Social Quality

Policy and Basic Mindset

Guided by the UBE Management Policy, the UBE Group designates Fundamental Quality Guidelines that define the standards for quality assurance activities at the Group.

UBE Group Fundamental Quality Guidelines

In order to earn the trust of stakeholders, we will continually focus on safety and security in developing and providing products and services that meet customer expectations for quality.

1. We will always obtain the latest information on regulations and public standards that relate to quality, and we will adhere to them.
2. We will adhere to the agreements with customers.
3. We will build close relations with customers and provide the quality sought by customers.
4. We will continually improve our quality assurance systems.
5. We will develop products and services that can be safely and securely handled throughout the product life cycle, ensuring that we suitably provide necessary information.

Approach to Quality Activities

The UBE Group strives to improve quality by clarifying its basic approach to quality assurance activities and also by evaluating those activities.

Quality activities are comprised of the following three activities.

Management System

The UBE Group has appointed an officer to be in charge of the Quality Assurance Dept. (Quality Executive Officer) who is responsible for overseeing the Group’s quality activities. The Group also has established UBE Head Office internal control departments and the Group Quality Assurance Committee. Under the direction of the Quality Executive Officer, the corporate internal control department manages the Group’s quality activities and establishes corporate internal controls. The Quality Executive Officer provides regular status reports regarding the establishment and operation of internal controls to ensure effective supervision by the Board of Directors.

Initiatives

The UBE Group’s quality activities are carried out via the following major initiatives executed by the Head Office internal control departments.

1. Raising quality awareness

Planning and implementing quality awareness activities in the UBE Group

2. Managing quality activities

Formulating UBE Group quality measures and managing their progress

Reporting the status of quality measure implementation and quality activities to the Group Quality Assurance Committee

3. Conducting audits

Improving UBE Group quality by conducting internal audits

The UBE Group encompasses a wide range of businesses worldwide, including chemicals, machinery, and construction materials. These businesses operate under a system that emphasizes independence. Each business strives to practice independent quality activities in line with its business profile, and the Head Office internal control departments (quality assurance department) support their independent activities.

Initiatives Undertaken by UBE Corporation

UBE Corporation maintains a quality management system (QMS) at its business divisions and factories in Japan. To prevent a recurrence of improprieties in quality checks detected during inspection in fiscal 2018, the Company is pursuing steady implementation of recurrence prevention measures, while also taking stronger initiatives to prevent any new issues. It is providing regular training aimed at enhancing quality awareness to improve the mindset of senior management and employees, revising internal rules, and preventing human error through the use of ICT. We will continue to steadily pursue these activities, work on continual improvement, and restore the confidence of our stakeholders.

In order to meet industry-specific requirements, the Pharmaceutical Division will maintain its own pharmaceutical quality system (PQS) and is committed to its pharmaceutical quality policy.

All employees will continue to maintain a strong awareness of quality, work to create the kind of value that only the UBE Group can create, and strive to provide the quality that customers need.

We also aim to shift our focus to the specialty chemicals business. Accordingly, UBE Corporation will step up quality-centered management that maximizes corporate value by enhancing customer satisfaction and ensuring product quality. We will thus accelerate our efforts to become an exceptional company with regard to quality.

Initiatives Undertaken across the UBE Group

The UBE Group is determined to never forget the lessons learned from a past incident involving improprieties in quality checks and is rallying the Group’s overall strength to implement various measures to prevent the recurrence of such an incident. We also promote education aimed at instilling both knowledge and awareness so that all officers and employees are vigilant with regard to quality assurance activities. In addition, recent results of quality awareness surveys targeting employees indicate that there has been a resurgence of activities undertaken at each workplace to raise quality awareness, while a steadily growing proportion of our workforce seems to be placing higher priority on quality in the course of business conduct.