https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/japan-firm-admits-faking-quake-shock-absorber-data
Japan firm admits faking quake shock absorber data
KYB Corp senior managing executive officer Keisuke Saito (front) and Kayaba System Machinery president Shigeki Hirokado bowing at yesterday's press conference.PHOTO: REUTERS
Published
Oct 20, 2018, 5:00 am SGT
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As many as 1,000 buildings across country could have used products, says manufacturer
TOKYO • A Japanese maker of earthquake shock absorbers said yesterday that at least 70 buildings across the country may have used its products for which quality data was falsified and that nearly 1,000 are suspected of having done so.
KYB Corp said this week it had falsified data on the quality of some of its earthquake shock absorbers since at least 2003 in one of the world's most quake-prone nations - the latest in a series of compliance scandals that has shaken confidence in Japan's manufacturing prowess.
KYB released an initial list of 70 buildings that may have used the products for which data was falsified, including government buildings such as the main Ministry of Finance building in Tokyo and several other government structures.
Media reports said other buildings, including Tokyo's main train station, a major tourist site, and some venues for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, may also have used the products.
KYB officials, who bowed deeply at the beginning of a news conference yesterday, said while initially, 70 buildings were suspected to have used products for which the data was falsified, they had confirmed 28.
The true figure could be as high as 1,000, they added.
"We would like to apologise for this sort of inappropriate action," said Mr Keisuke Saito, KYB's senior managing executive officer.
The list of 70 suspected buildings around Japan included the central government building housing the Transport Ministry, where the news conference was being held, with officials saying they were hurrying to make further confirmations.
Mr Shigeki Hirokado, president of KYB subsidiary Kayaba System Machinery, which KYB has said was also involved in the data falsification, said its quake shock absorbers were exported to Taiwan and that some of them were problem products, but the number was "extremely small".
One of the most common absorbers is a piston-like mechanism usually located in the basement of a building. Another, used in taller buildings, is embedded in the walls at different levels of a structure.
A spokesman for the Tokyo 2020 Games said on Thursday they had been told by the Tokyo government that KYB products were used at several venues for the Games but that they were waiting for details.
Related Story
Japan quake-shock absorber maker which falsified data says products may have been used nationwide
A Tokyo government official said it was possible the products had been used in the aquatics centre and an arena to be used for volleyball, both under construction, but the authorities were awaiting further information.
KYB products were used in building Tokyo's new National Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, but they were not affected by possible falsification, said an official at the Japan Sport Council.
The operator of the Tokyo Skytree, a 634m-high tower that is a major tourist attraction and had been linked to KYB products in media reports, said yesterday there were no problems with any of the tower's shock absorbers.
Japan has been hit with similar scandals about earthquake safety in the past, including one in 2005 when it was found that an architect had falsified quake safety data for nearly 100 apartments and hotels he had designed.
Professor Nobuo Fukuwa, director of the Disaster Mitigation Research Centre at Nagoya University, said variations in shock absorber quality is not a major issue.
"Some fluctuation won't have an impact on the building's safety and people's lives, so not that much worry is needed," he told Reuters.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told a news conference earlier yesterday the incident was "extremely regrettable".
REUTERS
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 20, 2018, with the headline 'Japan firm admits faking quake shock absorber data'. Print Edition | Subscribe
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/e...its-falsifying-data-for-quake-shock-absorbers
Japan company admits falsifying data for quake shock absorbers
1 of 2
Japanese officials on Thursday ordered a company that falsified data on the quality of its earthquake shock absorbers to replace its products in hundreds of buildings, including a major tourist site and venues for the 2020 Olympics.
Published
Oct 17, 2018, 3:16 pm SGT
Facebook Twitter Email
TOKYO (AFP) - A company supplying equipment to protect major buildings in Japan from earthquakes has admitted to falsifying data, the authorities said on Wednesday (Oct 17), stressing there was no immediate safety risk.
Tokyo-based parts maker KYB and its unit Kayaba System Machinery falsified data linked to so-called "oil dampers", shock absorbers which are used in nearly 1,000 buildings across Japan, the land ministry said.
The ministry declined to name buildings affected, but local media reported that they may include the Tokyo Skytree - one of the world's tallest buildings at 634m - as well as the Tokyo local government's headquarters.
The ministry has instructed the companies involved to change affected parts as soon as possible and to investigate why the data manipulation happened.
But it insisted that buildings using the parts would still withstand even a quake at the top end of the Japanese seismic intensity scale - in which "it is impossible to remain standing" and "people may be thrown through the air".
The shock absorbers are part of a complex system fitted in many Japanese buildings as part of the country's earthquake preparedness.
They are meant to function in tandem with systems built into the foundations to isolate the effects of quakes.
The earthquake systems allow big buildings to sway slightly as they absorb some seismic waves, but if they sway too much or too little, they could suffer damage.
"We don't know how and why data were falsified and so we have ordered (the companies) to investigate the cause and submit a report on it," a ministry official told AFP.
The ministry said thousands of oil dampers, manufactured between March 2000 and last month, were involved in the scandal.
The company separately said on Tuesday that products made between January 2003 and last month had "high possibility of data falsification" while products made since March 2000 may also have the same problem.
"I apologise deeply and sincerely," KYB president Yasusuke Nakajima said in a news conference held on Tuesday, when the companies announced the wrongdoing.
Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year. Rigid building codes and strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.
But dozens of people died after a powerful 6.6-magnitude quake hit northern region of Hokkaido early last month, triggering landslides and collapsing houses.
The data fraud is the latest in a string of quality-control and governance scandals to hit major Japanese businesses in recent years.
In July, Nissan admitted data on exhaust emissions and fuel economy had been deliberately altered, after it was forced to recall some 1.2 million vehicles over a separate data control problem.
An affiliate of Japanese electronics giant Hitachi has admitted falsifying data for 60,000 industrial batteries, while the head of Kobe Steel was forced to resign after the steel-maker submitted false strength and quality data for products shipped to hundreds of clients.
Similar quality-control scandals have hit numerous other industrial titans ranging from top carbon-fibre maker Toray to Mitsubishi Materials.
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2018-10-20/doc-ihmrasqt2032046.shtml
日本这次“要命”的造假 台媒发现一个悲惨的事实
日本这次“要命”的造假 台媒发现一个悲惨的事实
2,667
原标题：日本这次“要命”的造假，台湾媒体发现一个悲惨的事实
日本油压机厂家KYB本周被爆出该厂生产的减震装置存在篡改性能检查记录数据的违规行为。据台媒20日消息，KYB日前在记者会上，承认除了日本国内，还出口了未符合日本品管标准的减震及隔震装置至中国台湾地区。
▲台媒报道截图
KYB子公司Kayaba System Machinery社长广门茂喜坦言，针对外销中国台湾的设备，没有掌握特定品管数据，但承认标准低于日本。当被问及是否需要更换时，广门茂喜回应称“将会和客户讨论”。
他表示，这部分外销台湾的疑虑减震器，主要用在住宅大楼，并未外销到其它海外国家，中国台湾地区为唯一海外市场。
台媒报道称，KYB的台湾代理商强固企业昨日在粉丝专页贴出声明表示，这次发生日本工厂的数据造假事件，起因是KYB原厂生产人员求方便行事，节省拆解、重新组装及再次性能测试的时间，才发生如此违反SOP（标准作业程序）的事情。
台湾记者调查发现，在全台湾地区，有不少建筑商特意以KYB减震系统作为广告文案的亮点，强调其安全保障性，借以吸引消费者出手，甚至一些新兴的建筑商不惜增加成本以引入KYB系统。
日本共同社17日称，在东京证券交易所主板挂牌的油压机厂家KYB承认，2003年1月至今年9月，该厂生产的减震装置可能存在篡改性能检查记录数据的违规行为，而相关装置已被安装在全国多处公寓、医院和政府办公楼等986处建筑中。
KYB减震器大多用在安全要求较高的场所，如地方政府建筑、医院、核电厂、外国游客众多的观光景点等。KYB周五公布日本受影响的70栋建筑物，连财务省、内阁府，甚至记者会召开的国土交通省大楼都在列。日本媒体早前披露，东京车站及2020年东京奥运的部分场馆，可能也使用了KYB的问题产品。
▲KYB高层周五召开记者会鞠躬道歉（图 / 路透社）
由于换避震需要破坏建筑，KYB将先与建筑所有人讨论，需要的时间很长，估计更换完成要到2020年9月。
KYB表示，所有已出货的疑虑制震装置将全部更换，为此KYB近期将取消所有新订单，明年将产能扩充5倍。除了赔掉新订单，KYB也面临庞大损失。东洋橡胶工业2015年被发现销售有问题的减震橡胶装置，迄今损失已达1400亿日元。
责任编辑：张建利
Japan firm admits faking quake shock absorber data
Published
Oct 20, 2018, 5:00 am SGT
Facebook Twitter Email
As many as 1,000 buildings across country could have used products, says manufacturer
TOKYO • A Japanese maker of earthquake shock absorbers said yesterday that at least 70 buildings across the country may have used its products for which quality data was falsified and that nearly 1,000 are suspected of having done so.
KYB Corp said this week it had falsified data on the quality of some of its earthquake shock absorbers since at least 2003 in one of the world's most quake-prone nations - the latest in a series of compliance scandals that has shaken confidence in Japan's manufacturing prowess.
KYB released an initial list of 70 buildings that may have used the products for which data was falsified, including government buildings such as the main Ministry of Finance building in Tokyo and several other government structures.
Media reports said other buildings, including Tokyo's main train station, a major tourist site, and some venues for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, may also have used the products.
KYB officials, who bowed deeply at the beginning of a news conference yesterday, said while initially, 70 buildings were suspected to have used products for which the data was falsified, they had confirmed 28.
The true figure could be as high as 1,000, they added.
"We would like to apologise for this sort of inappropriate action," said Mr Keisuke Saito, KYB's senior managing executive officer.
The list of 70 suspected buildings around Japan included the central government building housing the Transport Ministry, where the news conference was being held, with officials saying they were hurrying to make further confirmations.
Mr Shigeki Hirokado, president of KYB subsidiary Kayaba System Machinery, which KYB has said was also involved in the data falsification, said its quake shock absorbers were exported to Taiwan and that some of them were problem products, but the number was "extremely small".
One of the most common absorbers is a piston-like mechanism usually located in the basement of a building. Another, used in taller buildings, is embedded in the walls at different levels of a structure.
A spokesman for the Tokyo 2020 Games said on Thursday they had been told by the Tokyo government that KYB products were used at several venues for the Games but that they were waiting for details.
Related Story
Japan quake-shock absorber maker which falsified data says products may have been used nationwide
A Tokyo government official said it was possible the products had been used in the aquatics centre and an arena to be used for volleyball, both under construction, but the authorities were awaiting further information.
KYB products were used in building Tokyo's new National Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, but they were not affected by possible falsification, said an official at the Japan Sport Council.
The operator of the Tokyo Skytree, a 634m-high tower that is a major tourist attraction and had been linked to KYB products in media reports, said yesterday there were no problems with any of the tower's shock absorbers.
Japan has been hit with similar scandals about earthquake safety in the past, including one in 2005 when it was found that an architect had falsified quake safety data for nearly 100 apartments and hotels he had designed.
Professor Nobuo Fukuwa, director of the Disaster Mitigation Research Centre at Nagoya University, said variations in shock absorber quality is not a major issue.
"Some fluctuation won't have an impact on the building's safety and people's lives, so not that much worry is needed," he told Reuters.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told a news conference earlier yesterday the incident was "extremely regrettable".
REUTERS
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 20, 2018, with the headline 'Japan firm admits faking quake shock absorber data'. Print Edition | Subscribe
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/e...its-falsifying-data-for-quake-shock-absorbers
Japan company admits falsifying data for quake shock absorbers
1 of 2
Japanese officials on Thursday ordered a company that falsified data on the quality of its earthquake shock absorbers to replace its products in hundreds of buildings, including a major tourist site and venues for the 2020 Olympics.
Published
Oct 17, 2018, 3:16 pm SGT
Facebook Twitter Email
TOKYO (AFP) - A company supplying equipment to protect major buildings in Japan from earthquakes has admitted to falsifying data, the authorities said on Wednesday (Oct 17), stressing there was no immediate safety risk.
Tokyo-based parts maker KYB and its unit Kayaba System Machinery falsified data linked to so-called "oil dampers", shock absorbers which are used in nearly 1,000 buildings across Japan, the land ministry said.
The ministry declined to name buildings affected, but local media reported that they may include the Tokyo Skytree - one of the world's tallest buildings at 634m - as well as the Tokyo local government's headquarters.
The ministry has instructed the companies involved to change affected parts as soon as possible and to investigate why the data manipulation happened.
But it insisted that buildings using the parts would still withstand even a quake at the top end of the Japanese seismic intensity scale - in which "it is impossible to remain standing" and "people may be thrown through the air".
The shock absorbers are part of a complex system fitted in many Japanese buildings as part of the country's earthquake preparedness.
They are meant to function in tandem with systems built into the foundations to isolate the effects of quakes.
The earthquake systems allow big buildings to sway slightly as they absorb some seismic waves, but if they sway too much or too little, they could suffer damage.
"We don't know how and why data were falsified and so we have ordered (the companies) to investigate the cause and submit a report on it," a ministry official told AFP.
The ministry said thousands of oil dampers, manufactured between March 2000 and last month, were involved in the scandal.
The company separately said on Tuesday that products made between January 2003 and last month had "high possibility of data falsification" while products made since March 2000 may also have the same problem.
"I apologise deeply and sincerely," KYB president Yasusuke Nakajima said in a news conference held on Tuesday, when the companies announced the wrongdoing.
Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year. Rigid building codes and strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.
But dozens of people died after a powerful 6.6-magnitude quake hit northern region of Hokkaido early last month, triggering landslides and collapsing houses.
The data fraud is the latest in a string of quality-control and governance scandals to hit major Japanese businesses in recent years.
In July, Nissan admitted data on exhaust emissions and fuel economy had been deliberately altered, after it was forced to recall some 1.2 million vehicles over a separate data control problem.
An affiliate of Japanese electronics giant Hitachi has admitted falsifying data for 60,000 industrial batteries, while the head of Kobe Steel was forced to resign after the steel-maker submitted false strength and quality data for products shipped to hundreds of clients.
Similar quality-control scandals have hit numerous other industrial titans ranging from top carbon-fibre maker Toray to Mitsubishi Materials.
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2018-10-20/doc-ihmrasqt2032046.shtml
日本这次“要命”的造假 台媒发现一个悲惨的事实
日本这次“要命”的造假 台媒发现一个悲惨的事实
2,667
原标题：日本这次“要命”的造假，台湾媒体发现一个悲惨的事实
日本油压机厂家KYB本周被爆出该厂生产的减震装置存在篡改性能检查记录数据的违规行为。据台媒20日消息，KYB日前在记者会上，承认除了日本国内，还出口了未符合日本品管标准的减震及隔震装置至中国台湾地区。
KYB子公司Kayaba System Machinery社长广门茂喜坦言，针对外销中国台湾的设备，没有掌握特定品管数据，但承认标准低于日本。当被问及是否需要更换时，广门茂喜回应称“将会和客户讨论”。
他表示，这部分外销台湾的疑虑减震器，主要用在住宅大楼，并未外销到其它海外国家，中国台湾地区为唯一海外市场。
台媒报道称，KYB的台湾代理商强固企业昨日在粉丝专页贴出声明表示，这次发生日本工厂的数据造假事件，起因是KYB原厂生产人员求方便行事，节省拆解、重新组装及再次性能测试的时间，才发生如此违反SOP（标准作业程序）的事情。
台湾记者调查发现，在全台湾地区，有不少建筑商特意以KYB减震系统作为广告文案的亮点，强调其安全保障性，借以吸引消费者出手，甚至一些新兴的建筑商不惜增加成本以引入KYB系统。
日本共同社17日称，在东京证券交易所主板挂牌的油压机厂家KYB承认，2003年1月至今年9月，该厂生产的减震装置可能存在篡改性能检查记录数据的违规行为，而相关装置已被安装在全国多处公寓、医院和政府办公楼等986处建筑中。
KYB减震器大多用在安全要求较高的场所，如地方政府建筑、医院、核电厂、外国游客众多的观光景点等。KYB周五公布日本受影响的70栋建筑物，连财务省、内阁府，甚至记者会召开的国土交通省大楼都在列。日本媒体早前披露，东京车站及2020年东京奥运的部分场馆，可能也使用了KYB的问题产品。
由于换避震需要破坏建筑，KYB将先与建筑所有人讨论，需要的时间很长，估计更换完成要到2020年9月。
KYB表示，所有已出货的疑虑制震装置将全部更换，为此KYB近期将取消所有新订单，明年将产能扩充5倍。除了赔掉新订单，KYB也面临庞大损失。东洋橡胶工业2015年被发现销售有问题的减震橡胶装置，迄今损失已达1400亿日元。
责任编辑：张建利
