Mitsubishi Materials Ships Product without Enough Checks

June 10, 2018

Tokyo- Mitsubishi Materials Corp. said Friday that it shipped copper slag aggregate, a concrete material, as a product meeting the Japanese Industrial Standards without conducting enough quality checks.

The major nonferrous metal maker disclosed its direct involvement in product quality misconduct for the first time. Previously, the scandal was limited to group companies.

The product in question was made at the Naoshima Smelter and Refinery in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan.

The industry ministry said Friday that the Japan Quality Assurance Organization, a JIS certification body, has canceled JIS certification for the copper slag aggregate.

Mitsubishi Materials will consider punishing those involved in the misconduct.

The company shipped the product with the JIS certificate between January 2015 and May 2018 to a total of five clients, although it did not conduct checks as many times as required.

Mitsubishi Materials will investigate whether any such problematic shipments were made before the period. The safety of the product is being confirmed.

The company stopped using the JIS certificate for the product in late April.

The group's quality data manipulation scandal emerged in autumn last year, involving five group companies.

Last month, the parent company announced the discovery of additional cases of quality data manipulation at subsidiaries.

At that time, Mitsubishi Materials was aware of problems with data related to the copper slag aggregate. But the matter was not announced immediately.

The company stopped short of immediate disclosure after concluding that the inappropriate shipments stemmed from mistakes during checks, officials said, denying the practice was an intentional act.

Mitsubishi Materials decided to announce the misconduct only after the JIS certification body pointed out the problem. Jiji Press