How Sub-Tier Site Incidents Are Disrupting the Automotive Supply Chain (A Z2Data Analysis)

Generally speaking, the cost and frequency of disruptions is directly proportionate to the size and complexity of a supply chain. In other words, industries with larger, more multidimensional supplier networks are more vulnerable to disruptions that impact manufacturing continuity and result in tangible revenue loss. 

Few, if any, supply chains are more complex than those that sustain the automotive industry. According to McKinsey, the average automotive manufacturer has roughly 250 direct suppliers and around 18,000 suppliers across all their manufacturing tiers. By comparison, aerospace firms have an average of around 200 tier-one suppliers and 12,000 suppliers in total. For technology companies, those figures are 125 and 7,000, respectively. Even when juxtaposed with some of the world’s most advanced industries, automakers stand apart, relying on deep, hyper-specialized supply chains that stretch out across sites, countries, and even continents. As a result, car manufacturers deal with an unusually high frequency of disruptions across their global supply chains. 

Just look at this year. In 2025, the automotive industry has been whipsawed by a combination of high tariffs and stringent export restrictions on rare earth elements (REEs) and related magnets, materials that are essential to many automotive BOMs. These geopolitical developments have triggered an untold number of incidents across global supply chains, including factory shutdowns, production suspensions, and major financial concerns. 

From a supply chain risk management (SCRM) perspective, though, it’s not enough to be aware of media headlines and the risks they potentially pose to your manufacturing networks. To actually carry out effective risk management measures and start fostering long-term supply chain resilience, businesses need to also understand the quieter, less-heralded threats—and be able to detect where they’re coming from. 

To that end, Z2Data carried out an analysis of data, drawn from its internal database, that uncovered supply chain disruptions much farther afield than the trade obstacles many businesses are currently focused on. Specifically, we found that disruptions at individual manufacturing sites—including incidents like fires, production suspensions, and labor strikes—impacted sub-tier suppliers at a significantly higher rate than it did tier 1 suppliers or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Though these incidents are often difficult to pinpoint, owing to their occurrence deep within supplier sub-tiers, and never serve as compelling talking points or media fodder, they can have an outsized effect on a business’s production continuity. 

While the data may not be groundbreaking, it is still illuminating, providing SCRM professionals with a meaningful, potentially actionable context for targeting risks, mitigating costs, and implementing contingency planning. 

Implications of This Analysis For Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

Before reviewing the data, it’s worth establishing a framework for why obtaining and analyzing this information can be advantageous for original equipment manufacturers and other companies. Static data that doesn’t shape strategy or inform decision-making is little more than noise, and we want businesses to understand how they can act on the intelligence that follows.

Establish Prioritization Hierarchy for Auto Supply Chain Risks

Global supply chains are vulnerable to a battery of different risks, including natural disasters, site incidents, geopolitical events, logistical snafus, cyberattacks, and many other disruptions. To maintain its event monitoring capability, Z2Data tracks over 120 different types of risks on a day-to-day and even hour-to-hour basis. This level of variety and scope presents a challenge to manufacturers: should risk management measures be implemented for all disruptions, and should all risks be treated equally? 

The data in this article can help companies prioritize the various threats embedded in their supply chains by highlighting the risks that they’re not always accounting for. Businesses that review this intelligence will have a better understanding of how site-level incidents are impacting their sub-tier suppliers, setting them up to carry out subsequent investigations and, ultimately, implement corrective actions. 

Developing Corresponding Risk Management Strategies

Once OEMs have this information in hand, they can start expanding and refining their risk management strategies accordingly. There are a myriad of steps firms can take in response to this automotive supply chain disruption data.

• Establish alternative suppliers based on the number and category of incidents attributed to a specific sub-tier supplier. 

• Use site incident data to inform multi-sourcing strategies, including partnering with suppliers that source from multiple manufacturing sites. 

• Develop strategies for mitigating labor-related disruptions in manufacturing sub-tiers. 

• Review safety standards among sub-tier suppliers, and potentially establish more stringent safety requirements to avoid fires, explosions, and other dangerous site-level incidents.

Foundation for Further Risk Analysis

Perhaps most importantly, the disruption data can serve as a valuable starting point for companies to carry out further due diligence measures on their supply chain. Every automaker’s supply chain is different, but the dataset analyzed by Z2Data can help showcase patterns, trends, and recurring incidents that may confirm issues sourcing and risk management professionals are seeing on the ground. The idea is for the intelligence collected here to prompt further, more individualized supply chain investigations. 

For example, the Z2Data data on labor strikes within sub-tier suppliers could compel an OEM to explore this issue within their own supply chain. That analysis could eventually result in businesses diversifying their sub-tiers away from specific manufacturers or countries where labor relations issues are persistent and costly. This is just one of any number of examples, of course, and businesses should treat this data as a necessary first step toward deeper, more probing examinations of supply chain vulnerabilities. 

Insightful, reliable data lays the foundation for effective SCRM. The perspective and insights on supply chain disruptions in this article is one facet of that comprehensive statistical picture. 

Z2Data Automotive Supply Chain Disruption Analysis Methodology

To obtain the data in this article, we started by identifying the five highest-frequency incidents impacting the automotive supply chain across 2024 and the first five months of 2025. We then separated these figures into three different supply chain categories: OEMs, tier one suppliers, and sub-tier manufacturers. We also dug deeper into the site incident category specifically, looking at how the various subcategories of site incidents impacted OEMs, tier one suppliers, and sub-tier suppliers. 

Top Five Automotive Supply Chain Disruptions 

The Z2Data analysis found that natural disasters generated the highest number of disruptions in the automotive supply chain in 2024 and the first five months of 2025, with over 12,000 events recorded across the three manufacturing categories. This was followed by transportation and logistics, with over 7,000 total events, and power outages, which impacted nearly 2,000 individual manufacturers. 

Site Incidents Among Sub-Tier Suppliers 

While there are a number of insights to be gleaned from this data analysis, one of the most striking takeaways is the prevalence of site incidents among sub-tier suppliers. While site incidents across the automotive supply chain are not among the top three categories of supply chain disruptions—those would be natural disasters, transportation and logistics, and power outages—they have a disproportionate impact on sub-tier manufacturers. 

Among the 1,245 site incidents we tracked across 2024 and the first five months of 2025, nearly two-thirds of them—over 64%—took place at manufacturing sites operated by sub-tier suppliers. 

Events like factory closures, production suspensions, and fires and explosions occurred at a relatively high frequency among these manufacturers, especially when compared with their tier 1 and OEM counterparts. The data is strongly suggestive of a different risk profile for these manufacturers, something original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can take note of when developmenting and implementing risk management measures. 

The reasons why sub-tier manufacturers appear to be more vulnerable to these types of site-level disruptions are myriad. For one thing, safety standards may be lower for these suppliers, leading to more fires, explosions, and other potentially deadly accidents that necessitate factory shutdowns. In addition, substandard labor conditions—and a reduced emphasis on ESG principles and priorities—may be leading to higher levels of dissatisfaction among labor forces, compelling them to go on strike more often throughout a given year. 

Finally, sub-tier suppliers are often reliant on just a few manufacturers for their sales and revenue. A single business changing parts or making modifications to its supply chain could trigger a production suspension at one of these businesses. In general, this reflects the fragility of sub-tier business models, where companies are often at the mercy of several larger, more financially stable manufacturers. 

Supply Chain Event Monitoring With Z2Data Can Counteract Costly Risks

If there’s one thing that OEMs and their suppliers are acutely aware of, it’s that in the wake of a supply chain disruption, time equals money. The longer it takes a firm to analyze an incident, assess its supply chain impact, and implement contingency measures, the more losses they incur. Fortunately, today’s automotive manufacturers are able to draw on the sophisticated event monitoring capabilities offered by supply chain risk management (SCRM) tools. 

The Z2Data SCRM platform provides global event monitoring across over 120 risk types, including but not limited to:

• Natural disasters
• Site incidents
• Geopolitical developments
• Cyberattacks
• Tariffs
• ESG events
• Supply shortages

To maintain maximum visibility into these disruptions, Z2Data utilizes a wide-ranging alert system that draws on thousands of local, national, and international sources in over 20 different languages. When combined with the tool’s other supply chain risk management functionalities, users are able to quickly learn about disruptions and immediately assess impact on their supply chains at the country, supplier, and manufacturing site level. 

To learn more about Z2Data and how its event monitoring capabilities can help companies initiate strategic responses to supply chain incidents, schedule a free demo with one of our product experts.