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japan railway company’s data tampering incident continues to unfold

xinhua news agency, tokyo, september 28(reporter qian zheng) after east japan railway company (jr east) was investigated by the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism of japan on the 24th for tampering with pressure data during the assembly of train axles, a subsidiary of the company also admitted to the same misconduct on the 27th. behavior.

general rolling stock manufacturing co., ltd. is a rolling stock and container manufacturer 100% owned by jr east. comprehensive rolling stock manufacturing co., ltd. issued a statement on the 27th admitting that there was a problem of tampering with pressure data inspection results during the assembly process of train axles.

the statement said that the general vehicle manufacturing co., ltd. inspected the data from 2013 onwards and found that there was a problem of tampering with the axle pressure data to make the values ​​fall within the range specified by the japanese industrial standards (jis). the company has kept records of wheel and axle assembly since 2013. this inspection involved more than 8,100 wheels and axles, of which the pressure on more than 2,100 wheels exceeded or fell below the standard value. the axles with tampered data were delivered to 29 railway companies.

the statement did not mention the specific 29 companies. japanese media revealed that the delivery targets of axles involving data tampering include tokyu electric railway, izukyu company, enoshima electric railway company, etc., among which the volume of goods supplied to tokyu electric railway accounted for more than 70% of the total.

it is reported that the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism of japan will begin on-site investigations on the general rolling stock manufacturing co., ltd. and tokyu electric railway on the 30th.

east japan railway company admitted on the 20th that it had tampered with pressure data during maintenance operations on regular line trains from 2008 to 2017 to make the values ​​comply with the company's internal regulations. during this period, a total of nearly 4,900 wheel axles were subjected to pressure exceeding the specified range during the installation process, of which nearly 1,200 had their pressure data deliberately tampered with.

solution | frequent scandals, what is dragging down "made in japan"?

this is the toyota motor corporation logo taken in tokyo, japan on june 29, 2020. photo by xinhua news agency reporter du xiaoyi

xinhua news agency, tokyo, june 5 japan's ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism conducted raids on toyota motor's headquarters and yamaha engine company's headquarters on the 4th and 5th. the latest round of data fraud by japanese car companies is continuing to ferment. similarly, kobayashi pharmaceutical's health products have caused harm to consumers' health, kobe steel has shoddy products, and mitsubishi electric has been falsifying data all year round... in recent years, one scandal after another has made japan's manufacturing industry, which is proud of its "craftsmanship," the industry was hit hard.

why has “made in japan” been exposed to frequent scandals in recent years? how much impact will it have on the japanese economy? after breaking through the golden brand, will japanese products still have a competitive advantage? xinhua news agency reporters will help you solve the situation——

quality gives way to cost

from kobe steel to mitsubishi electric, from nissan to toyota, established japanese companies have been exposed to frequent scandals in recent years. many japanese experts reflect that one of the main reasons is that companies give way to cost management to ensure product quality. in addition, there are also problems such as defects in production management, corporate ethics and japanese related management systems.

the ongoing car company scandal began in december last year. at that time, toyota subsidiary daihatsu was exposed to have falsified mass production certification tests for more than 30 years, involving all its models produced in japan. since then, the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism ordered other car and motorcycle manufacturers and related companies that have obtained mass production model certification to conduct self-examination.

the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism issued a statement on its official website on the 3rd of this month, saying that an investigation of 85 car companies showed that 38 models of toyota, mazda, yamaha engine, honda, and suzuki had certification fraud issues. toyota motor corporation chairman akio toyoda admitted on the 3rd that the product delivery time was short and the products were forced to be reworked multiple times, which put excessive pressure on employees in the final certification testing phase. in addition, the long and complicated production cycle and procedures, and the fact that no one can master the entire process may be the reasons for fraud.

on june 3, toyota motor corporation chairman akio toyoda bowed and apologized at a press conference in tokyo. xinhua news agency/afp

looking back, in march this year, the well-established pharmaceutical company kobayashi pharmaceutical company's health products containing red yeast rice ingredients were exposed to damage the health of consumers, causing many deaths, causing shock in japanese society; in june 2021, mitsubishi electric was exposed to have falsified data for 30 years for many years; in july 2018, nissan motor company admitted that it had falsified exhaust emission and fuel consumption measurement data at five factories in japan; in october 2017, the steel manufacturer kobe steel admitted that it had tampered with some copper and aluminum products check the data and pass it off as good...

since the 1990s, a large number of domestic companies in japan have faced the problems of rising production costs and declining profit margins. in order to maintain market share, major companies have reduced costs and improved efficiency, with cost reduction as their primary goal. at the same time, many manufacturing giants with a long history have begun to face the problem of aging equipment. coupled with factors such as difficulty in recruiting workers due to population decline, the operating pressure of enterprises has doubled.

commercial litigation lawyer yusaku kurahashi pointed out that manufacturing counterfeiting has one thing in common: in the face of difficult-to-achieve goals, they do not hesitate to violate laws and regulations and cross the bottom line. entrepreneurs and managers must realize that what cannot be done means that it cannot be done and the rules that cannot be followed should be changed instead of placing all the problems and responsibilities on front-line personnel.

regarding the kobayashi pharmaceutical scandal, japanese public opinion believes that behind the red yeast rice incident is not only kobayashi pharmaceutical's production management and corporate ethics issues, but also defects in japan's food safety management system.

economic recovery greatly affected

japan's manufacturing industry has been plagued by scandals in recent years, dragging down economic growth. take the ongoing car company scandal as an example. because the japanese automobile industry has a long industrial chain and many related companies, the suspension of production and shipments for too long may cause heavy damage to the japanese economy, which is slowly recovering.

in january this year, toyota autoloom, an important parts manufacturer of the toyota group, was exposed to a data fraud scandal. some factories of toyota and hino were forced to suspend operations due to supply chain disruptions. the exposure of the daihatsu and toyota automatic looming machinery fraud cases led to a decline in shipments of the japanese automobile industry in the first quarter, dragging down the decline in industrial and mining production in the quarter, and becoming one of the important backgrounds for the negative growth of the japanese economy in the first quarter. preliminary statistical results released by the japanese cabinet office on may 16 showed that japan's real gross domestic product (gdp) fell by 0.5% in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, and the annual rate of decline was 2.0%. the decline was larger than expected by the media and institutions.

according to statistics from the japan automobile manufacturers association, among all manufacturing industries, the automobile industry accounts for about 20% of industry shipments, and r&d expenditures including parts and components account for nearly 30%, both of which account for the highest proportion in the manufacturing industry. including related industries, the total number of people working in the automobile industry exceeds 5.5 million. according to statistics from teikoku database, a large japanese credit survey company, as of may, the total number of companies involved in the supply chain of the eight major automakers was 59,000, with a total transaction volume of approximately 41.9 trillion yen (approximately 1.94 trillion yuan). toyota's supply chain alone includes 39,000 companies, with a total transaction volume of 20.7 trillion yen (approximately 960 billion yuan).

on january 7, 2019, a man passed by the nissan logo at the nissan motor company headquarters in yokohama, japan. photo by xinhua news agency reporter du xiaoyi

takaki nakanishi, chief analyst at nakanishi automobile industry research company, believes that toyota and mazda's production cuts are likely to reach 20,000 to 30,000 units within two months. saisuke sakai, senior economist at mizuho research & technology, said, "affected by this, the pace of (economic) normalization may slow down from may to june."

after the kobayashi pharmaceutical red yeast rice incident, "west nippon shimbun" mentioned in an editorial that the scale of japan's functional label food market will shrink by about 10% compared with the same period last year.

is manufacturing in decline?

regarding the current situation of japan's manufacturing industry, there have also been many "badmouthing" voices. some experts believe that japan's manufacturing industry still has unique advantages in basic research. at the same time, they should also be alert to the fact that the crisis may become a turning point in the decline of japan's manufacturing industry.

tang jin, chief researcher of the business solutions department of mizuho bank, believes that japan has a very strong accumulation of basic research in materials chemistry and the upstream of the industrial chain, allowing the midstream and downstream to produce high-quality, cost-effective products with ease. in addition, when it comes to end products, japanese companies are highly flexible and can produce and improve them according to customer needs. these are the advantages of japanese manufacturing.

on june 29, 2023, people walked on the streets of shibuya, tokyo, japan. photo by xinhua news agency reporter zhang xiaoyu

tang jin said that from the exposure of certification violations, it cannot be concluded that the japanese automobile industry as a whole is in decline. take toyota as an example. today's production technology is very mature. fuel vehicle technology does not need to undergo large-scale improvements like the previous ramp-up period. it only needs to ensure the supply of the industrial chain and produce according to process requirements. however, in recent years, with the development of electrification and intelligent technology, the advantages of "sturdiness, fuel economy, and durability" that japanese car companies built in the era of fuel vehicles are disappearing. the arrogance under the halo and the anxiety caused by the rise of new energy vehicles are one of the incentives for this collective fraud, which may pave the way for the decline of japan's automobile manufacturing industry.

tang jin believes that there are indeed many problems in the japanese automobile industry. after the scandal was exposed, many companies suspended production of various models, affecting the entire industry chain. he said that although this certification fraud incident will not fundamentally affect japanese car brands, if the japanese manufacturing industry does not make thorough improvements after experiencing this large-scale cheating, japan's "craftsmanship spirit" will no longer shine in the future. after the home appliances, semiconductors and electronics industries have been overtaken one after another, if the automobile industry also begins to decline, japan's entire manufacturing industry will lose confidence. (reporters: liu chunyan, zhong ya; editors: lu yu, wang fengfeng, guo qian)