This is a result of the supply chain being interrupted in Russia
ACNNewswire has reported that Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) has had to make the difficult decision to cease all vehicle production at their Saint Petersburg plant in Russia. Their full article is linked here.
Toyota had to suspend manufacturing operations at their Saint Petersburg plant all the way back on 4 March 2022 because they were facing a supply interruption of key materials and parts. Toyota has been thoroughly monitoring the situation and meticulously assessing the sustainability of their business in Russia since then.
On top of that, Toyota retained their entire workforce during that time and ensured that the facility would be able to re-start production at any given moment as soon as circumstances allowed it.
However, after half a year, the supply chain issue was not solved and as such, Toyota has been unable to resume their manufacturing activities as per normal and there is no sign that the company can re-start production at any time in the future.
That has led Toyota to unfortunately make the very difficult decision to terminate all production of Toyota vehicles in Russia. This decision hurts Toyota as the company has spent the last 80 years developing their business and brand with the support of their stakeholders across the globe but now it has to come to an end.
Moreover, Toyota needs to protect the values and principles their predecessors built and pass it down to the next generation. In light of this, the company has also decided to optimize and restructure their operations in Moscow with the goal of retaining an effective organization to continue serving Toyota and Lexus customers in Russia.
Toyota has also thanked their employees for their hard work and loyalty and offered them assistance for re-employment, re-skilling and well being which includes financial support and legal requirements in lieu of their priceless contributions to the company.
This just goes to show that even though we are past the worst implications of the global pandemic, we are not truly out of the woods yet. There is still so much work we need to do to truly go back to the old normal and quite frankly, I don’t think we ever will. All we can do now is adapt to this new normal and try to help each other.
What do you think of this issue? I think we Malaysians should feel very grateful that our supply disruption is only as far as waiting months for parts instead of the whole company just abandoning the country.
