Toray Industries, Inc.
Tokyo, Japan, November 8, 2022 – Toray Industries, Inc., today announced disciplinary measures and progress made on measures it has taken concerning inappropriate actions relating to UL LLC (hereinafter, “UL”) certification, which Toray disclosed on January 31, 2022.
Under the leadership of its senior management team, Toray will continue to ensure steady progress is made on its thorough measures to prevent recurrence of any inappropriate action. The measures were formulated by the Board of Directors based on recommendations from the expert committee’s report released on April 12, 2022, and based on the results of discussions with UL. Toray will continue to do its utmost to regain the full trust of customers and the broader society.
An overview of this matter is given below.
Ⅰ．Disciplinary Measures Related to the UL Certification Problem
| 1. |
Board members’ responsibility |
| ・As of May 13, 2022 |
Akihiro Nikkaku, President and Representative Member of the Board:
Monthly salary reduced by 50% (for a six-month period) |
Koichi Abe and Mitsuo Ohya, Representative Members of the Board:
Monthly salary reduced by 30% (for a six-month period) |
Five other Board members:
Monthly salaries reduced by 10 to 20% (for periods between three to six months) |
| 2. |
Responsibility for management, supervision and execution relating to the inappropriate actions |
| ・As of October 3, 2022 |
| Disciplined individuals: Those at the level of general manager or higher who were found to have been involved in inappropriate actions related to UL certification in the resins business, and who are still at the level of general manager or higher within the Toray Group. |
| Details: 29 individuals were demoted (or equivalent), 8 received pay cuts, and 2 were reprimanded |
Ⅱ．Measures Involving UL and ISO Certification
| 1. |
UL certification re-registration status
Of the 62 grade designations withdrawn, 29 have been re-certified for sale as UL-certified products as of October 12. |
| 2. |
Status of response to partial withdrawal/suspension of the scope of ISO 9001 certification
Of the scope of ISO 9001:20151 certifications that was withdrawn or suspended on July 12, the certification of the activities of the Nagoya Plant, which was suspended on the same day, was reinstated on October 28.
Moreover, Toray has already completed the corrective actions for its resin product quality management system, for which certification was withdrawn, and the system resumed operation in June 2022. Once its effectiveness has been confirmed, the company will submit a corrective action report to the Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA), a certification body registered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), by the end of the year. By undergoing a corrective action audit, Toray intends to re-acquire ISO 9001 certification by the end of fiscal 2022.
1 International standard for quality management systems |
Ⅲ．Implementation of Recurrence Prevention Measures
| 1. |
Enhancing compliance awareness |
| （1） |
Improving compliance education
In May, Toray completed the preparation of new compliance teaching materials, and started educating employees through departmental training. The company will continue to deliver education using these teaching materials. |
| （2） |
Incorporating quality assurance contribution into performance reviews
In June, Toray revised the human resource performance review system to include a focus on how individuals are helping to promote compliance. Employees now specify their commitment to compliance in their job targets. In September, evaluations were conducted for the first half of fiscal 2022 based on the new standards, and they will continue to be utilized going forward. |
| （3） |
Sharing recurrence prevention activities
In May, Toray added a dedicated page to its website to share its progress on recurrence prevention. The page is currently being updated about once a month. |
| （4） |
Heightened and continued commitment by the senior management team
Each member of the senior management team has been visiting the frontlines and continues to talk with employees about the importance of safety, quality and compliance. Moreover, the activity status of each management team member is reported to the Board of Directors on a regular basis, as well as at the monthly Executive Committee meeting. Compliance-related reports will continue to be made at other group-wide meetings. |
| 2. |
Establishing work procedures and an education system for UL-related operations
In April and May, Toray held seminars related to UL certification, created and implemented a UL-compliant procedure manual in June, and implemented a qualification system in July. In October, Toray received a third-party audit on UL compliance. Going forward, the company will implement initiatives based on the results of this third-party audit by March 2023. |
| 3. |
Transferring personnel between business divisions and other interaction
In June, the director responsible was replaced and personnel changes among frontline department managers have been implemented. Moreover, in June, Toray began incorporating case studies of inappropriate actions to UL certification in the resins business into training for executives and employees in different business fields as well. |
| 4. |
Establishing a system to confirm UL compliance by the internal quality assurance organizations and/or external organizations
Toray revised the guidelines regarding the role of the Quality Assurance Division in certification activities in May, completed internal training in June, and implemented the changes in September. Going forward, the company plans to conduct an external audit in December. |
| 5. |
Strengthening the organizational structure of quality assurance organizations
In June, Toray completed the auditing standards for departments in charge of quality assurance. In September, the company devised an audit plan and initiated the audit. Going forward, the company plans to receive a third-party audit in December. |
| 6. |
Establishing system to ensure misconduct is reported to Toray administrative organizations and other parties
In May, Toray stipulated the obligation to report misconduct in its internal regulations for quality assurance, and in June the company revised its internal whistleblowing hotline system. The survey themes and results reporting rules for internal quality assurance questionnaires were also improved, and the procedures were finalized in October. Toray plans to conduct an internal survey on quality assurance based on this new procedure in November. |
