SustainabilityProvide Highly Safe Services and Products

The Kurita Group has established the “Kurita Group Product Quality Policy” and continuously promotes quality improvement activities based on this policy in an effort to raise the quality of the products and services it provides to customers.
The basis of this policy is the “Kurita Group will speedily provide our customers with products and services that can meet their quality expectations, thereby winning unshakable trust.” To provide products and services that are trusted by customers and to fulfill our social responsibilities in conducting our business, we have established the policy with the goal of conducting quality activities that take into account observance of laws and regulations, safety and quality, and environmental impact.
To improve quality, each Group company has built and operates a quality management system based on the policy. In addition, we constantly monitor the current quality level through self-inspections, surveys by the person in charge of promoting quality improvement activities or their designated person, and feedback of opinions and requirements from customers. Improvements are made each time an issue is recognized.

Kurita Group Product Quality Policy (FY2023)

The Kurita Group’s targets and achievements for the fiscal 2023 for the theme are as shown below.

The Company has a rule that, when it uses a new chemical substance in product development, it assesses the risk the chemical substance poses to the environment and health based on internal rules. In addition, when we manufacture a product, we submit mandatory notifications and reports following laws and regulations, including the Industrial Safety and Health Act, the Act on the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture, etc., and the Fire Service Act.

To ensure the appropriate provision of information to customers, Kurita Water Industries uses GHS^*1-compliant SDS^*2 and labels to inform them of applicable laws and hazards of the product and provide other information. We also issue Yellow Cards^*3 and affix Yellow Card-compliant labels to containers^*4 to ensure transportation safety.

• *1 GHS stands for the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. Under this system, physical hazards and health hazards/environmental hazards of chemicals are classified based on international standards, and products classified as hazardous ones are stated on SDSs and indicated on the containers. GHS has been introduced in many countries in accordance with a recommendation by the United Nations. In Japan, compliance with GHS is required by the Industrial Safety and Health Act.
• *2 SDS (Safety Data Sheet), is a sheet on which a product’s hazards, applicable laws, how to handle and transport the product, emergency measures, and other information are presented in a specific format. The Company creates SDSs for all of its products, commodities, and developed articles and provides them to its customers.
• *3 A Yellow Card is a yellow-colored card showing information about procedures for handling an accident as a safety measure for transportation of a chemical. This card is taken along by the transport operator when a chemical is transported on a tanker truck or the similar vehicle.
• *4 A Yellow Card cannot be used in the case of consolidated transport or transport of small lot products. Therefore, in such a case, the Company affixes a label indicating safety information (United Nations Number and Emergency Response Guide Number of the chemical name) on each container.

The Kurita Group conducts an NPS^℠ survey and utilizes the findings for creating sales and marketing strategy and transforming business processes. In fiscal 2022, the survey was administered to customers in Japan and overseas, and responses were obtained from 929 companies and 1,477 individuals. The next survey will be held in fiscal 2024.

* NPS^℠ is the registered trademark or service mark of Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems.

In order to raise the quality of services provided to customers, the Company runs training courses to improve the expertise and skills of all Kurita Group employees. The courses comprise units on a range of topics, including basic knowledge about water treatment chemicals, technical training about water and wastewater treatment, safety and legal training, communication skills and problem-solving.

The Company runs a product safety e-learning course for Kurita Group employees. The course is designed to deepen employee understanding about product safety.

Defects that arise prior to installation at customers and complaints received from customers are entered in the in-house “problem information” database and that information is shared widely throughout the Company.

In fiscal 2023, we reviewed the quality-related internal audit framework and quality-related education and training that we have implemented so far. Our aim in doing so is to enable each organization to improve the quality management system autonomously. We will continue using the quality committees of each organization to conduct internal audits, working to improve quality by understanding the issues and addressing them with improvements.

Since fiscal 2021, the Company has engaged an external institution to conduct quality surveys, covering Group companies in Japan involved in production. The surveys cover the quality management systems and operation status of each company. Based on the survey’s findings, quality-related issues were identified and improvement measures formulated as we continue to raise quality levels at domestic Group companies.

As a quality improvement initiative, in fiscal 2023 we have focused on Change Point Management. For work that falls under the 3H of hajimete / henko / hisashiburi (“first time / change / after a long time”), where the probability of occurrence of abnormalities and malfunctions is high, we examine the problem in advance and devise a way of addressing it. We will continue this initiative, preparing to prevent mistakes and to quickly address changes when they arise.

To improve the quality of product design, Kurita became the first engineering company in Japan to introduce a Stress-Strength Model (SSM)^* to prevent defects and stop issues from reoccurring. Building and leveraging the SSM framework will help curb the occurrence of defects. Since fiscal 2021, we are also using SSM in the project order approval process, as well as in the design process. We plan to extend the use of SSM to Group companies in Japan and overseas as well to strengthen product quality management across the Group.

To encourage continuous quality improvements, the Kurita Group is promoting acquisition of ISO 9001 certification at companies that have production processes involving procurement, manufacture, and processing to provide products and services. The results of the periodic review conducted by the assessment body at the company acquiring certification are shared with the Company’s Quality Control Department, and we assess how to address any issues.
The status of certifications acquired as of March 2023 is as follows. For data such as overall acquisition rate for the entire Group, refer to presented under ESG Data-Social.

ESG Data

List of ISO 9001 Certified Bases (As of March 2023)

*1 Includes Miyoshi Industries Co., Ltd.
*2 Includes San-ei Industries Co., Ltd., Nippon Fine Co., Ltd., and Aoi Industries Co., Ltd.

The Kurita Group considers it vital to obtain cooperation from suppliers to provide customers with safe, high quality products and services. To this end, we have established the Kurita Group CSR Procurement Guidelines, and we have asked suppliers to comply with laws and regulations regarding product safety, provide high quality products and services to the Kurita Group, and provide appropriate information. In particular, we ask major suppliers to conduct a self-evaluation based on the guideline and to implement improvement measures.
In addition, since fiscal 2022, we have been using the platform^* of EcoVadis for the purpose of expanding evaluation items, enhancing the reliability of evaluation results, and reducing the burden on suppliers. As of March 2023, 123 suppliers in Japan and overseas (accounting for 28% of total order amount in fiscal 2021) were registered on the platform.

The Kurita Group CSR Procurement Guidelines