Mitsubishi Materials Corp. said Friday that material used to make concrete was mistakenly shipped out with a Japan Industrial Standard certification label even though it was actually substandard.
This is the first case of quality-control issues confirmed at the parent company since the nonferrous metal and industrial product group was hit by data falsification incidents at five of its subsidiaries.
Mitsubishi Materials said it halted shipments of products bearing the JIS mark at the request of a state-registered JIS certification body after copper slag delivered to a refinery in Kagawa Prefecture between January 2015 and May 2018 was found noncompliant with JIS standards.
Mitsubishi Materials said its Naoshima refinery inadvertently passed off the material as JIS-certified and shipped it to the client without conducting the required retesting.
A company can earn the JIS mark if its products are certified by a registered certification body as meeting certain standards with regards to factors including size, form, quality and performance. The system aims to enhance consumer trust and boost product quality.
The data tampering at Mitsubishi Materials' subsidiaries came to light last year on the heels of data-rigging scandals at other major companies including Nissan Motor Co., Subaru Corp. and Kobe Steel Ltd.