At Canon in Japan, managers also said that being certified by ISO 9002 gives them additional international credibility. At the Nippon Otis Shibayama factory outside of Tokyo, managers described the detective process they followed to reduce trouble calls for one elevator line. In analyzing what was causing repair calls, they found that integrated circuit boards were the largest single cause of malfunctions and then that these failures were usually caused by a corrosion problem on the boards themselves. The firm ultimately added an additional coating process to prevent corrosion and established test facilities in its factories to respond instantly if component problems are identified. Annual callbacks to repair elevators dropped from 2.08 to 0.7 per installation.
Suppliers are an important part of the quality chain.
Whether the product is diapers, escalators, or computer printers, manufacturers described a process of screening suppliers for quality, then price, and of trying to maintain long-term relationships. Tsuchiya, a small manufacturing firm located in an industrial neighborhood of Tokyo, is a subcontractor for Nippon Otis employing 48 people who produce about 100 varieties of parts, including hand-assembled wiring for motors and metal housings created on a small industrial robot. Owned by the same family for two generations, the firm does about 60 percent of its business each year with Nippon Otis. The relationship between Tsuchiya and Nippon Otis is the type described repeatedly in both Japan and Singapore. When engineering changes are made, the subcontractor may be asked for design suggestions and for recommendations for reducing cost.