Asahi Glass | Quality and Customer Satisfaction (CS)

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Quality and Customer Satisfaction (CS)

AGC Group is committed to improving quality in every aspect of its business operations by implementing process reform to improve the quality of its products and services in order to increase customer satisfaction and by changing employee's ways of thinking based on the idea of incorporating the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes.

CS Guideline for AGC Group (Revised on October 9, 2009)

In order to materialize our objective of “building the foundation of growth” in Grow Beyond management policy, we, all employees at AGC Group, will act in accordance with this guideline of actions and behaviors (= AGC Group's DNA) to win the trust of our customers and other stakeholders including the society as a whole:

We will provide products and services that conform to the requirements of laws, regulations, and customers.
We will ensure and improve the quality of our products and services including their safety and environmental consideration.
We will incorporate the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes and pursue our AGC Group Vision “Look Beyond” ? innovation and operational excellence. We will work diligently and attentively in order to grow consistently as a top global enterprise with highest trust accredited by our stakeholders.
We all will participate in the continual improvement of effectiveness and efficiency of our quality management, and each of us will individually strive to increase the value of our work.
In order to ensure that the above points are materialized, we will do our utmost to enhance customer satisfaction by establishing and deploying a policy in accordance with this Guideline, setting in consistence with the policy realistic targets of which the achievement level is measurable, and cooperating with our business partners.

Quality Management

AGC Group is committed to developing high-quality products and services for customers in order to increase their satisfaction and win their trust while giving due consideration to safety and the environment. To this end, we have established and have been implementing quality management systems at each of our In-house Companies/SBUs in reference to ISO 9001 and other standards. In fiscal 2009, in addition to internal quality audits by each of the In-house Companies/SBUs, the Group Corporate CSR Office began making group-wide quality audits to check the effectiveness of the quality management systems. We will continue to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the systems to ensure strict quality management.
As of the end of December 2009, we have acquired the ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949 certifications for our quality management systems as shown below.

Acquisition of ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949*1 Certification

Location	Number of certified organizations
Japan	32
Asia	23
Europe	53
North America	14
Total	122

* Percentage of AGC Group employees at the certified organizations: 84% (as of the end of December 2009)
*1 Standards for quality management systems to be applied in the automobile industry, which require compliance with the global procurement criteria for automobile parts

Voice
Conducting Product Quality Audits from the Viewpoints of Manufacturing Sites in the Automotive Glass Business.

Kazuya Kono
Quality Assurance Office, Japan/Asia Business
Division
AGC Glass Company

I believe it important to conduct product quality audits from the viewpoints of those who are to be audited. If we make product quality audits of our manufacturing sites to simply point out problems from the viewpoint of the head office, we cannot persuade the workers, who are busy carrying out their daily tasks, to make strenuous efforts to solve any identified problems . Our auditing team therefore makes it its rule to conduct the audits keeping the following points always in mind as "DNA" of the team:

(1)Use the audits to provide the manufacturing sites with useful opportunities to become aware of a problem, instead of simply pointing out problems to them

(2)Encourage them to make improvements voluntarily instead of forcing them to do so

(3)Make improvements for open and frank communications with the manufacturing sites

By auditing our manufacturing sites from the workers' viewpoints, we have been able to encourage them to proactively make improvements, which in turn helps reduce the number of complaints about the products.
We will continue to foster communication with the manufacturing sites and improve our product quality audits keeping the aforementioned tips in mind.

Quality Compliance

Ensuring Compliance with Product-Related Laws and Regulations

AGC Group (Japan) clarifies the legal and regulatory requirements to be met by its products by creating a list of these requirements for each of the In-house Companies/SBUs, thereby ensuring compliance with the related laws and regulations. The list is reviewed once a year and used to check if the legal requirements are being appropriately met.

Compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act

Under the Consumer Product Safety Act in Japan, manufacturers who have become aware of a serious product-related accident must notify the Consumer Affairs Agency of the fact within 10 days. Asahi Glass has established rules for compliance with this law and is implementing a system to report any product-related accidents and prevent the spread of any resultant damage based on the rules. Moreover, we annually hold a briefing session for employees in charge so that they can make prompt responses in the event of a serious product-related accident.
In fiscal 2009, we had no serious product-related accident.

Reporting Flow for Serious Product-Related Accidents Under the Consumer Product Safety Act

Education on Product Quality

AGC Group provides education on product quality at each of its In-house Companies/SBUs in consideration of their business features. In addition, we provide education on quality compliance using the actual examples of product-related problems. In fiscal 2009, quality compliance education was provided at five sites of Group companies in Japan.

Encouraging Employees to Acquire the Quality Control (QC) Certificate

AGC Group (Japan) is encouraging employees to acquire a certificate on quality control (QC) issued by the Japanese Society for Quality Control, with a view to increasing their awareness of quality control and improving product quality. The society issues certificates on knowledge of quality control. In fiscal 2009, a total of 192 employees passed the certification examination.

Number of employees who passed the QC certification examination

Measures to Increase Customer Satisfaction (CS)

AGC Group is encouraging all employees to participate through their day-to-day work in the enhancement of customer satisfaction under the slogan of "incorporating the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes."
CS is an abbreviation for customer satisfaction, but we do not limit "customers" to our customers in the market. We include "people and organizations who receive work-in-process within the Group" in our definition of customers. In our CS activities, employees identify the problems to be solved from the viewpoints of their customers and add value in the course of various processes, with the ultimate aim of providing products and services of higher value and reliability to our customers in the market.
In fiscal 2009, some Group companies, in addition to Asahi Glass, began implementing measures to evaluate their own business operations focusing on management quality, which will help the Group incorporate CS in its "DNA" and achieve growth within the rapidly changing business environment.

Topic
Promptly and Effectively Responding to Various Inquiries from Customers

Members of AGC Chemicals Company's Customer Service Team

AGC Chemicals Company receives various inquiries from a range of customers. In order to make prompt and effective responses to these inquiries, the In-house Company established its Customer Service Team in 2007 to deal with all the inquiries made to the company. At present, this team responds to more than 3,000 inquiries a year, which include inquiries about quality, the environment, chemical substances used in the company's products, and CSR as well as about its products. Moreover, the company has built up a database of past inquiries, which is accessible through the intranet for employees not only to make more prompt and effective responses to customers but also to identify the potential needs of customers for the development of new products.
AGC Chemicals Company will continue to make improvements to increase customer satisfaction and implement its mission, "Chemistry for a Blue Planet."

Eight steps for incorporating the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes

Learn about your customers.
Clarify the value that you believe you are providing to your customers.
Take the viewpoint of your customers, and consider the value that they require. It is important to also directly ask your customers.
Based on 2 and 3, in a candid manner, ascertain the areas in which the value that you provide differs from the value sought by your customers.
Based on 4, offer your customers the best value that you think you can provide.
Ask your customers to evaluate the results.
Based on that evaluation (the concept of CS), change your daily work.
Develop these into policies and targets. It is important that you change your daily work on an ongoing basis and with everyone's participation.

* Handbook on the idea of “incorporating the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes” published in seven languages (Japanese, English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Indonesian).

Support Process for “Incorporating the Concept of CS into Each Employee's Daily Work Processes”

Voice
Increasing Process Efficiency and Product Quality through Improvement in Customer Satisfaction of Quality Assurance Business

Quality Assurance Department
AGC Display Glass Taiwan

At the Quality Assurance Department of AGC Display Glass Taiwan, which manufactures glass substrates for LCDs, each employee has been committed to incorporating the concept of CS into their daily work processes.
Specifically, employees of the department directly interviewed internal customers to ask for their evaluation and to give feedback on the services and the value they received. Based on the interview results, the employees have been conducting improvement activities, including changing the communication procedures to be followed in the event of quality problems. These activities have contributed to improving the work efficiency and product quality of the entire company. They will continue to conduct the activities, believing that these activities will eventually help them increase the satisfaction of their external customers.

Business Operation from the Viewpoint of Customers (South Korea)

Members of Hanwook Techno Glass incorporating the concept of CS in their daily work

Hanwook Techno Glass (HTG), which manufactures glass substrates for flat panel displays, has been participating in the CS seminars and dialogues held by Asahi Glass and conducting activities to “incorporate the concept of CS into each employee's daily work processes” to further expand its business. As a result, HTG has improved the quality of its business operations and its technological capabilities and forged new cooperative relationships with customers. Moreover, it has received commendations from a customer in recognition of improvements in services offered in terms of quality, cost, delivery, and safety. HTG will continue to pursue CS for its further growth.

CS Education

Presentation by participants

AGC Group provides employees with CS education to encourage them to incorporate the concept of CS into their daily work processes and offer more value to their customers. This education is given in consideration of the features of each organization and department of the Group. Specifically, we have developed the CS Seminar and CS Dialogue, whose details differ depending on who it is targeted at. At the CS Seminar, employees learn about "CS" and "communication or the quality management system". Over the period from the launch of the CS Seminar in 2005 to the end of fiscal 2009, a total of 262 seminars were held, in which a total of 5,194 employees participated.

CS Education and Training Given in Fiscal 2009

Name	Target	Theme	Number of participants
CS Dialogue	Mainly managers	Business administration incorporating the concept of CS	258 participants in 20 meetings (40 participants in three meetings overseas)
CS Seminar	Managers and general employees	Basics and tips for CS	1,586 participants in 95 meetings (224 participants in 13 meetings overseas)

CS Commendation

Presentation of commended cases held concurrently with the commendation ceremony

AGC Group awards "CS commendation" under its commendation system. CS commendation is awarded to individuals and organizations that have achieved great results by incorporating the concept of CS into their daily work processes and changing their traditional ways of operation. Their excellent activities are introduced across the Group to encourage the entire Group to make concerted efforts for CS. In fiscal 2009, 24 individuals and teams and six organizations were awarded CS commendation.

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