In Cologne Toyota, production shutdown began on February 1, 2023 due to a lack of components. The picture shows an empty production hall.
Kolín – Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic, based in Cologne, resumed production today after a shutdown that began on February 1. Employees have returned to full three-shift operation, the first cars will roll off the line in the afternoon, from Tuesday to Thursday it should be 1,000 cars a day. Starting next week, however, some Monday and Friday shifts in March will still be limited due to a lack of components, said Tomáš Paroubek, a spokesman for the automaker, to ČTK. He did not specify more restrictions. According to the chairwoman of the car company's trade union, Martina Kleimodová, employees will learn more about production restrictions on Wednesday.
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“Sunday on the night shift in the welding shop, which is the first stage in the production of the car, we filled the lines, this morning the paint shop filled up and in the afternoon we should have the first cars on final assembly and we will start production as we have been used to. We will start full production this week with the fact that some Monday and Friday shifts will be limited in March, where it is heard that everything in the supply chain is not as it should be,” said Paroubek.
According to him, the situation in the supply chain remains uncertain. “We believe that it will stabilize in the future, but it is difficult to predict,” he added. In the future, according to him, the outage may concern another supplier. “Now it's happening more than in the past, if I look at the last ten years,” he added.
According to union president Kleimodová, employees will learn more about further production cuts on Wednesday at a meeting with the car company's management. “It's not just us, it's all car manufacturers, the chips are nowhere to be found,” she said. According to her, these are millions of losses for employers. “We have orders, we could go seven days a week, but the market situation is holding us back,” Kleimodová added.
According to Paroubek, the employees who will be affected by the March restriction are entitled to a bonus in the amount of 80 percent of the average salary or they will use the so-called working time account, i.e. they will work off the unworked shifts in the future.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic employs approximately 3,600 people in Kolín. They work in three shifts from Monday to Friday. The carmaker produces roughly 1,000 cars a day in normal mode. Last year, after two weaker years, it increased production by roughly a quarter, producing over 202,000 cars.
