Product Safety & Quality

Our Approach

LIXIL firmly believes that quality is the key to earning the trust of our customers and society. We have defined improving the quality and safety of our products as one of our material issues. To ensure the continuous pursuit of highest-quality manufacturing and services around the world, we have a quality management system complied with local and international standards, such as ISO 9000 series and Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS), and have published the LIXIL Quality Principles in 14 languages.
For any significant quality-related issue, we promote quality management together with our business partners, complying with our own quality standards defined based on the LIXIL Product Safety Principles that are stricter than the regulatory standards.

LIXIL Quality Principles (A new page will open) PDF: 40KB >
LIXIL Product Safety Principles (A new page will open) PDF: 40KB >

Our Governance

In Japan, LIXIL conducts quality management reviews through quarterly meetings of the Japan Quality Management Committee driven primarily by the Safety and Quality Management Division. This division is overseen by the Chief Environmental Impact Officer (CEIO), who reports directly to the CEO. Individual quality managers report to the CEIO on progress toward specific targets set by each division within the technology business, and seek strategic direction to help them refine quality management systems and solve quality-related issues. The CEIO reports to the Board of Directors at least twice a year on progress vis-à-vis targets, audit results, and any other important information relating to quality risks, and in turn receives advice and instructions from board members.

Quality Management System

We also conduct annual internal audits of all production sites and subsidiaries in Japan based on the LIXIL Quality Principles and our own quality standards which are compliant with the ISO 9000 series. Some production sites and subsidiaries in Japan have acquired ISO 9001 certification and undergo relevant external audits regularly.

Product-specific Chief Operations Officers (COOs) manage product quality outside of Japan.

Enhancing Quality across the Product Lifecycle

To ensure customer safety, LIXIL is focused on enhancing quality across the full lifecycle of all products, from development to procurement, manufacturing, distribution, and after-sales support.

1) Design and Development

As we advance collaborative development on a global scale, LIXIL is developing various systems for correctly recognizing and complying with local and international laws and regulations. We consider product use scenarios from the design and development stage onward, and apply globally recognized risk assessment methods such as Fault-Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Design Review Based on Failure Mode (DRBFM).

2) Materials & Parts Procurement

We set quality standards for our parts suppliers and check compliance with those standards through regular quality audits. We conduct ad hoc audits and develop a prompt response in the event of any change in the 4Ms* of production or the emergence of a quality-related problem. We also collaborate with suppliers to generate further improvements by sharing our procurement principles and improvement examples, and work together to solve quality-related issues.

* A method for identifying and solving problems by analyzing the four production elements of Man, Machine, Material, and Method.

3) Commercialization, Production & Sales

We only commercialize products that have passed rigorous stress tests and quality checks for durability, weather resistance, and other properties and apply a company-wide quality management system (QMS) for distribution. This QMS covers the instructions for installation based on defined quality standards that are updated regularly and constantly shared among all distributors. To raise awareness of quality management, we hold a regular workshop for LIXIL distributors and external certified installation partners. All employees working at LIXIL distributors in particular take part in a quality control training program.

Products that require specific labeling to indicate conformance with safety and quality standards are clearly marked in our catalogs and other sales tools as meeting required criteria to help customers select appropriate products. We also strive to provide more readily understandable product explanations, including interactive showroom displays and online videos.

4) Responding to Product Defects & Problems

To ensure the safe use of our products, we provide instruction manuals for all our major products and videos explaining how to care for and clean those products on our website. We also offer a long-term warranty of up to 10 years to facilitate the safe use of our products over a long period of time.

Furthermore, we have thorough systems in place to incorporate customer feedback in the rare event of a product-related accident or defect. We rigorously investigate the cause of any problem through the system and implement improvements, not only in product design, but across all processes from manufacturing to distribution. To prevent product defects and problems, we consistently work to advance organizational management to ensure improvement measures are fully integrated, and to enhance governance frameworks to promote better management.

Quality management process from design and development to after-sales support

Product manuals (Japanese only, a new page will open) >
How-to videos (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Improving Product Quality Through Our Stage-Gate System

As part of our efforts to improve quality across the product lifecycle, we have introduced the Stage-Gate System that separates the various processes involved in product development in particular into different stages, from R&D right through to commercialization and merchandising. We are also dedicated to fostering a corporate culture that prioritizes quality from the customer’s perspective.

To raise the level of completion in design, quality, and production, our development, manufacturing, and sales departments work in collaboration at each stage of the product development process. Each product is evaluated and discussed at every “Gate” placed in between the stages and decisions are made by quality managers for each business unit before the product moves onto the next stage. The evaluation criteria set in each gate are constantly reviewed to pursue the development of even higher-quality products.

Concept of Stage-Gate System

The Pursuit of Superior Quality Product Manufacturing and Services

Quality Control and Product Safety Education

LIXIL strives to prevent product-related quality defects and accidents from occurring or recurring by identifying risks that could cause such defects and incidents, raising employee awareness, and encouraging universal improvement activities. In Japan, LIXIL conducts regular training for employees* on enhancing product quality and product safety.

FYE2024 Progress:

In order to build quality awareness further among managers, we conducted a total of eight training sessions on managing quality and preventing product-related accidents for 48 new managers.
We conducted a total of five product safety training sessions for a targeted 42 new employees.
By expanding the targeted scope of training on quality regulations, quality management systems, quality-related legislation, and problem-solving methods beyond the management level, we conducted face-to-face training and e-learning sessions with a total of 2,585 participants.
To strengthen legal compliance awareness, we conducted training sessions on Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act and other issues for all employees in our sales departments, with approximately 1,000 people taking part.

As part of these training activities, we use case studies of past product-related quality defects and accidents along with the actual products and descriptions of background factors to foster understanding of the fundamental cause of product safety issues.

* Scope: Directly hired employees.

Our archive with displays on past quality issues and product incidents

Promoting Internal Awareness through Information-Sharing and Forums

We use internal social media platforms to post quality policies, CEO messages, and case studies as part of our awareness-raising activities. We publish the LIXIL Quality Journal four times a year to help consistently raise employee awareness on quality topics. The journal highlights initiatives and stories of departments at each plant that have used their mistakes to make further quality improvements.

At our Product Quality Forum held every November, we reward outstanding improvement activities chosen across LIXIL worldwide. In recent years, these consistent efforts to raise awareness have led to an increase in customer-oriented improvement activities that are more closely aligned with customer needs

Awareness-raising poster (left), LIXIL Quality Journal (right)

All-Employee Awareness Survey and Action Plan

We conduct quality awareness surveys of all employees* in Japan annually in order to raise awareness of product quality and promote quality-enhancing initiatives. Based on the survey results, we then formulate action plans for each department that include capital investments designed to improve quality. As a result of progress made in each department, the score measuring employee awareness of the importance of product quality improved for the fourth consecutive year.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing division has tended to have low divisional scores. We pursued various cross-training activities to share best practices among all plants. As a result, some plants marked their score increase by 22 points compared to the previous year. These positive examples were published in the LIXIL Quality Journal, and we also produced some video interviews with heads of plants and heads of individual divisions to share with all sites inside and outside Japan to help further strengthen quality awareness across the whole company.

Quality awareness survey overall positive response score

* Scope: Directly hired employees of LIXIL Corporation and its subsidiaries in Japan.

Responding to Serious Product-Related Accidents

In Japan, whenever a product-related accident occurs, the product quality department collects information within 24 hours of receiving notification, and sends an emergency notice to relevant departments. If an accident that could have serious consequences occurs, the department that receives the initial information reports the incident directly to the CEO and the officer in charge to ensure an even swifter response. The department also cooperates with other departments to formulate on-site responses and thoroughly investigate accidents. We submit a report to relevant government authorities within 10 days of an accident occurring as stipulated in Japan’s Consumer Product Safety Act. Having mounted a comprehensive emergency response, we then turn our attention to preventing a recurrence by reflecting any lessons learned from accidents in product design, and proactively developing technologies that help ensure accident prevention and safety.

Regarding suspected legal violations, our technology or other relevant departments will ascertain if an infringement has actually occurred, and submit a report to the authorities concerned. We follow a similar process for suspected legal infringements as we do for product-related accidents, namely, we conduct a thorough investigation of the cause and implement appropriate countermeasures to prevent a recurrence.

Number of Legal Infringements and Significant Product-Related Accidents

	FYE2022	FYE2023	FYE2024
Number of serious product-related accidents	6	6	7
Number of legal infringements	0	1*	0

* In relation to the fact that the PSE mark stipulated in Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act was not displayed on the LED lighting (third-party product) mounted on LIXIL’s three-sided mirror: The third-party product was independently arranged by sales representatives, so, to prevent this happening again, we have reinforced the fact that purchasing products without involving the pertinent business division is strictly prohibited, and conducted training on the Act for our sales representatives. We also reviewed the purchasing process at the sales department to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.

Emergency Procedure for Responding to Accidents

External Awareness-Building Activities

In Japan, LIXIL conducts various activities outside the company to raise consumer awareness of product safety and prevent accidents in the home.

Developing Teaching Materials and Outreach Classes for Children

Safety Education Program: Think about Safety in the House

We have developed safety educational materials in cooperation with NPO the Association of Corporation and Education (ACE) for elementary school students, and provided these materials free of charge to educators. The materials encourage children to learn about hidden dangers in the house, and to think about and implement ways to prevent accidents.

Total number of outreach classes and participants: 341times, 10,289students

Outreach classes offered by our employees have also attracted 10,042 students over a total of 327 sessions to date. We also created our own anime videos to appeal to the students in our outreach classes for early elementary school grades. The materials won an Award of Excellence at the Commendation on Instructional Materials for Consumer Education in 2014 and 2022 conducted by the National Institute on Consumer Education (NICE).

Product Ideas to Keep Schools Safe: Online Safety Education Program

To provide equal opportunities for children living in underpopulated areas, we worked together with the association Professionals for All Schools to develop new online learning materials that were used to conduct a total of 14 lessons for 247 students. NICE also honored these materials with an Award of Excellence in 2023.

Learn more about Safety Education Program (Japanese only, a new page will open) >
Learn more about Online Safety Education Program (Japanese only, a new page will open) >

Outreach classes

Online lessons

Seminars for Consumers

We help consumers think of ways to prevent accidents at home by giving lectures at product safety seminars hosted by the National Federation of Women’s Organizations and other consumer organizations, covering topics such as accidents in the toilet or bathroom or tripping over steps or falling down.

In FYE2024, we held 12 sessions and attracted about 500 participants, bringing the cumulative total to date to 9,012 participants over 92 sessions.

Total number of seminars and participants: 92 sessions, 9,012people

Product safety seminar

Global