Jaguar Land Rover said it is beginning a "phased restart" of vehicle production this week after a cyber attack brought work to a halt six weeks ago, while also launching a government-supported financing scheme to support suppliers' cashflows.
Tomorrow will see engine manufacturing begin at the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC) in Wolverhampton, as well as the nearby battery assembly centre.
On the same day, body shop and panel stamping workers will return at plants in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, as well as at its logistics operations centre, which feeds parts to JLR's global manufacturing sites.
JLR said this will be closely followed by vehicle manufacturing in Slovakia, and the restart of the Range Rover production lines in Solihull this week, with details on the restart at Halewood on Merseyside still to come.
The financing will provide qualifying suppliers with cash up‑front during the production restart phase, supported by a help desk and manual payment system to settle outstanding invoices, alongside the restart of automated supplier payments.
"With the new scheme, qualifying JLR suppliers will be paid much faster than under their standard payment terms, aiding their cashflow in the near term," the company said.
Chief executive Adrian Mardell said the new financing arrangement for suppliers "will enable us to pay our suppliers early, using the strength of our balance sheet to support their cashflows."
He said the production restart "marks an important moment for JLR" following the cyber incident.