PROVIDING PEACE OF MIND AND SAFETY

Processes in Place

Quality Management System (QMS)

Managing the Quality Assurance Process

In accordance with our quality management system (QMS), we manage and continually improve quality at each process: planning, design, manufacturing, distribution, and quality assurance.

• In accordance with our QMS, a third-party audit and internal audit are conducted once a year.
• We provide organized and sustained QA education (team leader training and programs for training or improving the skills of internal QA auditors).
• We inform employees about the QMS, improve its effectiveness, and improve motivation to engage in it (using our newsletter Online, webcasts, an award program, and issuing QMS straps).

Obtaining ISO 9001 Certification

As of June 2019, all companies in our corporate group have attained ISO 9001:2015 (which specifies requirements for a quality management system) and we have standardized the manufacturing (“craftsmanship process”) for our three main areas of business: office furniture, stationery, mail-order office supplies (Kaunet). Our quality management systems (QMS), as well as complying with the requirements specified in ISO 9001:2015, are continually improved. In other words, we continually look for ways to make our workforce more quality consciousness and to improve customer satisfaction, believing that quality goes hand in hand with sustained business growth.

As of May 2025, ISO 9001 certification has been obtained by 11 (35%) of the 30 relevant companies (KOKUYO and consolidated subsidiaries in and outside Japan).

4 certified companies in Japan: KOKUYO Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Product Shiga Co., Ltd., Kaunet Co., Ltd., Origin Co., Ltd.
7 certified companies overseas: KOKUYO-IK (Thailand) Co., Ltd., KOKUYO Vietnam Co., Ltd., KOKUYO COMMERCE (Shanghai) CO., LTD., KOKUYO Camlin Ltd.,
KOKUYO (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., KOKUYO Furniture (China) Co., Ltd., Dongguan Lamex Furniture Co., Ltd.

Registration certificate number: JQA-2029
Registered business: KOKUYO Co., Ltd.

Scope of registered activities:

• Design, development and manufacture of office furniture
• Purchase and sale of office furniture
• Design, development, manufacture and construction of furniture used in public facilities
• Design, development, manufacture and construction of building materials
• Design and development of stationery products
• Purchase and sale of stationery products
• Planning, development, purchase and sale of products handled by Kaunet

Relevant business / production sites:

• Global Workplace: Head Office, Mie Plant, Shibayama Plant, Tokyo Shinagawa Office and Umeda Office
• Global Stationery: Head Office, Tokyo Shinagawa Office, and Osaka Nanko Distribution Center
• Kaunet Co., Ltd.: Tokyo Shinagawa Office

• *
  Current as of June 16, 2025

Actions

• QMS talent development
• Quality Assurance for Stationery
• Quality Assurance for Furniture
• Quality Assurance for Kaunet’s Products

QMS Talent Development

Through our QMS, we keep improving our processes to enhance customer satisfaction. To that end, we make efforts to secure a steady stream of QA talent. This task forms part of the senior leadership’s Quality Pledge. Every year, the business units’ QMS offices organize training to provide for the expected roles and ability levels.

Annual Training to Improve the Skills of the Members of the QMS Internal Audit Team

We conduct internal audits every year in our QMS activities. The purpose of those audits is to evaluate whether the QMS is producing results as intended. The members of the internal audit team appointed by the organization evaluate whether products, services and the processes that produce those comply with the requirements in internal audits. If there is a problem, the identified organization promptly strives to correct it. KOKUYO considers these internal audits to be a very important measures to enhance customers’ level of satisfaction. Accordingly, we provide skills-upgrading training every year so that members of the internal audit team improve their skills to be able to conduct effective internal audits.

Regular Team Leader Training

Team leaders are process owners (they are accountable for the process in question). To train up process owners, we organize an annual training program focusing on how to apply the QMS in organizational management. In group discussions, attendees deepen their knowledge about the need for the QMS, the role of a team leader, effective strategies, and how they should support members.

Quality Assurance for Stationery

In order to deliver quality that our customers can trust, we have taken steps to systematically build, operate and improve our systems for quality assurance, covering planning, design, manufacturing, and distribution.

1. 1.
   Continually improving quality assurance
   To ensure that customers can use our products safely and securely, we continually improve our system for quality assurance by updating the key processes (design review, safety review, production observation, chemical substance management, legal compliance). We also perform risk assessments to identify and mitigate potential risks.
2. 2.
   Inspection and testing based on international standards
   When testing and inspecting products, we apply international standards. We evaluate testing and inspection processes with a view to improving the country-specific standards. Additionally, we endeavor to do more to catch defects before the product is sold to customers.
3. 3.
   Responding to customer complaints quicker and more accurately
   It is not enough for a product to be objectively safe; the customer must feel reassured that it is so. This is especially true in today’s world, where people have a plethora of information at their fingertips. Accordingly, we need to respond all the quicker and all the more accurately to customer complaints. To that end, we have established clear and standardized protocols, tools, and criteria for responding to such incidents. Such standardization enables a quicker response process and minimizes inconsistencies in responses.
4. 4.
   Improving quantitative evaluations to complement quality evaluations

We have always performed thorough quality evaluations when updating products or releasing new ones, and we recently introduced robotics to enhance the reproducibility and accuracy of the testing. For a product to satisfy customers, it must not only be reasonably priced and reliable; it must also have a wow-factor. We have started quantifying the extent to which a product has this.

Quality Assurance for Furniture

Our global workplace businesses attained ISO 9001 certification in 1997. Since then, we have standardized the marketing, planning, design, production, and installation processes for furniture. We use a PDCA cycle to ensure that we always provide products and services that are tailored to the changing ways in which people work, learn, and live. We continually strive to improve our manufacturing, delivery, and installation. We listen to feedback from customers and use this feedback to inform and guide our continual-improvement activities.

1. 1.
   Setting high standards for craftsmanship
   When developing a product, we assess safety and functionality using a variety of metrics. As well as measuring the product against the Japanese Industrial Standards and other industry standards, we measure it against our own standards, which are even higher and which we update annually.
2. 2.
   Dealing with defects
   When a customer finds a defect in one of our products, we inform the relevant division without delay. As well as investigating the cause for the defect, we make the necessary improvements in the product or manufacturing process to prevent a similar defect. If there is a serious safety issue, the Risk Compliance Committee will determine the response. To limit the damage, we will notify the relevant authorities and issue notices on our website and in newspapers and other media to alert consumers.
3. 3.
   Public notices concerning safety or quality issues

We use our website to alert consumers about safety or quality issues with our products.

• Important notices concerning safety or quality issues

Quality Assurance for Kaunet’s Products

Kaunet has a huge lineup that includes stationery, office supplies (including copy paper),food and drink, home appliances, gifts, medical equipment, shop equipment, order-made business cards and seals/stamps, and office furniture. The business has around 8,000 suppliers. It also has its own premium brand, Kaukore, which includes more than 5,300 products for enhancing workplace productivity. Kaunet always strives to develop and deliver useful products that are based on ideas from the user’s perspective. To ensure that its products are safe and command confidence, Kaunet works engages in improvement efforts across the value chain, from improving the quality of products to improving the quality of customer service at call centers and the quality of deliveries.

• Social Actions