Quality
Product Responsibility
Quality Management and Quality Assurance Initiatives
Kaneka Group ensures product safety at every stage from product design and development to raw material procurement, manufacturing, storage, transportation, sales, and disposal. To this end, we have established the Quality Management Regulations to build and effectively operate Kaneka Group’s quality management system. Each division builds a Quality Management System based on these Regulations, adding requirements suited to its business characteristics, to ensure a stable supply of products that meet customer quality requirements. The Global CSV (Quality Environment) Center also hosts the Quality Management Conference and the Product Safety Review Conference under these regulations.
The Quality Management Conference brings together quality management leaders from all business divisions to ensure company-wide policies and directives are thoroughly communicated, to share quality-related cases and information (product accidents, serious complaints, voluntary recalls, etc.), and to exchange views and discuss quality management issues.
The Product Safety Review Conference comprises internal members with specialized expertise and reviews quality assurance systems, product quality assurance, and product safety risks to ensure the provision of safe products and services. We work to ensure customer health and safety, including consulting external experts as needed.
Certifications Obtained
Kaneka Group has obtained ISO certifications for each business, including ISO 9001, the international standard for quality management systems, ISO 13485 for medical devices, and FSSC 22000 for food products. We undergo regular audits and reviews by external organizations based on these standards. We also conduct internal audits to verify compliance with internal rules such as Quality Management Regulations. We are working to further enhance our quality management system and improve the level of our efforts in quality assurance and product safety.
Product Responsibility (as of March 31, 2025)(188KB)
Quality Audit
Internal audits consist of ESG safety and quality inspections hosted by the ESG Inspection Committee under the Quality Management Regulations, and internal audits conducted by each division. These audits are conducted based on annual plans covering quality assurance for products and work-in-process, as well as chemical substance management. In FY2024, we conducted ESG safety and quality audits at 22 divisions across Kaneka and its Group companies in Japan and overseas to verify production process management and the operation of design and development systems.
Education
We hold in-house training sessions and seminars to raise awareness and improve skills in product safety among all employees.
In FY2024, we held advanced training sessions for internal quality auditors to strengthen their auditing skills. We also held consumer-oriented management seminars for food group companies, and purpose-driven management seminars and product incident response seminars for quality management leaders across all Kaneka business divisions.
These training programs and seminars feature external experts as instructors to ensure content reflects the latest trends.
Chemical Substance Management
As international treaties and domestic and foreign laws regulating chemical substances become stricter, Kaneka Group monitors these developments and works to gather information from authorities, industry associations, and external experts. In each division, we clearly identify applicable laws and their requirements according to business characteristics and manage chemical substances appropriately.
For example, divisions handling general industrial chemicals properly comply with requirements such as chemical substance registration, manufacturing and import volume management, and performance reporting in compliance with laws such as Japan’s Chemical Substances Control Law(*1) and EU REACH Regulation(*2).
For raw material procurement, we have established Green Procurement Standards to prevent the inclusion of prohibited substances under the Chemical Substances Control Law and other regulations.
We also actively disclose information on the hazards and risks of chemical substances by providing GHS(*3)-compliant labeling and Safety Data Sheets (SDS), so that customers can use our products safely and with confidence.
*1 Chemical Substances Control Law:
Act on the evaluation of chemical substances and regulation of their manufacture, etc.
*2 EU REACH Regulation:
Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals.
*3 GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals):
A globally unified system for classifying and labeling chemicals according to their hazardous properties.
Education
We provide training to employees involved in researching, developing, or commercializing products that use regulated substances under national laws or that involve new chemical substances.
In FY2024, we held in-house seminars on key domestic and international regulations (the Chemical Substances Control Law, the Industrial Safety and Health Act, EU REACH Regulation, and regulations in the United States, China, Taiwan, and South Korea), the notification system for low-volume new chemical substances under the Chemical Substances Control Law, and how to prepare yellow cards. A total of 94 employees attended. For e-learning, we launched two new courses on the Chemical Weapons Convention Act and the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Combined with four existing courses on major Japanese laws (Chemical Substances Control Law and Industrial Safety and Health Act) and major overseas laws (EU REACH Regulation and others), a total of 469 employees completed the courses.
