Actually, Toyota moved away from JIT after 2011 earthquake when several of it’s factories had to stop production due to lack of parts from other factories impacted by earthquake. One of the change was increased inventory levels of components.
Toyota is one of the last automaker to reduce production due to the current chip shortage, because they had enough chips for 18-24 months of production.
Edit: It seems some of Toyota factories in Southeast Asia have shutdown due to Covid spread in those countries resulting in shortage of parts supplied to factories in Japan. Reported to be 40% reduction in production.
Relevant: The Security Value of Inefficiency by Bruce Schneier
> This drive for efficiency leads to brittle systems that function properly when everything is normal but break under stress. And when they break, everyone suffers. The less fortunate suffer and die. The more fortunate are merely hurt, and perhaps lose their freedoms or their future. But even the extremely fortunate suffer — maybe not in the short term, but in the long term from the constriction of the rest of society.
Toyota is one of the last automaker to reduce production due to the current chip shortage, because they had enough chips for 18-24 months of production.
Edit: It seems some of Toyota factories in Southeast Asia have shutdown due to Covid spread in those countries resulting in shortage of parts supplied to factories in Japan. Reported to be 40% reduction in production.