Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is temporarily shutting down its two automotive manufacturing plants due to a shortage of computer chips.
The difficulties of Britain’s largest car company are similar to those of other manufacturers, including Ford, which has been hit by a shortage of chips worldwide.
JLR said there would be a “limited time” close for its Halewood and Castle Bromwich areas from Monday.
The combination of strong demand and the closure of Covid for corporate chip makers has also hit the phone, TV and video companies.
Change In Production Schedule
JLR, which is owned by Tata, said in a statement: “We have adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles which means that our Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of non-production from Monday 26th April.
“We work closely with the relevant suppliers to resolve issues and reduce the impact on customer orders where possible.” Production at the third factory, Solihull, will continue.
Factory Output
The Castle Bromwich plant manufactures the Jaguar XE, XF and F-Type models, and employs about 1,900 people. Halewood manufactures the Range Rover, Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport, and has approximately 4,000 employees.
The Covid-19 pandemic has raised the demand for semiconductor chips for electronic use as computers, as people have been working from home, and business providers are struggling to adapt.
There was also a fire at a Japanese company, which is part of Renesas Electronics, one of the world’s largest chips manufacturers and semiconductors in the automotive industry.
Impact Of Global Chip Shortage
And on Thursday, French Renault warned that chip shortages were getting worse. On Wednesday, car maker Stellantis, owner of the UK Vauxhall brand, said it would replace digital speedometers with some of the older analogues in one of its Peugeot models, as fallout continues.
Daimler, General Motors and Volkswagen all suspended production lines at various times in recent weeks.
Modern cars have sophisticated electronics and rely heavily on semiconductors, which are used in systems ranging from engine management to parking cameras.
Today’s cars are computers on wheels, festooned with electronics such as engine management systems, driver aids, cameras and entertainment gadgets.
All of these require semiconductors, and at present the whole industry is struggling to get enough of them. It’s fighting the consumer electronics sector for the supplies that are available.
What has made the auto industry particularly vulnerable is its reliance on just-in-time delivery, where parts are brought in when needed, rather than being stockpiled.
Normally this is seen as the efficient way to do things – but the semiconductor shortage has shown just what can happen when normally well-oiled supply chains seize up.
