Consumer Issues
BasicPolicy

We will utilize the feedback received from customers in our business activities to improve the beneﬁtsof our products and services from their standpoint and to ensure safety.

Long-Term Goals

Priority Initiatives●(Under review)●Effective administration and continuous improvement of a quality management system in every
phase of our business activities̶planning, design and development, procurement, production,
shipping and sales●Take up the challenge of zero quality complaints●Build a system of communication that enables the use of feedback from a wide range ofconsumers; build a product planning system that takes into consideration user-friendliness andsafety■ Taking Responsibility for Quality and the Health and Safety of Consumers■ Quality Assurance and Quality Policy
Regarding quality assurance for cosmetics and quasi-drugs, Mandom works to assure fully satisfactory quality as demanded byconsumers from purchase to end of use. We take measures to improve the quality of our products and services at every stage ̶planning, design and development, production and shipping. To ensure the reliability of these activities, in January 1998 Mandomestablished the Quality Philosophy and Fundamental Quality Policy, and built a quality assurance system that became ISO
9001-certiﬁed in December 1998.
Since that time, as the quality philosophy and practices were deemed to have taken root company-wide, we voluntarily surrendered
ISO 9001 certiﬁcation in December 2013. We have since pursued continuous improvement of quality through the Mandom quality
management system.

[Quality Philosophy] "Achieve true customer satisfaction by enhancing the quality of the company, products andservices through the involvement of all employees."[Fundamental Quality Policy]
1. Firmly establish a quality management system in the Mandom Group, and continuously improve its effectiveness.
2. Meet the challenge of achieving zero quality defects and quality complaints by improving the capabilities ofindividuals and conforming to requirements.
3. Improve the precision of all processes, strengthen interfaces between departments, and provide consistent output.
4. Improve the three types of understanding*, and ensure thorough quality assurance KohDoh that never overlooks
small changes or signs.
5. Achieve quality targets with the full participation of staff, from a perspective of working with and for consumers.
*Three types of understanding: understanding consumers, understanding customers, and understanding products■ Quality Assurance Activities and Reconﬁguring Our Quality Assurance System
In accordance with Japan's Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, we comply
with the ISO 22716 international standard that pertains to goodquality practices (GQP), good vigilance practices (GVP) and good
manufacturing practices (GMP) for cosmetics. In addition, we haveformulated a fundamental quality policy based on the Mandomquality philosophy that calls for truly satisfying customers by

Measures for prevention of contamination
by foreign matter (air showers)

Visual inspection of products

Sensory test of product contents

Analysis of active ingredients ofquasi-drugs

Analysis of active ingredients ofquasi-drugs

Functionality inspection of
product contents

enhancing the quality of the company, products and services
through the involvement of all employees. On this basis, we are
creating a quality management system that spans all stages ̶planning, design and development, production and shipping ̶ as
we make the ongoing enhancement of customer satisfaction a dailyfocus.
Mandom Ofﬁcial Website
CSR Information●Consumer Issues ：Promotion of Quality Assurance System44 M a n d o m K o h D o h R e p o r t 2 0 1 8■ Mandom Quality Assurance Activities and Implementation of Customer Feedback
Product Planning

Production
Regulatory compliance

Discovering customers' wants

ISO 22716 (Cosmetics GMP) conformity

Marketing research

Mandom quality management system conformity
Production guidelines

Drafting and reviewing plan
Ordering of raw materials●Marketability ●Preferences ●Functional superiority●Eco-friendliness ●Regulatory compliance

Deliberation over content of plan
Marketing strategy meetings (monthly)
Chairperson: operating ofﬁcer in charge of marketing

Quality check

Acceptance of raw materials

Board ofDirectors' Meeting

Quality check

Approval for saleof new productPreparation of content

Deliberation over validity of draft plan
Planning and design combined meetings (monthly)
Chairperson: operating ofﬁcer in charge of technology and production

Quality check

Content inspection

Compliance with content standards

Design of content and container●Safety ●Stability ●Functionality●Usability ●Regulatory compliance

Filling, packaging

Design of production methodsQuality check

Product inspection

Compliance with product standards,
deliverability screening

Selection of raw material suppliers●Regulatory compliance ●Procurement guidelines

Product Design
New product development, product improvement

Acceptance inspection

Compliance with material standards

Delivery●Assurance of traceability through lot control●Management of retention samples

Customers
Consumers, retailers, distributors,
trade partners, investors, etc.

Board ofDirectors
Directors in charge of:overall manufacturing and sales,
quality assurance,
safety management

Communication with Customers

Publicity and sales promotions●Creation of advertising ●Creation of sales promotion tools●Information dissemination through website, social media, etc.
●Plan management and implementation of promotions, etc.

Regulatory compliance, privacy policy●Regulatory compliance●Compliance with voluntary standards of industry

Gathering customer opinions,feedback to customers

Advertising is to be carried out based on the following guidelines.
Appropriate Advertising Guidelines including Cosmetics
from the Japan Cosmetic Industry Association
https://www.jcia.org/user/business/advertising ( Japanese Only)(Consultations, questions, complaints, etc.)
Daily reports

Collation and analysis of customer opinions

Monthly reports, quality management reviews (twice a year)

Sales●In-store communication●Supply of information to distributors, retailers●Gathering of market information, etc.
●Regulatory compliance ●Sales guidelines

Mandom KohDoh Report 201845

Consumer Issues■ Creating New Shared Values with Consumers■ System for Utilizing Customer Feedback●Customer Inquiry System
We set up a Customer Relations Division in 1994 as a general contact

C u s t ome r I n q u i r i e s i n F Y 2 0 1 7

point for communicating with customers, including their suggestions,

Shop info, purchasing methods:
4,482 (34.6%)

requests and other feedback. After reviewing the feedback received, we

Other: 522 (4.0%)

add information to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) & Inquiries

The environment:
105 (0.8%)
Advertising/sales
promotion: 236 (1.8%)

section of our website as part of our efforts to ensure the supply ofinformation.
Furthermore, feedback is compiled in a database, and through a design

CustomerInquiries

12,950

Suggestions, requests:
319 (2.5%)

management committee, quality assurance committee, and customer
information meetings, is passed along to top management and relevant

Product information,
impressions from use,effectiveness: 7,286 (56.3%)

departments to be integrated into future product development andimprovement.

Quality Assurance Div.
Consumers

・Information provided
・Inquiry content

Distributors

Requestinvestigation

Investigating
dept.

Reportresults

Requests, inquiries, etc.

Employees

Information
providers

Overseas
Groupcompanies

・Telephone
・Email・Mail

Customer Relations Div.
・Information provided
・Inquiry content
・Other information
・Proposal/request
information

Conﬁrminformation
Supplyinformation

Individualdept.

Reportinformation

Response

Domestic Groupcompanies

RetailersManagement
decisionManagementteam・Information provided
・Inquiry content

Mandom Ofﬁcial Website
Top Page●FAQ & Inquiries ( Japanese only)■ Examples of Utilizing Customer Feedback
At Mandom, we share feedback from customers with top management and relevant departments, and work to achieve true customer satisfaction.
The following presents our latest efforts making use of customer feedback.

FY2017FY2016

Hair foam products

Added easy-to-understand video to the FAQ & Inquiries section of website, describing how
to correctly use hair foam products so they can be used to the end in a foamy condition.

LUCIDO Hair Color One Push Type

Improved speciﬁcations and changed button design due to feedback that it is difﬁcult toremove and attach the cover.

GB Body Hair Trimmer

Added a caution label to make clear that the blade is not replaceable, as a response to themisunderstanding that the product can be disassembled and its blade replaced. (Shipmentsof the product with label added are scheduled to begin in summer 2018.)

GATSBY Natural Bleach & Color Series
LUCIDO-L Creamy Milk Hair Color Series

To prevent replacement of the contents, other tampering, and inﬁltration of foreign matter,
speciﬁcations were changed so that the product cannot be opened until use. The
precautions indication was also improved to be easier to see.

GATSBY Hair Styling Foam

The previous illustration of the use method (for enabling use of the entire contents of thecontainer) was enlarged based on customer feedback that product foaming trailed off withuse.

LUCIDO-L Oil Treatment #EX Hair Oil

Owing to customer feedback that the protruding part of the sales appeal label hurt to thetouch, the label shape was redesigned with a rounded tip.

Mandom Ofﬁcial Website
CSR Information●Consumer Issues > Communication with Customers

46 M a n d o m K o h D o h R e p o r t 2 0 1 8

■ For the Correct and Safe Use of Hair Coloring Products
On October 23, 2015, the Consumer Safety Investigation Commission (of the Consumer Affairs Agency) published its "Report on theCauses of Accidents, etc. Based on Article 23, Section 1 of the Consumer Safety Act," with the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
presenting a recommendation on measures to prevent the onset and exacerbation of skin disorders caused by hair coloring products.
Based on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's notiﬁcation to the hair coloring industry and the recommendations of theConsumer Affairs Agency, Mandom has added information in the Frequently Asked Questions section of its website and productinformation sections of each product in the hair coloring category to properly inform customers how to safely use hair coloring,particularly the importance of conducting a patch test 48 hours prior to using a hair coloring product.
External Site

Mandom Ofﬁcial Website

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare WebsiteTop Page

●Skin Damage Owing to Hair Dyes ( Japanese Only)●FAQ & Inquiries > Hair Color > - Before Use Product Safety and Patch Test ( Japanese Only)■ Full Lists of Ingredients Published on the Mandom Website's Product Information Page
The Customer Relations Division at Mandom receives a large number of inquiries from customers, many of which are in regard tothe ingredients in products used by consumers.
Sometimes customers would ask about ingredients that were not displayed in full on the container itself for space reasons (onlybeing listed on the mount, outer box, or the like). At other times customers had discarded the container after using a reﬁll. Up to thispoint, the Customer Relations Division had dealt with each request individually, but situations have arisen where customers could
not get the information quickly enough, such as in an emergency when a product had been swallowed accidentally or a person had
an allergic reaction, and a phone call was made after business hours, when the answer could not be provided immediately.
Because of such circumstances, on April 28, 2017, full lists of ingredients were published on Mandom's ofﬁcial website to help
customers, with the following objectives.

O b j ecti ves :●To allow customers to quickly obtain full lists of ingredients when seeing a doctor after the occurrence of a healthproblem (such as dermatological symptoms, accidental ingestion, an allergic reaction, etc.)●To reduce time and effort required to answer inquiries from customers (by phone or email)
Mandom Ofﬁcial Website
CSR Information●Latest CSR information (article updated on May 11, 2017)( Japanese Only)■ Smell Care Seminars
In today's mature market for products and services, personal elements such as a company's customer-facing interactions can be thedeciding factor in business success or failure. Body odor and smells are rapidly becoming a social issue, even being picked up by themass media, as a factor in obstructing good personal relations both inside and outside business contexts.
To assist consumers based on men's deodorant research, Mandom started smell management activities in 2014, and we regularly
offer Smell Care Seminars.
In FY2017, these seminars were held at 15 companies and groups, and were attended by a total of 863 people.
We also offer a Smell Care Quiz (e-learning) for individuals. For details, please see the links below.
Mandom Ofﬁcial WebsiteTop Page
●Scientiﬁcally studying the body odor of men: Research on Men's Smell ( Japanese Only)●Overview of Smell Care Seminar, Inquiries and Applications ( Japanese Only)■ Handling of Personal Information
At Mandom, we use personal information to deal appropriately with complaints, inquiries and consultations, and to otherwiseinteract with the customer. To achieve the purposes for which the information was gathered, we sometimes entrust work to outsidecontractors, but information is never disclosed to third parties other than outsourcing contractors.
In helping provide our customers with a secure and comfortable lifestyle, a key basis of our business activities is properly andappropriately handling the personal information held by our company, which we believe is one of our social responsibilities.
Therefore, we have established and abide by our privacy policy for the handling of personal information.

Mandom KohDoh Report 201847