Quality control

We regard quality as an important management criterion in manufacturing and have established a quality assurance policy. Our major manufacturing plans are certified to ISO9001 and other international standards for quality management systems. We strive to improve the quality of our products and services through continuous operation based on the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. As part of our efforts to strengthen quality assurance, we also focus on ensuring the quality of procured products. With the cooperation of our suppliers, we conduct supplier surveys and audits at appropriate frequencies to ensure the quality of raw materials and sub-materials from the aspects of quality and technology.

With regards to opinions and inquiries that we have received from customers, we strive to supply satisfactory products by aiming to promptly improve appropriately. We aim to improve the information sharing and management system, and we classify, analyze and evaluate the information gathered at each business site, which leads to development and improvement of our products and services.

The quality assurance system that the Group has built, which is headed by the president, allows us to provide an appropriate response to customer opinions and demands related to quality. In April 2021, we established the Quality Assurance Department at DOWA Holdings to further enhance our Groupwide quality risk management system. Regarding employee education, we have created a Companywide education system that includes governance and compliance training. In addition, we have introduced cross-sectional, quality-related education to quality assurance managers as well as quality-related compliance training to new employees. The Sustainability Committee, which was newly established in April 2022, brings together members from throughout the Group to discuss medium- to long-term risk management issues related to quality and to track the progress of measures implemented to respond to these issues.

To discuss issues and ways to proceed with quality assurance throughout the Group, we established the Quality Assurance Managers’ Meeting in fiscal 2022, attended by the DOWA Holdings Quality Assurance Department and quality assurance managers from each business company and each business support company. In fiscal 2022, the meeting was held quarterly at four sites in Japan (Nagoya, Akita, Tokyo, and Hamamatsu) to establish a framework for quality assurance and share issues.

The quality assurance departments at each manufacturing site are responsible for the quality assurance of the Group’s products and services. However, since there is only one quality assurance department per site, there was difficulty in sharing information. To this end, a Quality Assurance District Meeting was established in fiscal 2022 as a forum for the quality assurance departments of each site to exchange information and personnel across the Group. The Quality Assurance District Meetings aim to identify issues and other challenges facing each manufacturing site and to address and support issues raised by the DOWA Holdings Quality Assurance Department.

The Group’s major manufacturing plants have acquired ISO 9001 certification, the international standard for quality management systems, and maintain operations rooted in a PDCA (Plan–Do–Check–Act) cycle. Under Midterm Plan 2024, we aim to build and operate ISO 9001- or OHSAS compliant quality management systems at 80% of the Group’s manufacturing sites by FY 2024, the final year of the plan.