Quality Control

KIOXIA Group has set out our fundamental approach to quality control within our Quality Control Policy, aiming to provide products and services that exceed the expectations and demand of customers and society.

1. We engage in quality assurance from our customers' point of view.
2. We observe relevant laws and contracts and respect the rights of customers and third parties.
3. We deploy quality control systems aimed at achieving 100% quality.
4. We ensure that all of our departments and employees follow our quality control policies.
5. We aim for constant improvement by investigating the root causes of process failures and conduct through risk analysis in order to prevent any re-occurrence.
6. We collect, analyze and appropriately disclose information with the aim of preventing quality issues.

1. We observe both Japanese and overseas laws and regulations governing product safety and product security.
2. We collect, and proactively disclose, a wide range of information about any product issues that arise.
3. We immediately report any product issues to the authorities concerned in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
4. We promptly inform customers when the need to recall and repair products arises.
5. We educate our customers and provide alerts and warnings in order to help them use our products in a safe manner.
6. If an accident should occur, we carry out a thorough analysis of the causes and take necessary measures to prevent it from recurring. We also strive to prevent accidents by predicting risk at the design stage.
7. We strive to eliminate vulnerabilities from products prior to shipment.
8. We collect a wide range of information on product vulnerabilities in order to reduce risk.
9. We implement product security measures on a broad scale in cooperation with the relevant organizations.

KIOXIA Group has implemented a structure aimed at strengthening our quality-control activities. Chaired by our President and CEO, a quality control meeting is held twice a year in which our quality officers, vice presidents, technology executives, general managers, and senior managers participate and where they discuss and decide on key quality policy issues. The participants also evaluate the appropriateness and validity of quality management and risk measures. We communicate decisions made during these meetings to business divisions and ensure that these are actioned.

Information on issues involving KIOXIA products in the market is collated by the KIOXIA President and CEO, who is also the Chief Quality Executive Officer, or the Executive Officer in charge of Quality, through what we call the CPL*¹ Incident Response Desk, and are referred to our Quality & Safety Risk Committee for any necessary action.
No serious quality incidents occurred in FY2021.

KIOXIA Group has obtained ISO9001 certification, the basis of all quality management systems, and ISO/TS16949, a more advanced certification. Rather than merely assessing whether our products meet the requirements of these standards, we also endeavor to improve their overall effectiveness. To this end, we continuously implement company-wide improvements based on the seven QMS principles.

In order to enhance our ability to ensure product quality at the design stage, KIOXIA Group conducts Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) in order to prevent defects from reaching upstream. The aim of this activity is to enhance quality by anticipating the risks and effects of failures or defects, known as failure modes, targeting product design and processes in the later stages of development. We strive to improve the reliability and safety of our products and services by implementing practical training to broaden the base of FMEA activities.

FMEA is used to identify the risk of quality issues and determine those which need to be managed as a priority; the capacity of each manufacturing process is analyzed and improvements are implemented on areas found to have low process capabilities. A method known as statistical process control (SPC) is deployed during efforts to stabilize or improve manufacturing quality.

KIOXIA Group discloses information regarding product quality on its website.

• Quality Guidelines
• Reliability Handbook
• Handling Precautions and Requests
• List of Abbreviations

• Customer Support

KIOXIA Group has created its own in-house curriculum and conducts education and training for engineers in order to improve design and manufacturing quality. Basic training is conducted throughout the year, including an introduction to quality assurance, contract liability and product liability (including the Product Liability Act), statistical quality control, and quality management systems, along with special training on topics such as “QC7” tools, FMEA/DRBFM*², failure studies, and why-why analysis.