Quality policy

The Noritake Group has established a Quality Policy for providing quality products and services that satisfy our customers.

Quality improvement promotion system

To continuously maintain and improve a system that promptly and reliably provides customers with “quality products and quality services,” the Quality Committee formulates unified guidelines for the Noritake Group, strengthens and promotes initiatives to maintain and enhance the quality assurance system.
We conduct internal audits to confirm the effectiveness of the quality management system and quality assurance operations, and plan and implement in-house education related to quality. Main activities in fiscal year 2024 included conducting internal quality audits and supporting business departments from the perspectives of preventing quality fraud and reducing risks.

Activities to enhance manufacturing

Noritake is a manufacturer that was born from the passionate desires of the founders to “make porcelain with exquisite craftmanship and impeccable whiteness.” Based on this spirit, we are working to improve the quality of our products and services, centering on the Noritake Manufacturing Committee established in 2011.
With the launch of the “Manufacturing 3-1 (M3-1) Activities” in the manufacturing division in 2011, we began foundational improvement activities. Since 2016, as basic enhancement activities, we have expanded our efforts to develop management standards, criteria, and systems to control the five major missions of the production site: Safety, Quality, Production, Cost, and Human Resources. We have expanded our manufacturing activities for sales, engineering, development, management, planning, and administration as “S3-1 activities,” and are currently promoting activities based on the two pillars of “M3-1 activities” and “S3-1 activities.”

M3-1 Activities (Manufacturing and technology departments)

Throughout our M3-1 activities, we stress the concept of “Customer First, Safety First and Quality First” in our manufacturing and engineering departments, and promote basic enhancement activities based on the recognition that achieving these three “Firsts” is important for continuing to contribute to society through our business.

Basic enhancement activities

In our basic enhancement activities, we are focusing on the control of Quality, Cost, and Delivery. Among the five major missions of the production site, we have identified Safety, Quality, Production, and Cost as priority areas for action. We have been implementing initiatives to improve the quality of daily management. Furthermore, in order to establish policy management and daily management as a continuous system, we have incorporated foundation strengthening activities into the management system. We will continue to operate and improve these activities on an ongoing basis.
In the 12th Three-Year Business Plan up to fiscal 2024, the three-Year period is positioned for completing the foundational base for activities. At 11 factories of the Noritake Group, each business department independently formulates and deploys annual policies based on the mid-term plan (strategy and tactics planning) to strengthen factory management capabilities and promote autonomous factory operations. Additionally, to strengthen on-site capabilities, we have promoted the standardization of daily management. At regular activities report meetings, business department managers confirm the status of activities on-site and conduct reviews. As a forum for mutual learning between factories, participants engage in discussions and share good practices horizontally, achieving the goal of completing the foundational base for activities.
In the 13th Three-Year Business Plan which started in fiscal 2025, the three-Year period will be a time for us to focus on operations and improvement. During the period, we will work to solve problems and issues through continued operation of the management system. To further level up toward the 14th Three-Year Business Plan from fiscal year 2028, we are working on Just-in-Time^*1 and Jidoka^*2 as initiatives for manufacturing transformation. As a precursor to company-wide horizontal deployment, we have started Toyota Production System (TPS) training sessions and manufacturing improvement workshops at model factories.

※1 Just-in-Time: A production method that produces only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed.

※2 Jidoka: A system that improves productivity by “detecting abnormalities, stopping for abnormalities, and stopping because of abnormalities” to prevent defective products.

Plant roles by qualification

As part of our efforts to improve quality, we are promoting “Obeya” activities and production preparation activities, and have continued the Quality Activity Study Group FY2021.

Production preparation activities/Quality Activity Study Group

Production preparation activities are efforts in which stakeholders confirm at each step of the process from product planning to mass production whether the outputs meet the requirements, in order to prevent defects during mass production. We establish a standard process for production preparation by determining what should be done and what items should be checked at each step, including product planning, design, production preparation, and mass production trials.
To make production preparation activities function more effectively, the Quality Activity Study Group was established. The group selects themes related to defects assumed to occur during mass production due to the production preparation process, and promotes initiatives for fundamental problem-solving through on-site discussions among stakeholders.

S3-1 Activities (Staff departments / Sales, technology, development, management, planning, and administration departments)

The Noritake Group’s manufacturing enhancement activities are not limited to the plants at which we manufacture our products. In the pursuit of customer satisfaction, both the departments that directly face the customers such as Sales and Engineering and the administration and development departments that support these departments are involved in the making of products in one way or another. In “S3-1” activities, the three “firsts”, or Customer First, Quality First and Trust First, which our staff must always observe conscientiously as they carry out their work duties, are promoted.
S3-1 activities are performed based on the awareness of these “Firsts”, and are designed to elevate the quality of work.
The aim of S3-1 activities is to be able to “resolve problems and issues related to work autonomously and independently, with an awareness of customer satisfaction,” and thereby increase the individual’s problem- solving skills, and competitiveness of the company. All staff departments review their operations from the standpoint of the “customer,” establish standards toward the ideal state, conduct QCD evaluations as a review, and place particular emphasis on activities focused on reviewing operations.
Through management reviews, we promote the creation of systems that enable feedback from higher-ups, aiming to reform employee awareness and foster human resource development and strong organizational building.

Communication with customers

In order to reflect customer feedback in our products and services, and to ensure that customers can use our products safely, we have set up a customer service center within the Tabletop Group to share customers’ opinions and inquiries with relevant departments in order to improve our products and services.