Mazda's mission statement with regard to quality is "We will do our work faithfully and unceasingly, so that we may offer products and services that will please our customers." Its slogan is "Self-initiated change and significant quality improvement." These two maxims direct the Company in its groupwide quality measures, which include "Mazda Quality" activities and "A Revolution in Product Development Quality."
We have redefined Mazda Quality, which was originally the "Quality Control Circle Initiative," to mean "efforts to elevate quality in everything that we offer our customers." We are continuing our activities to elevate quality, which remains the focus in our management, our work, our operating environments and the manner in which each and every employee acts.
Mazda Quality Activities
In 1962, Mazda launched a Quality Control Circle Initiative, aimed at offering products that would satisfy its customers. In 1978, we expanded this initiative to encompass quality in products, service and work performance. We chose the name "Mazda Quality Activities" to represent this groupwide campaign.
In recent years, we have redefined Mazda Quality to mean "efforts to elevate quality in everything that we offer our customers." With this in mind, we have adopted quality engineering and Six Sigma*1, which are globally recognized quality management philosophies and techniques. At Mazda, we consider the elevation of the quality of our management, our operating environments and the manner in which each and every one of us thinks and acts—in addition to the way we conduct our business—to be crucial if we are to elevate real quality in everything that we offer our customers. We carry out presentations of case studies and poster displays throughout the Company to cultivate attitudes and values that contribute greatly to these quality improvements.
*1 A set of techniques for improving processes and reducing deviations in quality, which are referred to as Sigma in statistics.
Quality control activities at overseas business bases and with business partners
Mazda is engaged in quality-boosting measures by promoting small-group activities at affiliated plants in the United States and Thailand.
Furthermore, we have set up the Mazda Group QC Circle Association in the Hiroshima area and the Mazda Group QC Circle Liaison Committee in the Hofu area to stimulate and raise the level of small-group activities with our business partners.
Improvement activities based on our quality
In 1994, Mazda received ISO 9002 certification for all its business functions, except design and R&D. In 1996, Mazda became the first Japanese automobile manufacturer that received companywide ISO 9001 certification, which applies more broadly than ISO 9002 and extends from design engineering and R&D, to purchasing, production, sales and after-sales service in automotive manufacturing.
We carry out internal quality audits to maintain and improve the quality management system that we have built on the ISO 9001 foundation. By implementing a plan-do-check-act cycle, we ensure successive improvements on our achievements to date.
During FY2007, Mazda conducted 184 annual internal quality audits.
Supporting quality management at overseas business bases
In its drive for uniform global quality standards, Mazda supports the swift and decisive start-up of quality management activities in all overseas business bases when they are established.
In the interim between establishment and production start-up at overseas bases, Mazda participates in building local quality management systems, helps them to gain accreditation, and assists with training, development and audits. This support extends beyond quality systems, to include technological aspects of production, and quality assessment and control.
After local production is up and running, Mazda also makes proposals for process improvements and offers other help as needs arise.
Contributing to quality improvements through design reviews
In its bid to build high-quality cars, Mazda thoroughly evaluates design plans at the development stage from the perspectives of quality, productivity, cost and other aspects. This highlights any problems and allows us to carry out design reviews to propose countermeasures, drawing on the expertise of in-house departments that cover design, research, production technologies, manufacturing, testing and other areas.
Reviews are carried out in various units, from parts to systems, in a process that has a direct impact on the steady improvement of quality.
Evaluations of measures at Mazda plants
The Mazda Group instigated Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) activities*2 from the late 1980s to maximize the efficiency of its production systems. This is achieved by proactively avoiding losses arising from defects, breakdowns, accidents and other causes.
The Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance evaluates manufacturing sites in Japan and overseas and operates the TPM Excellent Award scheme to reward sites with excellent TPM activities. Mazda's Hofu Plant Nakanoseki District received the TPM World Class Award in 2007. This is particularly pertinent because the Hofu Plant was Mazda's first facility to introduce TPM in 1991, promoting the building of high-efficiency lines and developing and deploying loss-reduction technologies in all processes, from materials procurement through to assembly.
*2 Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) describes activities to realize zero loss throughout the entire lifecycle of production systems through measures to prevent losses arising from defects, breakdowns, accidents and other causes.
Product evaluations
At the January 2008 North American International Auto Show, Mazda's CX-9 gained the North American Truck of The Year prize. This award, which has been running since 1994, is one of the most prestigious accolades for automobiles in North America. The CX-9 was selected for this honor due to its outstanding performance in a variety of categories, including design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and cost performance.
On March 20, 2008, the Mazda2 (Demio) was named the 2008 World Car of the Year. This award is established by automobile industry journalists from countries around the world. Each year, models that have been marketed from the start of January on at least two continents are rigorously assessed in 20 areas, such as styling, performance and safety. A single winner is finally selected by ballot.
Procedures for Recalls and Other Countermeasures
Automakers are expected to build high quality products. Accordingly, we do everything in our power to bring this about. Despite our best efforts, however, unforeseen defects do arise.
At Mazda, we continually collect information related to quality (i.e. numbers of defects), primarily from our dealers, and then step up quality improvement efforts to reduce occurrence and keep drivers and passengers in our vehicles safe.
When a product is recalled—owing to a real or possible failure—to comply with safety regulations, we deal with our customers and relevant governmental regulatory agencies as outlined below. To monitor the appropriateness of our recall procedures we undergo external auditing by the relevant bodies in each country in addition to verification by in-house departments.
Outline of Recall Procedures
- Issue notifications to the relevant authorities, according to the regulations and procedures of each country
- Notify customers via mass mailings and newspaper advertisements, as well as providing explanations at dealerships
- Post recall information on our website
Recalls and Other Measures in Fiscal 2007
As a result of countermeasures to avoid recurrence of defects and ongoing preventative initiatives, we reduced the number of recalls in Japan from 10 in fiscal 2006 to 7 in fiscal 2007.
Details of our recalls and corrective steps can be found on our website.
