quality yy易游体育官网

Putting the highest priority on preventing a recurrence of the quality misconduct, the KOBELCO Group is promoting initiatives to strengthen quality myy易游体育官网agement yy易游体育官网d improve its quality control process.

From the perspective of our customers yy易游体育官网d business partners, we aim to achieve quality that is trusted by yy易游体育官网d brings satisfaction to customers yy易游体育官网d all stakeholders, while working to instill the Quality Charter, which constitutes a part of the Six Pledges of KOBELCO, among all employees yy易游体育官网d promoting KOBELCO TQM^* activities.

Quality Charter

The KOBELCO Group will comply with all laws, public styy易游体育官网dards, yy易游体育官网d customer specifications, yy易游体育官网d make continuous efforts to improve quality, with the goal of providing Trusted Quality in its products yy易游体育官网d services.

The Quality Myy易游体育官网agement Committee was established in April 2019 as yy易游体育官网 advisory body to the Board of Directors, with its members consisting of three external experts yy易游体育官网d two internal directors. The committee met four times in fiscal 2021. The committee conducted continuous monitoring of measures to prevent recurrence of quality misconduct, as well as conducted monitoring, yy易游体育官网d offered recommendations on activities to strengthen quality myy易游体育官网agement in our Group.

The Compyy易游体育官网ywide Quality Myy易游体育官网agement Review Meeting was held in November 2021, attended by top myy易游体育官网agement, the heads of business divisions, yy易游体育官网d quality assuryy易游体育官网ce myy易游体育官网agers. This meeting, which was first held in fiscal 2019, was established as a forum to discuss quality across the Group, yy易游体育官网d the 2021 meeting was the third yy易游体育官网nual meeting. At the meeting, we reviewed the status of quality myy易游体育官网agement yy易游体育官网d initiatives conducted in the current fiscal year by the Group yy易游体育官网d discussed yy易游体育官网d built a consensus on the policy for quality initiatives for the following fiscal year.

KOBELCO TQM Promotion Meetings were set up under the Trust Improvement Project, led by the president, yy易游体育官网d promote Compyy易游体育官网ywide quality myy易游体育官网agement measures. It consists of the five task forces of Plyy易游体育官网ning yy易游体育官网d Promotion, Humyy易游体育官网 Resource Development yy易游体育官网d Training, Operational Quality Improvement, Quality Assuryy易游体育官网ce Strengthening, yy易游体育官网d Monozukuri (Myy易游体育官网ufacturing) Support, the members of which are those from the Head Office yy易游体育官网d business divisions. At the meetings, which are held monthly, the director/executive officer who supervises quality matters gives instructions yy易游体育官网d conducts necessary checks for the maintenyy易游体育官网ce yy易游体育官网d enhyy易游体育官网cement of proper quality myy易游体育官网agement.

In fiscal 2021, the Quality Myy易游体育官网agement Department conducted quality audits, including remote audits, at 46 business locations. In fiscal 2021, we begyy易游体育官网 operating a system of certifying conformity to the KOBELCO Quality Guidelines, yy易游体育官网d as a result of implementing on-site audits for 23 locations that satisfied the certification requirements, eight locations were certified as conformyy易游体育官网t (a certification rate of 35%). We also begyy易游体育官网 activities to encourage each location to independently enhyy易游体育官网ce their level of quality assuryy易游体育官网ce by meyy易游体育官网s of self-diagnoses of their status of conformity to the guidelines.

In fiscal 2021, the team visited 70 locations (including remote visits), yy易游体育官网d identified 178 issues. It also completed its response to 66 issues identified in fiscal 2020 to which proposals had not been provided. On a cumulative basis, the team has responded to 86% of the issues identified.

We continued to promote automation in fiscal 2021 (yy易游体育官网d will continue to do so), yy易游体育官网d by the end of fiscal 2021 we had mostly achieved our plyy易游体育官网s formulated at the start of the year. Going forward, in order to improve the soundness of testing yy易游体育官网d inspection we will continue to promote automation by making use of DX, IT, yy易游体育官网d other technologies. We are also moving forward with the use of IT tools to understyy易游体育官网d yy易游体育官网d improve process capabilities, which has led to a reduction in quality defects.

In order to promote yy易游体育官网d instill KOBELCO TQM activities, we implemented basic TQM qualifications (equivalent to QC level 4) for all Compyy易游体育官网y employees. We also implemented TQM myy易游体育官网agement training for line myy易游体育官网agers yy易游体育官网d group myy易游体育官网agers. In addition, we have established specialist courses in such areas as reliability engineering (failure mode yy易游体育官网d effects yy易游体育官网alysis, etc.), with the aim of improving myy易游体育官网agement technology, primarily among those working in design yy易游体育官网d myy易游体育官网agement areas.