Key Highlights
- Toyota had to halt production at 12 of its 14 Japan auto plants due to an IT systems failure during a database maintenance procedure.
- The outage was caused by servers running out of storage capacity, crashing a critical production ordering system.
- The 2-day shutdown resulted in an estimated loss of 13,000 vehicles per day, underscoring the huge impacts insufficient IT planning can have.
Toyota Motor Corporation recently experienced a major systems failure that brought production to a standstill at 12 of its 14 Japan-based auto manufacturing plants. The outage stemmed from an IT maintenance procedure that went awry, causing servers to run out of storage capacity and halt critical manufacturing operations.
The incident occurred on August 27, 2023 during scheduled maintenance to reorganize a production database. However, the reorganization failed to complete as servers maxed out their storage allotments. With the primary and backup servers overloaded, Toyota’s production ordering system crashed.
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Without the ability to schedule and execute manufacturing plans, assembly lines across Japan were forced to stop. Toyota estimates the two-day outage resulted in lost production of approximately 13,000 vehicles per day.
In a statement, Toyota apologized for the disruption and confirmed the incident was not the result of a cyberattack. The company says it has identified the root cause and implemented measures to prevent recurrence.
This shutdown illuminates the crippling impacts insufficient IT planning can have on automotive giants like Toyota. A simple miscalculation of server storage needs downed a critical system. With Toyota producing over 10 million vehicles yearly, each day of lost production carries tremendous financial consequences.
Rough Year For Toyota
The storage failure also dealt another blow to Toyota’s IT infrastructure after a string of 2023 data leaks exposed private customer information. In May alone, misconfigurations were reported in two apps, and flaws discovered in a supplier portal granted unauthorized data access.
For Toyota and other automakers relying on intricate IT ecosystems, minor oversights can rapidly snowball into crises. This latest example underscores the importance of careful capacity planning, system redundancy, and comprehensive maintenance procedures.
Moving forward, Toyota says its top priority is increasing production to fulfill customer demand. But long-term, preventing similar outages will require vigilant IT governance and proactive risk management. Delivering top-quality vehicles starts with building robust and secure systems behind the scenes.
