- Quality Control for Safety and Reliability
Toshiba Group aims to contribute to society by providing safe, reliable and high-quality products and services that satisfy our customers. In this endeavor, we adhere to the Basic Commitment of the Toshiba Group, which is based on respect for people, observe relevant laws and regulations, and focus on our customers first and foremost. We are striving company-wide to verify and improve safety and reliability throughout the product lifecycle and are focusing on the development of human resources who can contribute to these activities. Moving forward, as we strengthen production and procurement in China and other Asian countries, we will enhance our development of personnel by expanding our training programs related to quality awareness on a global scale.
FY2023 Key Achievements
- As a measure against COVID-19, continued to increase the number of product quality training courses held online.
- Conducted 58 programs in Japan, attended by a total of 990 people. Conducted 9 programs in China with internally-trained local staff as lecturers, attended by a total of 61 people.
Policy on Quality Control
Based on Toshiba Group Quality Control Policy, our biggest mission is to provide our customers with safe and reliable products, services and systems, and we are working to improve the quality from our customers’ point of view. By increasing our sensitivity to potential risks and dealing with them swiftly, we strive to eliminate product accidents and improve customer satisfaction.
Toshiba Group's Basic Policy on Quality Assurance:
Total commitment to people and to the future is the cornerstone of Toshiba's corporate philosophy. While strictly obeying all laws and statutes that affect company operations, we will strive to contribute to society by putting our customers first and providing safe, high-quality products and services with advanced features that will ensure customer satisfaction.
Standards of Conduct for Quality Assurance:
- We engage in quality assurance from the customers' point of view.
- We observe relevant laws and contracts and respect the rights of customers and third parties.
- We maintain quality systems aimed at achieving 100% quality.
- We ensure that all of our departments and all of our employees act on this Quality Control Policy.
- We aim for essential improvement by investigating the root causes of process failures and aim for prevention through risk analysis.
- We collect, analyze and appropriately disclose information with the aim of preventing quality incidents.
Structure of Promoting Quality Control
The executive in charge of the Corporate Quality Promotion Division and the Quality Promotion Division manage the quality assurance activities of Toshiba Group as a whole, while presidents of Group companies are in charge of individual products and operations. To enhance the quality level throughout product life cycles, from planning, development, and production to final disposal and recycling, Chief Quality Executives of Group companies provide guidance and conduct audits for factories, suppliers, maintenance and service companies, as well as for manufacturing outsourcees worldwide.
Structure of Promoting Quality Control of Toshiba Group
Initiatives Aimed at Enhancing Quality Capabilities
Toshiba Group is working to strengthen our capabilities to ensure quality centered on the four main pillars of the quality enhancement initiatives listed below.
We focus on improving the Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001 to raise the quality of design and procurement, which are the root cause of defects, as well as to enhance the training of personnel who can support the development of the QMS. We regard compliance as the foundation for all these activities.
Four Pillars to Enhance Quality Capabilities
Improving the QMS
Toshiba Group obtains certifications including ISO 9001, which is the basis of quality management systems; IATF 16949, a more advanced system and for in-vehicle equipment. Rather than merely assessing whether products meet the requirements of these standards, we also endeavor to improve their effectiveness. Therefore, we evaluate the products’ maturity annually, based on the seven principles of QMS and other guidelines. By comparing the results with those of previous assessments, we identify issues, and devise and implement appropriate measures.
Status of QMS (ISO 9001 and Others) Certified at Manufacturing Sites as of October 1, 2023
Targeted sites | Certified sites | Percentage of certified sites | |
---|---|---|---|
Toshiba Group in Japan (including Toshiba) |
59 | 58 | 98% |
Toshiba Group overseas | 38 | 34 | 89% |
Toshiba Group TOTAL | 97 | 92 | 95% |
Targeted sites | Certified sites | Percentage of certified sites | |
---|---|---|---|
Toshiba Group in Japan (including Toshiba) |
59 | 58 | 98% |
Toshiba Group overseas | 38 | 34 | 89% |
Toshiba Group TOTAL | 97 | 92 | 95% |
Training Personnel in Charge of Quality Assurance
We established the Toshiba Quality Training System to foster personnel who can contribute to quality improvement at all concerned divisions. We develop and promote education programs to improve awareness on quality management depending upon the requirements of each division, as well as to improve skills on reliability techniques and quality control methods.
In order to foster personnel that are capable of taking charge of quality assurance, we develop and implement quality training programs, including methods of analyzing the causes of product accidents and preventing them, for employees in all divisions related to product life cycles. In FY2023, a total of 1,051 employees participated in the training programs from Japan and overseas countries. We also provided compliance training and e-learning on the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law for 73,522 related employees in Japan in FY2023 and the participation rate was 99.99%.
Activity Example : Enhancement of Local-Based Training
Toshiba Group is focusing on the training of quality control in overseas companies. To provide education suited to local customs and environments, we train local instructors at our company sites in different countries.
In China, the Toshiba China Academy, a training institute of Toshiba China Co., Ltd., plays a central role in improving the skills of personnel. Since FY2015, local instructors have been in charge of all existing lecture courses. In addition to periodic lectures, we provide education and management that meet the needs of company sites, thereby improving the skills of quality assurance personnel and the level of education system. We aim to develop local education systems in other countries and regions based on the same policy.
Training on quality awareness in China
Improving the Quality of Design
In order to enhance our capabilities to ensure product quality at the design stage, Toshiba Group is promoting FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) mainly for design work as part of our Design for Quality (DFQ) initiatives. We are working to provide practical education to broaden the base of FMEA activities as part of our efforts to prevent defects from upstream and prioritize product safety and compliance.
Securing Cooperation from Suppliers to Ensure Quality
In recent years, alongside increasingly complex procurement routes and globalization, the issue of product failure and accidents has come to the fore due to “silent changes” in which the specifications of a product are changed without informing the ordering manufacturer. At the same time, suppliers are the indispensable business partners of a manufacturer and ensuring the quality of procurement items is becoming increasingly important in the business operations of Toshiba Group. In order to ensure the quality of procurement items, we distribute “Toshiba Quality Assurance Guidelines for Suppliers” and “Toshiba Software Quality Assurance Guidelines for Suppliers” summarizing Toshiba Group's quality assurance policy and supplier expectations. By mutually implementing these guidelines, we are working to maintain and improve the quality of procured products. Toshiba Group's divisions that handle procurement, quality assurance, and engineering operations cooperate depending on the types and importance of the procurement items and perform audits of suppliers at appropriate intervals in order to ensure quality of these items.
Toshiba Quality Assurance Guidelines for Suppliers
Toshiba Software Quality Assurance Guidelines for Suppliers
Disclosure of Information on Quality
In the event that incidents related to quality occur, information is disclosed on the Toshiba website in order to notify customers of such incidents as quickly as possible.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been announcing serious product accidents since the revised “Consumer Product Safety Act” came into force on May 14, 2007. On our website, Toshiba Group actively discloses all serious product accidents announced by METI, even those in which METI has not made our company name public, because it has not yet been determined whether the accidents were caused by the use of our products.