For improvement in value

Quality improvement efforts

Transparency of quality is necessary for global competition
The INOAC Group has implemented a comprehensive management system based on ISO 9001 to guarantee quality andprovide products and services that our customers can be satisfied with and use safely with confidence. Furthermore, we areengaged in efforts to improve quality by collaborating with our customers. In recent years, quality fraud has become a largesocial issue and trust in Japanese manufacturing is wavering. Against this backdrop, the global trend is moving toward
enforcing the transparency of product development and the manufacturing process as well as clarifying responsibility.

Basicpolicy

Quality that can satisfy all customers■ Zero critical quality issues■ Ensure transparency of quality

Efforts
1. Activities to prevent serious issues in advance2. Promotion of automation and IoT①Product component audit for critical quality

We are promoting automation and the use of IoT to evaluate and inspect products. This improves the trustworthiness of our evaluations
and inspections while also making them visual. By doing so, we are building a system that ensures the transparency of quality andenables us to quickly ascertain and respond to any issues that occur during the production process. Furthermore, we are utilizing thedata we collect to prevent any issues in advance. Featured here are examples of how we have brought automation and IoT into theprocesses of measurement and inspection at our production sites.

We conduct audits and guidance at our production
sites in Japan and abroad to improve quality andprevent any serious quality issues in advance that canthreaten our company’ s existence through the loss ofsocial trust.

②Quality audit of new products
We conduct audits on products created using newtechnologies, new materials, new processes or for newpurposes. Our goal is to prevent serious quality issues
in advance.

Audit members
President, Global Technology Development Division, GlobalProduction Management Division, Legal Affairs Section,
Intellectual Property, Global Quality Assurance Division,
department supervisor, product technology supervisor, quality
assurance supervisor, sales supervisor①Improving the transparency of quality with automation and②Improving the transparency of quality by adding IT to test

During the production process, automated measuring devices
automatically determine whether the measured production
conditions and dimensions data are acceptable or not. The
information is shown in real-time on monitors on the production
floor and in the office and is easy to understand. This allows us tomonitor product quality with a high level of transparency. The
measured data is saved onto the hardware every few seconds andthey are linked with barcodes to enable precise traceability. We areutilizing the accumulated data to manage production conditions
with the aim of improving and stabilizing quality.

We are working to integrate IT into test management with the goal of improving
quality transparency and customer trust. By linking the stock and shipment
systems to build an integrated management system, it now allows us to stop theshipment of products that have not completed the test evaluation or those that do
not meet the evaluation standards. We can share information with various
departments on each of the product’ s test items, evaluation results, whether they
can be shipped, state of progress and so on. This will prevent the shipment ofproducts that are defective or have not completed evaluation, which will lead toimproving trust from our customers. Furthermore, since the test evaluation results
are inputted automatically into the computer, we can avoid human error such as
mistakenly putting in wrong data. This improves data trust and work efficiency.

IoT in the production process (measurement and inspection)

management

Audit areas
Material quality, product characteristics, product performance,structure, exterior, comparison with similar products, productsafety, production safety, quality risks

Automated measuring device for pipes
An automated measuring device measures the outer diameter and thickness andconducts an external inspection in-line so that no irregularities are overlooked.

INOAC CSR REPORT 201920