Compliance Activities of the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group The Kobelco Construction Machinery Group's compliance activities are activities to protect employees and to protect the company. As a corporate member of society, it is natural for us to fulfill our social responsibilities as people and as an enterprise with due observance of common practice, laws and regulations. Having constructed a compliance setup that comprises all the companies of the group, we are set to make high awareness of compliance penetrate into every nook and corner within the Group.

Compliance Activities

We have drawn up a Kobelco Construction Machinery Group Code of Conduct which is based on the intent of our compliance activities and is rigorously adhered to. Further, we work to fulfill our social responsibilities in accordance with the Basic Guidelines and Five Compliance Principles that we have proclaimed.

① In all our corporate activities we will abide by relevant laws and internal regulations, including the Code of Conduct, behaving so as not to deviate from corporate ethics and the common practices of society. ② In all our corporate activities we will respect human rights, committing no discrimination with regard to race, gender, occupation, age, nationality, social status, religion, physical disability, language, or place of origin, etc. ③ In all our corporate activities we will conduct fair transactions with all people who have a stake in our company. ④ We will at all times act in accordance with high ethical principles, committing no antisocial acts and no action whatever that might harm the company's reputation or trust in the company. ⑤ We will at all times provide products of high safety that give full consideration to preservation of the global environment, and at the same time provide on a timely basis services that users will be glad of and the information that they need.

① Do not violate rules or commit improper acts. ② Do not hide any rule violations or improper acts that occur. ③ If you discover a rule violation or improper act, report it immediately to the person responsible for compliance. ④ Persons who report rule violations or improper acts must not be penalized in any way. ⑤ Corrective and preventive measures must be promptly taken for rule violations and improper acts, and such must be accurately and speedily announced.

Personal Information Protection and Trade Secret Management

By framing Control Rules Pursuant to the Private Information Protection Law, Policies Pursuant to the Private Information Protection Law, and Trade Secret Management Rules, the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group has put in place a setup for managing personal information protection and trade secrets across the whole Group. Further, we are giving periodic in-house training based on a Personal Information Handling Manual and are striving to raise awareness concerning protection of personal and corporate information.

Export control

Given the unending threats of terrorism and conflict in today's world, the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group has set up a security export control system out of concern for the maintenance of global peace. Under this system the departments that engage in export operations are periodically given education in the relevant matters and undergo audits.

Internal Whistle-Blowing System

The Kobelco Construction Machinery Group has put in place an internal whistle-blowing system whose purposes are to proactively prevent the emergence and spread of risks due to violations of laws, regulations, corporate ethics and the Code of Conduct; to master problems at an early stage and devise measures to counter them; and to serve as a mechanism for promoting self-cleansing effects within the enterprise. Moreover, in applying this system we abide by the principle that "whistle-blowers must not be penalized".

Internal Control

The Kobelco Construction Machinery Group is exerting utmost efforts to put internal control in place in order to raise transparency of management in its enterprises. Our employees in Japan have united to conduct a revision of the various relevant rules and are engaging in activities for putting internal control in place so as to improve the organizational ethos and "visualize" our operations. Similar activities are also being conducted at our overseas subsidiaries, and an internal control system spanning the whole Group looks set to be established by the end of FY 2008.

Product Quality and Safety

Quality Assurance

■Quality Assurance Setup and Endeavors

Activities of the Quality Assurance Department

Quality Assurance (QA) consists of mechanisms intended to assure that products and services are environment-conscious, safe, and of good quality.
All departments in the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group that are involved with product planning, development, production, sales and servicing pursue maximization of user value – or in other words, provision of safe and high-quality products. The QA Department is conducting QA system improvement activities aimed at helping each of those departments to pursue that goal effectively so as to further raise customer satisfaction.
The QA Department also shoulders responsibility for the quality of all products marketed by the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group. Besides working to deliver safe and high-quality products to the user, it also works to make fast and accurate responses (such as corrective action, information disclosure or recall notification) when quality problems are discovered in the field.

Activities of the Quality Assurance Section

The QA Section promotes quality improvement through auditing of manufacturing processes (mechanisms) to enable the products marketed by the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group in Japan and overseas to achieve the quality aimed for, and through cooperation with relevant sectors (suppliers and domestic/overseas plants) so that the QA setups for each process function effectively.

Activities of the Technical Testing Section

The Technical Testing Section stringently assesses whether the products developed by the Kobelco Construction Machinery Group are safe, whether they attain the quality aimed for, and whether they conform to users' requirements. Also, in concert with the development departments it implements activities to build design quality into products by the time they reach the market.

Activities of the Product Support Section

Passing feedback information speedily from the market to development and production departments and from those departments to the market, the Product Support Section truly plays an arterial role for "primacy of the user on the ground". It works for early exposure and early resolution of problems through prompt and thorough responses that take the user's point of view regarding transmission of technical data, support for troubleshooting and so forth.

Support Service for Users

The Kobelco Construction Machinery Group considers it an important factor in raising customer satisfaction that our products active in the user's service should continue working "robustly" and "safely". To that end we pour efforts into timely maintenance of the machines – naturally – and also into raising the technical levels of our service personnel across the world and providing users with technical information and advice.

Field Service

Most of the maintenance and repair work for upkeep of our construction machines – parts replacement, oil and grease replenishment, etc – is carried out in the field. In collaboration with service bases and distributors around the world we carry out after-delivery machine management, determine the life spans of equipment, etc., and supply replacement parts.

Training and Education

The Kobelco Construction Machinery Group works to raise the technical levels of its service personnel in Japan and overseas by giving them training in maintenance techniques and machine structure, encouraging them to acquire various qualifications, and educating them about our new products. We are also devoting efforts to development of an e-learning system that will enable personnel to engage in learning at our bases or in their homes at any time.