Takada Post-Kobe steel manufacture and fraud 10 years

After Japan's Takada airbag dragging vehicle company with frequent quality problems eventually went bankrupt, another Japanese auto parts supplier, Kobe Steel, fell into the quagmire of falsification, and the impact this time may be even greater.

On October 8, Kobe Steel, Ltd., Japan’s third-largest steel manufacturer, formally admitted that it has permanently altered some of the strength parameters of aluminum and copper-steel products and turned products that do not meet customer standards into “standards”. The supply market has affected as many as 200 Japanese companies.

To date, Japanese automakers such as Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki and Mazda have confirmed that their passenger car products use aluminum products manufactured by Kobe Steel. Toyota said that the company’s production of automobile hoods and trunk doors uses Kobe Steel’s aluminum products and is currently confirming the impact on vehicle safety. If it involves vehicle performance and safety, it will trigger a large-scale recall. Auto companies are also confirming the impact on vehicle safety. In addition, aircraft and high-speed rail manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the East China Sea Railway Company were also involved.

The former vice president of Kobe Steel Co., Ltd. Mei Yuanshang publicly apologized for the fraud. He admitted that the product in question “may cause safety problems. We also asked the customer to check. At this stage, no potential security risks have been discovered.” He also said that it was “ Due to the pressure of on-time delivery, falsification was carried out, and this is not a case. Some products have been using tampered data since 10 years ago. He also believes that this is not something that individual people do, but that it is acquiesced by the management that it is a matter of corporate integrity.

At present, the fraud of the Kobe steelmaking industry is still deteriorating. On the 11th, the Japanese media broke the news again. While the strength data of the copper and aluminum products of Kobe Steel was tampered with, the strength data of some of the iron powders of the company also had been tampered with. As a result, the impact of skepticism in steel manufacturing at Kobe Steel further expands to product safety issues such as automotive gears and more.

From Takadan Airbags to Kobe Steel, Japan's auto parts suppliers frequently experienced quality problems. Mitsubishi, Suzuki and other companies in the vehicle companies were also repeatedly exposed to fuel consumption fraud. This series of falsifications has constantly frustrated the image of the Japanese automobile manufacturing industry, which has always been known for its lean production and high quality.

Ten years of fraud, due to shipping pressure?

The falsification of Kobe Steel is long and secretive.

The scandal that tampered with steel products was acknowledged at a press conference held in Tokyo on October 8th by Kobe Steel. Kobe Steel acknowledged that it is located in Japan, the heart of the world (4), testosterone, petrified hair, nicotine, nicotine, benzodiazepasone, and acetanigyrase. The old ???returned tomb こ 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 灿 狻 狻 狻 狻 狻 狻 狻 狻 ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( 11 ( 胺 胺 胺 胺 胺 胺Leeks, grazing, pasture, grazing

In the year to the end of August this year, about 21,500 tons of aluminum and copper products from Kobe Steel came to a large number of Japanese companies, involving household appliances, automobiles, aviation, defense, etc. These products accounted for approximately 100% of Kobe Steel from 2016. From September to August 2017, 4% of total shipments.

In fact, at the end of August this year, Kobe Steel found problems during its internal investigation. However, it did not disclose it until it was instructed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan to hold a press conference. Mr. Umehara admitted that the survey also found that some products had been using tampered data as early as 10 years ago.

In addition to this incident, as early as June 2016, Kobe Steel had been found to be falsifying stainless steel wire pulling strength data. The purpose of disclosure at that time was "to reduce the number of defective products," and this behavior continued at least. For 9 years. The time period of the defective stainless steel wire under investigation at that time was from April 2007 to May 2016. A total of 7,400 tons of stainless steel wire with the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) mark was shipped, of which 55.6 tons were unqualified wires. Than 0.75%.

Regarding why the data had to be tampered with, Mei said that the factory "has pressure to complete the shipping target," but he denied any violation instructions from the headquarters. The current tamper-data scandal at Kobe Steel has involved dozens of employees including management, but Mei said that this is not an individual issue but a company-wide issue.

Kobe Steel is the third largest steel manufacturer in Japan after Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and JFE Steel. It is also Japan's top supplier of aluminum products and copper products. It was established in 1905 and is one of the world's top 500 companies. one. The company currently also has related businesses in China. It has been in China since 2010, has headquarters in Shanghai, and has automotive steel plates and aluminum components in Anshan, Suzhou and Tianjin.

According to the 2017 fiscal year report of Kobe Steel, its traditional three pillar businesses are steel, construction machinery and electricity, but these businesses have become increasingly weak in recent years. According to data from the official website of Kobe Steel, the sales of the company from 2014 to 2016 were respectively 188.8 billion yen, 182.28 billion yen, and 1695.8 billion yen, which decreased year by year. In terms of operating profit, from 2014 to 2016, they were 119.4 billion yen, 68.4 billion yen, and 9.7 billion yen. In 2016, the steel and construction machinery industry caused a loss of 19.1 billion yen.

The decline in profits from traditional businesses forced Kobe Steel to seek new profit growth points, while aluminum products were seen as a new area for growth. With the automotive industry's quest for lightweight and high fuel efficiency, aluminum parts have been adopted by car companies.

According to the plan of Kobe Steel, the pre-tax profits of copper and aluminum will be raised to 20 billion yen by fiscal year 2020, and by the end of fiscal year 2025, the pretax profit of the aluminum business will be further increased to 30 billion yen. Some analysts believe that it is the radical profit plan that has laid a hidden danger for the fraud of Kobe Steel.

Facts have proven that the shift in the focus of the Kobe steelmaking business will soon be effective. In the first quarter of FY2017, Kobe Steel's net sales revenue increased by 7.6% year-on-year to 435 billion yen; operating profit soared 118.0% and 138.6% year-on-year to 30.3 billion yen; net profit was from FY2016 In the first quarter, the loss of 2 billion yen was converted to a profit of 25 billion yen, an increase of 86.6% from the previous quarter.

Huge influence or shameful Japan

What is straining the industry is that Kobe Steel's customer list covers as many as 200 companies in Japan, including Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda, and Subaru. In addition, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has also been involved in aviation and high-speed rail projects such as Japan's first domestic jet regional jet MRJ and some Shinkansen trains of the Tokai Railway. The defense products of companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, IHI Corporation, and Subaru are also affected. spread.

The figure of 200 injured enterprises is only an estimate. According to the official website of Kobe Steel, it has a number of unique technologies. "The wire for automobile valve springs is used in every 2 cars in the world." "The ship's assembled crankshaft and integrated crankshaft occupy 40% of the world's total. Market share, "Automotive covers and other aluminum plates account for 50% of the Japanese market," "Aluminum profiles for railway vehicles account for the highest share of the Japanese market," are clearly visible. If so, the number of affected companies will only be more.

In response to the tampering data incident at Kobe Steel, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Seiken Kosei criticized Kobe for tampering with the data as “a misconduct to shake the foundation of fair trade” and demanded that it do its best to restore credibility.

At present, many companies involved have expressed their position. Toyota Motor Corporation stated that the company uses the problematic products produced by Kobe Steel, including the hoods and tailgates of some models assembled at Japanese factories, confirming the vehicles that use these products and the possible impacts. Future measures. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Public Relations said that the MRJ (Mitsubishi Regional Airliner) that the company is developing has confirmed that there are no safety problems in the relevant parts and it is not expected to affect the future development of the passenger aircraft. Some Shinkansen trains operated by Japan's Tokai Railway have also used the problematic products of Kobe Steel. They indicated that relevant data have been confirmed. The strength of the product in question does not pose a hazard to operational safety. In the future, vehicles will be regularly inspected and qualified products will be replaced in due course. Mazda and Subaru said that they used Kobe Steel's problematic products in their own car or aircraft parts.

However, with the development of the situation, more falsifications in Kobe Steel have been revealed. In addition to aluminum products, iron powder also tampers with data, and the impact of this will remain to be further observed.

In the automotive industry, it is not the first time that the Japanese auto parts supplier's fraud has occurred. The "death airbag" produced by Japan's Takada Corporation has caused the deaths and injuries of nearly 200 people in the world over the past decade due to data manipulation and tampering. Similarly, in addition to Japanese vehicle companies, customers of Takata, as well as 19 global automobile companies such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, caused these companies to be forced to recall vehicles to 12,000 vehicles. Affected by this, Gaotian Company faced huge fines and compensation and eventually went bankrupt.

In addition to suppliers, Japan's vehicle companies also make frequent use of counterfeits. Mitsubishi Motors was falsified in its fuel consumption test in 2016. The fuel consumption of its 620,000 vehicles is higher than the actual level, and its counterfeiting can even be traced back to 1991. This event caused Mitsubishi's market value to shrink by half, the president resigned, and its shares were also bought by the Nissan company. Suzuki also has the same behavior as modifying fuel efficiency data. The company acknowledged that since 2010, it has violated Japanese national regulations to modify the efficiency of fuel efficiency inspections independently, and its 2.1 models totaling 2.1 million vehicles have falsified.

Outside the automotive industry, the Toshiba Corporation of the household appliance industry was fraudulently financially fraudulent, and the Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Company of the construction industry was also accused of cutting corners. Affected by this, the overall image of the Japanese manufacturing industry is increasingly being hit by this series of corporate frauds.