Quality Initiatives

Philosophy on Quality and Product Safety

The commitment "We enhance the reputation of our customers and the reliability of social infrastructure" stated in the Fujitsu Way is one of the corporate values on which all Fujitsu Group employees must place importance. In order to put this into concrete practice, across the Group in Japan and overseas we have rolled out the Global Quality Policy of Fujitsu Group, which expresses the Fujitsu Group's shared philosophy on quality. We view quality as fundamental to our business activities, and are committed to continuous quality improvement.

Fujitsu Global Quality Policy

1. We pursue quality from the customer’s perspective.
2. We ensure quality to support safety and security.
3. We engage in quality improvements together with our business partners.
4. We have constructed a quality management and quality assurance system and we continuously engage in quality improvement activities.

• Quality efforts: “Fujitsu Quality: Your Safety and Security”
  http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/about/activities/quality/index.html

Quality Assurances Activities Based on the Fujitsu Group Quality Charter

Quality is the basis of brand value for the Fujitsu Group. Products and services that customers can safely use is the essence of the Fujitsu Group's business. Based on this philosophy, in June 1994, ahead of the implementation of Japan's Product Liability Law (effective from July 1, 1995), Fujitsu formulated the "Fujitsu Product Safety Charter," the predecessor of the "Fujitsu Group Quality Charter."

Today, Fujitsu has formulated the Fujitsu Group Quality Charter based on the idea that safety is one part of quality, it is revising and creating various regulations and technical standards related to product quality, and it is thoroughly engaged in educating through new employee training, engineering department group training and quality meetings.

To continue offering products and services that anticipate changes affecting our customers and their business environments, at every stage from design to evaluation, production, sales and support, we perform our quality improvement activities in line with the following principles laid out in the Fujitsu Group Quality Charter.

Quality Principles

• We pursue quality from the customer's perspective.
• We build in quality that anticipates changes.
• We achieve quality consistent with our social responsibilities.
• We use first-hand feedback based on the actual situation.
• We work with our business partners to improve quality.
• We seek to make public quality-related information transparently.
• We foster employees who think about quality.

Based on the policy of emphasizing safety in all aspects of our business activities, we strive for assured safety in product designs, collection and the publication of information on product-related problems, and rapid response to such problems.

Implementation Policy Related to the Safety of Products and Services

The Fujitsu Group recognizes its social responsibility to build a safe and secure society. The Fujitsu Group always considers and endeavors to improve the safety of products and services in every aspect of the group's business activities.

1. Observation of laws and regulations
   We observe laws and regulations concerning product and service safety.
2. Efforts to secure safety
   We try to ensure that products and services are safe in a variety of use situations and take measures as necessary to secure the safety of the products and services. In addition to legally specified safety standards, we develop and observe voluntary safety standards in our endeavors to improve products and services continuously.
3. Prevention of incidents caused by improper use, etc.
   For the safe use of products and services by customers, we properly display notices and warnings in handbooks or on the body of the products in order to prevent incidents caused by improper use or carelessness.
4. Collection of incident information, etc.
   We actively collect safety-related information from customers, including information on product and service incidents and what might lead to such an incident.
5. Handling of incidents
   We immediately check the facts of any occurring incident related to a product or service, investigate the cause, and handle it properly. If the product or service has a safety problem, we provide that information to customers and take proper measures, such as product recall, service recovery, and prevention of further damage and other damage from occurring. We quickly report the occurrence of major product incidents to the proper authorities in accordance with laws.

ISO 9001 / ISO 20000 Certification Status

Fujitsu is continually striving to improve its processes in line with Quality Management Systems. As of the end of FY2017, 28 Business Units have acquired ISO 9001 certification, while 5 Business Units have received ISO 20000 certification.

Establishing a Quality Assurance System

Quality Management System

To consistently provide products and services with quality that meets customer needs and expectations, it is essential to coordinate both internally (among the business units involved in product/service projects, planning, development, production, and testing; the field business units involved in operation and maintenance; and the various common business units that support them) and externally (business partners, sales units, and sales bases). It is also essential to have a platform to unify these systems and mechanisms.

This is why we build and operate our Quality Management System (QMS): to coordinate among these business units as appropriate for the corresponding products and services. QMS periodically verifies the progress of the PDCA cycle in light of international certification standards such as the ISO in the aim of achieving process improvements to realize even higher quality.

Our Approach to Promoting Quality Assurance

We conduct quality assurance activities on the level of individual business units and regions as well as on a company-wide basis, sharing know-how and information, promoting utilization approaches, and resolving common issues across organizational borders.

Not only do we prevent problems and recurrence by effectively sharing quality improvement activities, but we also raise our level of quality and work to consistently provide the highest-quality products and services to customers around the world.

The purpose of the Corporate Quality Management Unit, an organization that operates independently of our business units, is to promote these activities and drive them forward. It is made up of official Quality Management Representatives from related departments in Japan and overseas who have been selected to participate regularly in company-wide coordinated activities.

The Corporate Quality Management Unit formulates quality policies and company-wide common quality rules based on Fujitsu Global Quality Policy. It is also in charge of initiatives for double-checking from a third-party perspective, escalation for compliance and problems, fostering human resources, QMS construction support in each division, and the horizontal deployment of common know-how and measures.

System for Addressing Major Quality Problems with Products and Services

In the event of a major quality problem concerning a product or service, executive officers and employees immediately report to the Risk Management & Compliance Committee in accordance with risk management regulations, which then reports to the Head of Business Unit according to the pre-defined reporting structure. The department manager reports the response status to the risk compliance committee as the occasion demands, and responds to any instructions. When a solution comes to light, the Head of Business Unit informs the committee of the history leading up to the risk and measures to prevent recurrence. The committee can instruct the Head of Business Unit to also report this information to the Board of Directors and Management Council.

Disclosure of Information Related to Product Safety

In situations where a problem has occurred in product safety, Fujitsu discloses such information under “Important Notices Regarding Product Safety” on the Fujitsu website to notify customers of the information immediately. In FY2017, six major product incidents (battery fire) occurred with a Fujitsu product. With regards to this accident, Fujitsu has followed the relevant laws and regulations (Consumer Product Safety Act) appropriately, and reported to the Consumer Affairs Agency, as well as posted the contents on its website.

Marking and Labeling of Products and Services Regarding Quality and Safety

Fujitsu is dedicated to observing all laws and internal regulations related to marking and labeling of products and services regarding quality and safety. During FY2017, we experienced no marking or labeling violations related to products or safety.

The Process for Improving Quality Efforts

Customer-Centric Quality Assurance Activities for Products and Services

In providing products and services, we adopt the customer-centric perspective and work to improve quality by requiring and performing reviews and examinations with the involvement of third parties from the planning/design stage, to verify whether they the products and services meet customer needs and expectations.

At the final stage before a product or service is delivered to the customer, Fujitsu judges whether the product/service is to be delivered and released. Operating from a broad perspective and drawing on input from third parties, we use our skills and know-how to double-check that we have addressed the potential risks identified during development or through process judgments. This allows to determine whether the quality is suitable for application or use by customers.

Through this process, we work from an objective standpoint to bring products and services that provide the value that customers expect.

Feedback Activities

Fujitsu develops products and services in light of research and direct interviews on customer needs by the product/service planning and development units. In addition, we build structures that enable the planning and development units to get customer feedback from sales personnel, sales engineers (SEs), customer engineers (CEs), and other professionals from business units that make frequent contact with customers (field business units). We also use our internal website to post customer opinions, allowing others to make comments on and show their support for various ideas.

In addition to fielding input and requests directly from customers, we collect information on problems that employees encounter, gather ideas for making improvements, and use our findings to provide input for future product/service planning and enhance existing products/services.

Initiatives to Improve Quality in Emerging Countries

In accordance with the expansion of the integration services in the Asian region, Fujitsu is making efforts to enhance local quality control and human resource development to further improve quality of services. For example, in China whereby, a project was carried out to operate and maintain a system, periodic maintenance related to SE contracts and work processes were carried out. In countries such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam, workshops were also conducted to increase awareness of quality for local employees. In future, Fujitsu plans to extend such measures to all group companies in Asia.

Safe Production