Just wishful thinking that Japanese firms never let customers down

MORE COMPANIES HAVE said that they have used problematic aluminum products supplied by Kobe Steel, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker, which confessed last week to a decade-long data fabrication of some aluminum and copper products. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

Top automakers including Toyota and Nissan, defense contractors Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and even Japan’s bullet trains, may have used Kobe Steel’s problematic aluminum products.

Kobe Steel has attempted to convince customers that only some of its products were subject to data fabrication and these still meet safety standards.

Although no safety problems have been confirmed associated with the products in question, there are good reasons for concern.

It is just wishful thinking that Japanese manufacturers never let customers down or make mistakes.

This is the most recent in a series of scandals to hit Japanese manufacturers in recent years. Mitsubishi Motors was found fabricating the fuel consumption data for some of its models, Toshiba tampered with its profit reports and an apartment building of the country’s biggest developer Mitsui Fudosan started to tilt eight years after its completion in 2007.

To win back public trust Japanese companies must not try and make light of any flaws in their products. The muddle-through approach the scandal-hit companies have adopted risks being interpreted as haughty and does no good to the image of Japanese manufacturing.