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Japan's scandal-mired Kobe Steel Ltd. said on Thursday it had found four new possible cases of improprieties regarding inspection data.
The steel maker's misconduct has already seen products sold to more than 500 companies that failed to meet industry inspection standards looks set to expand further.
The results of an internal probe released Thursday that products sold that had their inspection data fabricated were shipped to 525 companies.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported Thursday that Japan's quality control authorities have revoked a certification for some copper products of a Kobe Steel subsidiary.
On Tuesday, the Japanese government said it had tasked industrial standards-approved bodies to carry out inspections at Kobe Steel Ltd.'s plants in an effort to deal with the company's wide-reaching falsified inspection data scandal.
"We will keep an eye on the result of the review," said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko.
He added that Kobe Steel should, itself, set up its own objective measures to ensure industry standards are kept, warning that if standards aren't maintained then a certification organization will have the authority to withdraw its certificate and halt shipments of Kobe Steel products.
The certification withdrawal threat has reportedly come into effect Thursday, according to NHK.
Keiichi Ishii, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, told a separate news briefing that inspections had begun at plants in Japan and that data obtained from Kobe Steel will be verified by the government.
Kobe Steel Ltd. had initially admitted to falsifying inspection data on a number of its products, including aluminum, copper, steel powder and special steel products.
It came to light late last week that the embattled steel maker's own investigations had, additionally, revealed cover-ups and more incidents of data falsification.
Companies ranging from automakers and airplane manufacturers, to defense equipment and Shinkansen bullet train makers, have been affected by the scandal.
Kobe Steel initially admitted that its products, with falsified data about their strength and durability, have been sold to around 200 companies globally. Since then the number of affected companies has grown exponentially as details of the scandal have unfolded.
Investigations first revealed that Kobe Steel knowingly shipped at least 20,000 tons of aluminum and copper products with fabricated inspection data. The products were sent to around 200 companies.
The scandal-plagued firm also admitted that an internal probe had revealed that 140 tons of iron powder shipped in fiscal 2016 did not meet customer specifications.
It also said that one of its subsidiaries, Kobelco Research Institute, had falsified data related to the production method of liquid crystal displays, DVDs and other electronic equipment.
In Japan, major railway operators Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway have stated that their Shinkansen bullet trains contained aluminum parts sourced from Kobe Steel that did not meet industry standards.
Beyond automakers and trains, Kobe Steel has also been implicated in fabricating data for aerospace and defense-related products.
Along with domestic firms such as Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and major Japanese railway operators, the scandal has also affected overseas companies including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Airbus and Boeing Co.
These companies are currently undertaking investigations to see if their products have been adversely affected by Kobe Steel's erroneous data inspection practices.
Kobe Steel was founded in 1905 and has been a bastion of Japan's manufacturing sector.
The revelations of the data fabrication scandal, however, have cast doubts over corporate governance in the manufacturing industry and beyond in Japan, and cast serious aspersions over Japan's once stellar reputation for precision manufacturing, industry experts here said.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
