Concepts on Quality Management and the Development of Products, Technologies and Services

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• Quality Policy
• Quality Management System
• Initiatives to Improve Product Quality
• Quality Audits of Contracted Manufacturing Service Vendors and Externally Procured Products
• Our Response to the Occurrence of Issues Associated with Product Safety

Quality Policy

Quality Management System

Status of Quality Management System Certification

Note: Versions of quality management system standards are as follows: ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO 15378:2017

Initiatives to Improve Product Quality

Quality Audits of Contracted Manufacturing Service Vendors and Externally Procured Products

As part of efforts to deliver a future of joy and well-being to customers, the Sumitomo Rubber Group endeavors to maintain and improve the quality of raw materials and externally procured products used in the manufacture of Tire, Hybrid and Sports business products through engagement in systematic quality audits of raw material suppliers and external manufacturing service vendors in addition to promoting other activities aimed at addressing quality issues and making improvements. These endeavors have helped us keep the quality of manufacturing processes and products high.

In 2021, our activities were affected by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, with some auditing projects conducted on a remote basis. However, we have also implemented all-out quality inspection activities with the cooperation of raw material suppliers and external manufacturing service vendors while holding web-based meetings with them. Through these initiatives, we have striven to address quality issues, implement corrective measures and otherwise improve the quality of raw materials and externally procured products in addition to securing our preparedness for the post-pandemic period.

With recent changes in the external environment exerting an increasingly profound impact on the global market, the Sumitomo Rubber Group is now confronted by a challenging situation in which the assessment of new candidates for raw material suppliers and external manufacturing service vendors requires even more prudent judgement. However, we will make improvements in the internal environment by, for example, strengthening the quality supervision structure through which divisions and manufacturing bases cooperate with each other. By doing so, we will step up our activities to improve the quality of raw materials and externally procured products.

Our Response to the Occurrence of Issues Associated with Product Safety

As a manufacturer, the Sumitomo Rubber Group maintains an acute awareness of its responsibility to secure product safety. Committed to fulfilling this responsibility, we implement thoroughgoing measures to this end in the course of day-to-day operations. For example, we conduct preliminary product assessments assuming extremely harsh usage conditions. Prior to initiating the mass-production of new items, be it tire, sports, industrial or any other products, we ensure that quality assessment results are rigorously examined by quality assurance departments in charge of each product. We have thus established a framework in which no product can be released without the approval of these departments. Even after the commencement of mass-production, we undertake thoroughgoing quality control measures to ensure that we always deliver high-quality, safe products. In the unlikely event that a product is found to be defective or potentially defective, we immediately launch an investigation to determine the cause and, if necessary, convene the Safety Countermeasure Meeting. In these ways, we have established a framework that allows us to swiftly implement necessary measures.