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

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Quality Policy

Quality Policy

Create a Future of Joy & Well-Being for All

Uniting our diverse strengths, growing together, driving and thriving on change with action and quality that always puts the customer first.

We hereby enact and shall henceforth put into practice the following Quality Policies based on our Corporate Philosophy, which espouses the ideals of contributing broadly to society by providing products and services that fulfill the needs of markets and customers while abiding by all applicable laws and regulations.

1) Provide products and services that earn the continued trust of customers while responding to the changing times through consistent practice of the “5-Gen* Principle.”

*5-Gen:Genchi (Actual Site), Genbutsu (Actual Objects), Genjitsu (Facts), Genri (Principles), Gensoku (Rules)

2) Create appealing products through innovation to pioneer the future backed by strong connections throughout our group.

3) With full participation, engage in proactive activities to preempt and prevent problems through continuous education, as well as thoroughgoing standardization and compliance.

All employees of the Sumitomo Rubber Group shall understand and practice these Quality Policies while striving to ensure the full implementation and operation of our Quality Management System.

Enacted: September 10, 1999
Revised: March 28, 2022

Satoru Yamamoto
President & CEO,
Representative Director
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.

山本 悟

Quality Management System

The Sumitomo Rubber Group has established its quality management system based on the ISO 9001 Quality Management System Standard and the IATF 16949 Automotive Quality Management System Standard.

Status of Quality Management System Certification

Business base Country Production item ISO 9001 IATF 16949 ISO 15378
Kobe Head Office Japan Tires
Tire Deflation Warning Systems
Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
Marine fenders
Rubber parts for medical applications (medical rubber)
Tokyo Head Office Tires
Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
Tire Technical Center Tires
Tire Deflation Warning Systems
Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
Tire Proving Grounds: Okayama, Asahikawa, Nayoro Tires
Nagoya Factory Tires
Shirakawa Factory Tires
Miyazaki Factory Tires
Izumiotsu Factory Tires
Rubber parts for medical applications (medical rubber)
Kakogawa Factory Marine fenders
Rubber parts for medical applications (medical rubber)
Utsunomiya Office Tires
Osaka Office Marine fenders
Nagoya Office (within Nagoya Factory) Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
Hiroshima Office Tires
Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
SRI Engineering, Ltd. Tires
Sumitomo Rubber USA, LLC. U.S.A. Tires
Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc. Tires
Sumitomo Rubber do Brasil Ltda. Brazil Tires
Falken Tyre Europe GmbH Germany Tires
Sumitomo Rubber Europe GmbH Tires
Dunlop Tech GmbH Tire Puncture Emergency Repair Kits
Sumitomo Rubber AKO Lastik San. Tic.A.Ş. Turkey Tires
Sumitomo Rubber South Africa (PTY) Ltd. South Africa Tires
Sumitomo Rubber (Changshu) Co.,Ltd. China Tires
Sumitomo Rubber (Hunan) Co., Ltd. Tires
Sumitomo Rubber (Thailand) Co.,Ltd. Thailand Tires
Dunlop Srixon Sports Manufacturing(Thailand)Co., Ltd. Tennis balls
PT Sumi Rubber Indonesia Indonesia Tires
Sumitomo Rubber Singapore Pte. Ltd. Singapore Tires
Sumirubber Malaysia Sdn.Bhd. Malaysia Rubber gloves

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

Initiatives to Improve Product Quality

The Sumitomo Rubber Group implements policies determined by the Central Quality Control (QC) Committee and then enforced by QC committees at each division, so that our products and services are always of good quality, with all business units, ranging from manufacturing, development and administration to sales divisions, maintaining a high quality of operations.

In addition to promoting annual activities aimed at making improvements, we have designated November as “Quality Month” to raise quality awareness among employees. During this month, we hold “QC Presentation Meetings” at Group business bases at home and abroad while soliciting QC slogans and commending excellent submissions. Moreover, the “Quality Improvement Case Presentation Meeting” is regularly held at our Kobe Head Office, to share best practices from across the Group. Including staff from logistics, sales, administrative and other divisions, participants in this event give presentations on instances of improvement in product and operational quality. The meeting helps participants keep up to date on the latest customer and market needs while contributing to the enhancement of employees’ quality awareness by showcasing cases of excellence.

Central QC Committee Organization

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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.