Quality -Enhancing Product Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Goals and Achievements of Major Initiatives
Secure product quality.
| Goals for fiscal year 2022 | nvestigate the root causes of improprieties and issues of nonconformance and take decisive steps to prevent recurrence. |
|---|---|
| Achievements in fiscal year 2022 | A list of pertinent laws and regulations was prepared and put into use. Deployment of a system for swiftly collating complaints and criticisms was completed at DIC Group companies in Japan. |
| Evaluation | ★★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2023 | Cultivate a deeper understanding of quality and customers, taking into account the role of departments responsible for quality, with the aim of providing products that are trusted by customers and society. |
| Goals for fiscal year 2022 | Approach product quality from the perspective of customers and society and guarantee a level of quality that matches requirements. |
|---|---|
| Achievements in fiscal year 2022 | Efforts to motivate employees, including a regular online “All About Quality” lecture, continued. The implementation of design reviews was delayed, with implementation methods included among the issues that must be addressed. |
| Evaluation | ★★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2023 | Create a scheme for fostering individuals’ sense of ownership over their own work and apply it to tasks performed by management-level employees. |
- Evaluations are based on self-evaluations of current progress.
Key: ★★★ = Excellent; ★★ = Satisfactory; ★ = Still needs work
Basic Approach
In line with The DIC Way and its basic sustainability policy, the DIC Group positions its Environment, Safety and Health Policy and its Quality Policy as two inseparable aspects of its operations. Accordingly, the Group works continuously to provide products and services that respond to the needs of customers and society at large.
DIC’s Quality Policy
Contribute to the prosperity of customers and society by consistently providing reliable products (Updated in May 2015)
Framework for Promotion
To better leverage its agility and comprehensive capabilities, DIC previously employed a matrix-like quality management configuration with product divisions on the vertical axis and the Technical Management Unit and Production Management Unit on the horizontal axis. In fiscal year 2021, the Company launched a new configuration in which the product division quality assurance groups have been absorbed into the Production Management Unit.
This realignment also involved creating the position of deputy general manager in charge of quality control within the Production Management Unit and establishing a unified organization that oversees quality assurance groups at individual sites. The goals here were to ensure the independence of the framework for promoting quality assurance to guarantee customers’ quality requirements are met; clarify the roles of quality control and quality assurance; and task the Quality Assurance Department and the Quality Control Department with identifying issues facing sites and product divisions and devising the most effective measures in response.
DIC has also established a new Quality Committee to enable the president to be directly involved in quality management for the DIC Group in Japan. In principle, the Quality Committee meets quarterly to formulate DIC Group quality policies and important quality measures. At committee meetings, product division general managers and unit heads report on the status of these measures and summarize related activities.
Framework for Promotion
The Quality Assurance Department and the Quality Control Department implement measures deliberated by the Quality Committee and in their respective roles work to improve the overall level of quality management. In the event an issue of nonconformance arises, the departments take corrective measures to prevent recurrence and improve customer satisfaction.
01Initiatives Aimed at Increasing Customer Satisfaction
The Quality Assurance Department’s principal responsibilities are as follows:
- Plan and implement quality policies and important quality measures, primarily at DIC Group companies in Japan;
- Ensure the appropriate management and auditing of the Quality Management System (QMS);
- Evaluate the seriousness of complaints and criticisms, and of issues of nonconformance, and promote effective external responses; and
- Foster a customer- and compliance-focused mindset.
To provide high-quality products that customers feel secure using, the DIC Group promotes a variety of quality improvement initiatives during product planning, design and development, the procurement of raw materials, product storage, production and sales, giving consideration to the need for effective product stewardship.
In addition to conducting regular internal quality audits, the Quality Assurance Department repeatedly monitors and inspects domestic sites to ensure that the QMS is administered effectively, thereby ensuring that an awareness of the need to place customers first remains firmly rooted across the DIC Group.
In fiscal year 2022, audit teams engaged in rigorous dialogue with sites regarding principal audit themes, which included the deployment of site policies regarding quality, as well as education and training regarding quality inspections. In fiscal year 2023, the focus will shift to realizing design quality, troubleshooting in production processes and process control methods, with the aim of ensuring even more stable production.
02Initiatives Aimed at Enhancing Product Quality
The Quality Control Department’s principal responsibilities are as follows:
- Plan, implement and evaluate quality-related education;
- Manage and supervise the appropriate implementation of qualityrelated processes by product divisions and units, as well as by sites in Japan, including those of DIC Group companies; and
- Promote DX for processes related to quality control and quality inspections.
Management of changes to maintain compliance with quality requirements is necessitated by the expansion of facilities to accommodate production expansion, the replacement of aged equipment or the transition to new, more cost-competitive products. For this reason, it is necessary to prevent the discharge of nonconforming products, a key concern, and to fortify efforts to respond to complaints and criticisms.
In addition to sharing best practices from sites, the DIC Group is advancing the horizontal deployment of DX aimed at improving operating efficiency and preventing human error, thereby promoting the evolution of quality control and quality inspection processes. The Quality Assurance Department, Quality Control Department and site quality assurance groups conduct themselves daily with confidence and pride in their role as “gatekeepers of quality,” ensuring the stable delivery of safety and peace of mind to its customers.
03Compliance-Focused Initiatives
Recognizing compliance as the top priority for the Group in Japan, DIC believes that a corporate climate in which each employee works to ensure its quality is essential to its ability to provide products that satisfy its customers, as well as to contribute to society. In fiscal year 2020, the DIC Group launched ISO 9001 Top Management Training for technical and sales department leaders who have many opportunities to interact with customers. Rather than being conceptual in nature, this program employs case studies as study materials and emphasizes the importance of each individual thinking and acting as if quality is their responsibility even if they are not directly involved in production.
Also in fiscal year 2020, a quality compliance e-learning program was launched for DIC Group employees in Japan to prevent the recurrence of quality improprieties. This program, which uses actual Group incidents as case studies, consistently enjoys a participation rate of 100% of eligible employees. In a new initiative, in fiscal year 2022 the Group inaugurated a regular online lecture called “All About Quality,” which introduces quality-related topics and external case studies. Going forward, the Group will continue to expand training designed to give employees a greater sense of ownership over their own work.
04Mechanisms for Dealing Appropriately with Issues
The deputy general manager in charge of quality control in Japan conducts DIC Group quality conferences, the purpose of which is to communicate specific measures for implementing the Group’s annual quality activity plan to the Quality Committee, which is headed by the president, and to monitor the status thereof. The conference also plays a role in improving quality management across the Group by advancing the horizontal deployment of best practices and case studies illustrating significant issues.
Product division quality conferences, which are led by product division general managers and focus on raising customer satisfaction, are also held. In addition to proposing solutions that deliver value to customers, the product divisions lead BCM initiatives and the management of changes, both matters of importance to customers. Site quality conferences, which are conducted by site general managers, are tasked with ensuring the appropriate functioning of the DIC Group’s QMS and promote improvements. In response to issues of nonconforming products, site quality conferences investigate causes, implement corrective measures and take steps to prevent recurrence. The Quality Assurance Department and the Quality Control Department participate in these conferences and respond swiftly and appropriately to issues as required.
05Collaboration with DIC Group Companies in Other Countries and Territories
At present, all subsidiaries in other countries and territories have earned certification under ISO 9001, the International Organization for Standardization’s benchmark for quality management, in line with which they conduct a variety of product quality–related initiatives. In fiscal year 2023, DIC will consider a new framework that strengthens cooperation with the DIC Group in the PRC, the Asia–Pacific region and Sun Chemical.
VOICE
Our focus is on monitoring quality changes.
The Composite Material Products Division provides a broad range of highly functional processed products that integrate core DIC Group technologies, which it supplies customers in niche markets in such diverse sectors as electronics, home appliances, automobiles, construction and housing. These include industrial adhesive tapes, hollow-fiber membrane modules, decorative boards and interior housing products, decorative sheets and decorative films, SMCs and molded plastic products. For all of these products, we must be able to deliver a level of quality that meets the specific and exacting needs of customers, as well as to ensure stable quality. Accordingly, it is critical that every individual involved in production approaches their work from their own unique perspective with a sophisticated understanding of the importance of quality and a sense of responsibility, to ensure robust quality management across the entire supply chain, from planning and development through to procurement, production, sale, use and disposal or recycling.
The Composite Material Products Division’s quality assurance group will continue working to ensure compliance with rules and procedures and to keep the promises we have made to customers, which are reflected in product delivery specifications, as well as to promote quality assurance initiatives. Through such efforts, we will strive to ensure that customers can use our products with peace of mind and confidence in their reliability.
Group Manager, Composite Material Quality Assurance Group 1, Composite Material Products Division, DIC Corporation Shinichi Ichihara
Quality doesn’t lie. Responsibility for quality lies with everyone involved in production.
The Performance Materials Products Division offers high-performance synthetic resins to customers in a wide range of industries, including paints, electronics materials, aerospace composites, automobiles, optics, construction and civil engineering. The key factor underpinning the business foundation of these diverse products is quality. It is crucial that all employees in departments involved in production processes recognize that responsibility for quality lies with them. Quality assurance groups are responsible for keeping the promises we have made to customers in product delivery specifications and delivering products that can be used safely and continuously.
Quality doesn’t lie. We continue to promote consistent quality assurance initiatives at DIC Group production sites in Japan and overseas with the aim of guaranteeing a level of quality that enables us to maintain and improve customer trust.
Group manager, Performance Materials Quality Assurance Group, Performance Materials Products Division Miyuki Kawasaki
