Feature story

For a Better Future(1) Global Automotive-related Products Division
Manufacturing & talent development for the future(2) High Performance Material Division
Minimizing loss in product development

07

CSR REPORT 2020

For a Better Future

Company profile

Feature story (1)Feature story
Harmony with the environment

Manufacturing &talent development
for the future

Improving value
Communication with society

Global Automotive-related Products Division
Yasushi Nomura, Division Director

birthrate become bigger problems, society now expects companies topolicy at the Automotive-related Products Division as “Manufacturing &to have INOAC’ s suppliers strive for sustainability that boosts on-sitepractice sustainability. Consequently, auto manufacturers have begun

talent development for a changing future,” and each of our sections

capabilities and competitiveness, with a shared sense of awareness.

setting environmental targets and declaring their commitment tohave defined their own, more specific policies. Quality control for

improving their business continuity planning (BCP). At the same time,

products is handled by our Global Quality Assurance Division, which

I think we will be able to keep up with any changes that could possibly

the automotive industry is said to be going through a once in a century

strives to establish in-process quality assurance that does not rely on

occur in the future by creating “worksites to be proud of” through therevolution, and the mentality is shifting from “offering an even betterthe final inspection. They accomplish this through best practices inquality management activities that I am about to share (problemcar” to “offering solutions for mobility society.”

manufacturing & talent development. We set two objectives inanalysis, human resources development). We will engage in theseestablishing quality assurance. First is to provide products with theactivities persistently, with the determination to make ongoing

In order to keep up with this change and balance it with sustainability,

appropriate quality according to changes in the needs of customers

contributions to communities.

it is now extremely important for companies to strengthen their

who actually buy the cars. As opposed to simply seeking excessive

CSR REPORT 2020

Governance & compliancequality, we set target values from the customers’ perspective. Second isSupply chain managementbusiness infrastructure. Starting in 2019 we defined our department

Producing an employee-friendly
workplace08

As global warming and Japan’ s aging society along with falling

For a Better Future

Company profile

Feature story (1)■ Developing talent

Producing an employee-friendly
workplace| Improvement at the source |Two Methods of Quality Assurance?

Process

Process Process

Final product(2) Build quality into the process
OKInspection

OKOK

JudgJudgProcess Judging Process ing Process ing○OKFinal productAt a PA meeting with open mutual communication

Eliminate as many defects as possible
within the process

Generate changes in processes(Upcycling, staff reduction, saving space)

Able to consistently offer good products with stable quality

Global Automotive-related
Products Division
Second Quality Control Section,
Quality Control Department,
Quality Assurance Division

Akinobu Tokunaga09

CSR REPORT 2020

Initially, PA began with exploratory activities between INOAC andsuppliers to see what could be done, but as improvements were madethe atmosphere became increasingly open.
With these activities now entering their second year, we are beginning tosee effects on site. Our results in terms of quality have improved to thepoint of being hardly recognizable from before. Going forward, we intend
to continue these activities while working even more closely with ourmanufacturing sections and suppliers.

Governance & compliance

Comments froma PA participantInteractive learning at Quality Dojo

Supply chain management(1) Quality relies on inspection

Communication with society

Production Engineering Section, Quality
Technology Section, and major suppliers.
It involves drafting Improvement Control Forms,
creating opportunities to openly share eachother’s issues and opinions, correcting thesources of defects within each other’s processes,
and eliminating problems at the source.
This makes it possible to not only solve problems
that are readily visible, but to also solve problems
that had previously gone unnoticed. It also
deepens mutual understanding between
departments and organizations, while improving
teamwork.

To improve quality management at
manufacturing sites we also hold weekly training
sessions for smaller numbers of staff. We develop
instructors by holding certification tests after thetraining.
In order to deliver accurate instruction of thedaily management of worksites, employees fromsections not directly related to manufacturing
such as sales and accounting also participate inthis training in addition to employees fromsections ranging from production to qualitycontrol. They utilize the training to make
improvements in their own daily operations.

Improving value

The Quality Assurance Section conducts
problem analysis (PA) to manage quality.
Rather than stopping defects from being senton, our aim is to have processes that produce
nothing but quality products.
In each process, INOAC workers judge on theirown whether or not the quality is up to par, withthe aim of establishing in-process quality control
that does not rely on the final inspection. This
results in improvements at the source, which inturn assures quality within the processes.
This activity was launched as a team effort
between INOAC’s Quality Control Section,

Quality Dojo is a place for learning and sharing
what INOAC quality management is all about.

Harmony with the environment■ Problem Analysis (PA) in manufacturing

INOAC Standards define rules for how
manufacturing operations are handled whenabnormalities occur. Activities to spreadawareness of these rules are organized not only
for our employees to learn them but for oursuppliers as well. Rather than thinking of therules one-dimensionally, it is important toactually experience and understand them. For
that purpose, we opened an interactive facility
called the Quality Dojo at our business site.
Its purpose is to make people think hard about
the very simple concept of “taking common
sense actions without a second thought,” help
them realize just how important it is to keep
problems from occurring, and use what theylearn in their daily work.

Feature story

Quality management- Creating worksites to be proud ofFor a Better Future

Company profile

Feature story (2)Feature story
Harmony with the environment

Minimizing loss
in product development

Improving value
Communication with societyHigh Performance Material Division
Division Director Motoyuki Asano

toward solving environmental pollution-related problems such as

minimizes energy loss and scrap materials produced in manufacturing.

reuse had previously required large amounts of energy. Now, in

marine plastic waste, and to engage in sustainable use of resources.

While we have pursued eco-friendly initiatives actively in the past, weaddition to saving energy we are creating products with new added

The Food Loss Reduction Promotion Act was passed in 2019, since

are now working to not only reduce loss that is currently visible but also

value by developing products out of scrap materials as they are,which time efforts to protect limited resources and eliminate waste as

reduce energy loss by revising product specifications and processes,

without processing.

much as possible have gained even more momentum.

and to fundamentally minimize material loss by creating new products
from waste and scrap.

As a manufacturer, INOAC is addressing the situation with aggressive

10

consumption and waste by minimizing all types of loss inefforts to contribute to a sustainable society and use less energy andRevising and simplifying production methods while maintaining

resources. We produce a wide range of products at the Highfunctionality allows us to use less processes and thus manufacture

Performance Material Division, from industrial materials to consumer

while consuming little energy. The work also requires less space, which

CSR REPORT 2020

We will continue contributing to a sustainable society, reducing energy
manufacturing, from materials to processes.

Governance & complianceimproves productivity. Processes leading up to waste recycling andSupply chain management

products, and we are striving to develop products in a way that

Producing an employee-friendly
workplaceSociety now places stronger expectations on companies to take action

For a Better Future

Company profile

Feature story (2)Improvement: Roll processed rollers

sponges which has previously been disposed oflayer part as-is and applies wrinkle treatment toas waste.

the surface. Since it produces no leftover unused

The skin later of rubber sponges used to bematerials and wastes no energy, it helps reduce

considered nothing more than scrap fromwaste.

products and was discarded without being put

Taking advantage of the features of the material

to use.

in order to reuse it reduces waste loss andenergy expenditure from recycling, while at theIn order to reduce waste, we had been turning

same time creating new product value.

this skin layer into chips and remolding them

We will continue to eliminate as much waste as

into recycled products. The biggest problem waspossible and create new eco-friendly products.

that this involved a long energy-intensive

As a manufacturer we consider that to be ourmanufacturing process before completion. Wemission. We are working hard to achieve it.

overcame that by developing textured sponge,

Producing an employee-friendly
workplacePrevious: Sanding processed rollers

Textured sponge is a product that takes the skin

Simplified

CSR REPORT 2020

Comments froma developerHigh Performance Material
Division
Rubber & Elastomer Department
Production Engineering Section

Keisuke Okawa

Textured sponge helps reduce waste by turning material scrap into new
products without consuming additional energy.
The anti-slip effects of texturing combined with the cushioning of rubbersponge allow for a wide range of potential applications, from floor mats atworksites to cushioning, and more. We will be expanding the range of
texture patterns and color variations to address our customers’ needs.

Governance & compliance11

We are working to reduce waste at production plants starting from thedesign and development phases. There are various processes involved in
High Performance Material creating the functionalities that products require. Processes that areDivision,considered necessary can still be eliminated by applying ingenuity andInformation Devices Department,
ideas during the design phase. I think the important thing is to determine
Technology Section
Urethane Group
what added value to give products in each process, and propose theToshinari Hayashi
optimal production methods accordingly.

Supply chain management

Comments froma developer

Communication with society

wraps polyurethane foam around the metal
shaft, which reduced waste materials andprocesses while retaining the cleaning function.
Reducing processes also saved space at theworksites. We were able to use this freed up
space to produce other new products, and it also
helped improve productivity at the production
plant as a whole.
We will continue striving to minimize loss andmake products that satisfy our customers while
using less energy and creating no waste inproduction.

using the skin layer as-is for a new product.

products that reuse the skin layer of rubber

Improving value

The Information Devices Department is reducing
the energy used and scrap materials produced in
manufacturing by revising specifications formore simplified methods to manufacture
cleaning rollers for office automation (OA)
equipment, such as copiers and printers. There
had previously been a sanding process, which
presented problems with scrap materials andsanding powder getting stuck to the products
after sanding.
We addressed this by changing the processing
method from sanding to processing that directly

The Rubber & Elastomer Division is developing

Harmony with the environment■ Simplified cleaning rollers for OA equipment■ Development of textured sponge, reusing skin layer material loss

Feature story

Loss reduction in product development