11/29/2017

Data Fabrication Corrupts Japan Brand

Following Kobelco, two Japanese manufacturers announced that they fabricated the data of inspection on their products. Mitsubishi Materials Corporation revealed last week that two of their subsidiary companies had rewritten their inspection data. In the midst of broad doubt on the elite company in Japan, Toray made public the same wrongdoing of its own on Tuesday. Credibility on industrial products made in Japan was severely damaged.

Two subsidiary companies of Mitsubishi Materials were Mitsubishi Cable Industries and Mitsubishi Shindo. Mitsubishi Cable rewrote the data of rubber seal and gasket, used for automobile engine to avoid leak of oil or water, pretending to meet the demand of customer. It shipped 270 million of those products in these two and half years, even after it found that this February.

Mitsubishi Shindo, a manufacturer of copper products, fabricated the data of conductivity of coils for car parts or electronic devices. It shipped 879 metric tons of those products between last October and last month. President of Mitsubishi Materials, Akira Takeuchi, apologized the lack of legal compliance and promised early improvement. Material makers support manufacturing in its basis with delicate products unseen for the users. Chinese media reported that case as decline of Japanese spirit of artisan.

Chairman of Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, Sadayuki Sakakibara, criticized Mitsubishi Materials on its delay of announcement. “The right attitude of corporation is to announce its false doings as soon as they noticed it,” told Sakakibara in the press conference on Monday. Nevertheless, the data fabrication of Toray’s subsidiary was revealed next day. Toray was the company of which Sakakibara had been the president.

Toray Hybrid Cord, a manufacturer of reinforcement in rubber wheel of automobile, revealed that the company had been fabricating the data of its products from April 2008 to July 2016. Although the company reported its eight-year-long false practice to the president of Toray, Toray concealed it for sixteen months. Toray decided to announce it after someone revealed that on webpage earlier this month.


Material companies and their customers have a special rule that allows the manufacturer shipping products in short of customer’s requirement. Toray Hybrid Cord wrongly applied the rule to their products with self-confidence on their technology. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, demanded industrial community preventive measures by sharing conclusion of investigation on these issues. But, fabrication of facts is sometimes seen in the community of politics. It takes time to recover the loss of Japan brand.

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