Worried about scandals affecting manufacturing reputation Japanese companies strengthen internal quality supervision

According to a foreign media report, according to a Reuters survey, nearly half of Japanese companies have either taken measures to strengthen internal control or are planning to take measures to strengthen their internal business due to concerns about a series of data fraud and quality inspection scandals. control. In the second half of this year alone, Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, and Toray Group acknowledged fraudulent product data. Nissan and Subaru also admitted that the use of uncertified quality inspectors to sign the final quality inspection documents of the car, the quality inspection documents for cars sold in the Japanese market, and such behavior has continued for many years.

A survey of companies conducted by Reuters from November 21st to December 4th this year revealed that nine out of 10 Japanese companies expressed concern that the fraud scandal will affect the good reputation of Japanese manufacturing. Among them, 28% of the companies indicated that they are highly concerned about this issue, and 61% of the companies stated that they have some degree of concern. A construction company manager stated in the survey: “If the outside world’s trust in the quality of Japanese products is shaken, this will become a big problem, and rebuilding this trust will take a long time.” To deal with these scandals, 44% The companies and 48% of manufacturers stated that they are taking measures or planning to take measures to ensure quality control. Many respondents stated that they are strengthening compliance training and are paying more attention to the details of contracting with customers.

Several companies stated that they are reviewing internal regulations and strengthening product control. A car company said it is conducting an on-site inspection of its products. Jiro Nakano, head of Japanese equity fund management at Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd., and a corporate management expert who reviewed the findings of the survey, believe that the series of scandals that broke out this year was an exception. However, he stressed that there are some negative things in Japanese corporate culture. These negative things must be changed and enterprises should be given an opportunity to implement the global best practices. He said: "The supervision must be extended to the factory floor to further strengthen the Japanese brand quality supervision, especially for technology companies and traditional manufacturing industries."

Kobe Steel blames its scandals on pressure to increase profits. However, Nissan attributed its quality scandal to a shortage of labor. At the same time, experts specifically mentioned that Japanese companies have activated temporary contract workers to lower product quality standards and increase the likelihood of mistakes and accidents. A manager of a chemical company participating in the survey wrote in the survey: “The factory has reduced the labor costs to the limit, but the company’s senior management did not notice this.” However, this year all the scandals in Japan The affected companies insist that their products' safety is not implicated. A total of 547 large and medium-sized companies were surveyed. The above companies answered questions in an anonymous manner. About 240 companies answered relevant questions about the recent data fraud scandal.