A new survey has been launched targeting companies in the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) supply chain within the West Midlands. The initiative, spearheaded by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, and Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, seeks to capture the current state of businesses following the cyber-attack that disrupted JLR’s operations in early September.
The attack forced JLR to pause its operations for nearly a month. Although a phased resumption has commenced, the company is yet to return to full operational capacity. The Chambers had previously conducted a survey during the crisis to assess the situation of suppliers and are now following up to determine the present sentiment among these businesses.
Key areas of focus in the survey include the financial pressures on suppliers and the ongoing need for support. Sarah Moorhouse, CEO of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the significance of the survey, stating, “Our members are continually telling us about the ongoing issues they are still facing. By conducting this new survey, it means we can feed critical, up-to-date information back to Government. This will help us keep up the pressure to ensure that the right support is getting to those who need it most and, importantly, that it is at a level that will keep tier ones and the downstream supply chain going until operations get back to normal.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, added, “Our initial survey had 84 responses from firms in the supply chain which covered 29,700 employees in the region. Nearly half told us that they faced serious financial repercussions and while it’s great news that JLR has begun operations again, the crisis isn’t over.”
Raj Kandola, acting deputy CEO of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, further emphasised the need for the survey, stating, “We felt that, as the three Chambers who represent businesses across the region, we should go back out to the suppliers and find out what, if anything, has changed for them in the past couple of weeks and the pressures they are under.”
The survey is open to all relevant suppliers and can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F5TVQSV.
This initiative reflects the continued challenges facing the automotive supply chain, highlighting the need for robust support mechanisms to ensure sustainability and resilience. As the industry navigates these disruptions, the data gathered will inform targeted interventions to aid recovery and stabilisation.
