Quality Assurance

Towards Value Creation

　The Taiheiyo Cement Group is committed to providing high-quality products and services by establishing reliable technology and quality assurance systems, and ensuring that each employee engages in activities aligned with our Quality Policy to maintain our reputation as a trusted and reputable company.

Operational Structure

　We focus on stabilizing and improving product quality while capitalizing on the production and quality control technologies we have developed over the years. We are further enhancing product quality control by deploying advanced technologies to ensure improved stability such as an online analysis system for raw materials, clinker and cement, the measurement of clinker minerals by X-ray diffraction and our proprietary Taiheiyo Cement Quality Predictive System (TQPS). Whilst maintaining quality we also make effective use of waste and by-products and in doing so manufacture cement that pays due attention to the conservation of the global environment.
　All of our Portland cement plants in Japan, including those of group companies, have obtained ISO 9001 certification, the international standard for quality management systems.
　Furthermore, all of our overseas cement plants in countries that adopt ISO have obtained ISO 9001 certification. We are working to improve our operations while ensuring quality assurance by establishing and operating a quality management system (QMS).

Roadmap for Realizing the Long-term Vision

　We have established a Quality Assurance & Product Liability Committee, chaired by the Vice President, and are working on the following through its activities:

• Maintain and continue our quality assurance system by ensuring the proper operation of QMS (ISO9001).
• Ensure the delivery of high-quality products and build user trust by reducing quality issues and responding quickly when they arise.
• Become a corporate group that is trusted and reputable by improving the quality assurance systems of our group companies and preventing quality data fraud.

Safe Cement and Cement Products

　Today every product is expected to be safe; as a construction material that is indispensable for developing social infrastructure, cement is no exception. The cement industry has long made use of industrial waste and by-products such as blast furnace slag, coal ash, and by-product gypsum as substitutes for natural mineral resources. Furthermore, we use technologies we developed to recycle household waste, such as the AK system to recycle municipal waste and our incineration residue recycling system. We also recycle construction-related soil and waste materials into raw material and fuel for cement production.
　When our cement plants accept waste, we prevent its dispersal and minimize the release of odor by transporting the waste in a tightly sealed panel truck and storing it in a fully enclosed facility to protect the environment of the surrounding area as well as that inside the plant. We have already established fixed standards for the management of heavy metals contained in natural resources, and are constantly enhancing the control of minor components as the volume of waste we receive increases. When we receive new types of waste or waste from new sources, we strictly apply rules under which we conduct three kinds of inspection related to the source of the waste, its chemical composition, and the results of trial use, to identify any potentially negative impact on product quality or the surrounding environment. We will then make a final decision on whether to receive the waste. These measures help us ensure product safety.