Improper vehicle inspections that recently surfaced at two major automakers Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru Corp., along with product data falsification revealed at Kobe Steel Ltd., have raised more questions about compliance and product quality control in Japan's manufacturing industry. One of the questions concerns whether a divide between the management of the firms and their manufacturing operations and workers is at the root of the problem. It is a question that the manufacturing industry as a whole should revisit.

Some of the problems that took place at leading manufacturers in recent years, such as Mitsubishi Motors Corp. manipulating the fuel efficiency data of its vehicles, are said to have occurred as production workers tried to meet stringent targets set by the management. The falsification at Kobe Steel, in which workers and managers at its plants reportedly tampered with product quality data to make it look like they met industry standard or specifications on contracts when they didn't, reportedly took place as the plant workers sought to meet supply deadlines.

At Nissan and Subaru, uncertified technicians at their automotive assembly plants were performing final quality checks on vehicles before shipment, in violation of ministry guidelines. The president of Nissan said the automaker will cope with the problem by increasing the number of certified technicians, effectively admitting that the company did not have enough at the assembly plants.