]

Appeared in the March 1, 2022, print edition as ‘Supplier Woes Shut Toyota Plants.’