Quality Assurance System
Quality Assurance in Design and Development

Status of Quick DR Education
Kubota endeavors to prevent quality problems, and a representative activity in this effort is the initiative to strengthen design reviews. Incorporating the DRBFM* approach, we discuss, test and verify even the smallest incidental change when developing new products, in order to prevent quality problems from arising therefrom.
- Quick DR is a method of preventive action of potential problems by focusing on incidental changes in design and development.
Quality Questionnaires
We conduct quality questionnaires to encourage employees to volunteer information about issues related to quality. This year we extended the boundary of the questionnaire to include Group companies in Japan and overseas.
Quality Training
We held training to educate employees about the necessary knowledge, approach, and actions for quality assurance and quality management.
Training name | Number of sessions | Number of recipients |
---|---|---|
New recruit training | 1 | 170 |
Technical new recruit training | 2 | 126 |
New supervisor training | 2 | 42 |
New foreman training | 1 | 12 |
Internal auditor training course | 6 | 74 |
FMEA training | 1 | 7 |
Quality assurance course | 1 | 10 |
Internal Audits on Quality
The Kubota Group has systematically carries out the following audits.
- Quality Audits:Audits to improve the quality management system aimed at providing better quality products and services.
- Quality Compliance Audits:Audits to ensure compliance with laws, public standards, and contracts with customers.
- Cross Audits:Audits to improve independence and appropriateness of ISO 9001 internal audits, and to improve the competence of auditors.
- Audits at Short Notice
Raising Awareness of Safety, Environment, and Quality

Safety, Environment and Quality Forum (November 20, 2018)
Kubota held the Safety, Environment and Quality Forum for the management team. Yoshinari Consulting representative director Hideki Yoshinari was invited as a lecturer, to provide lectures about risk management to enable proactive management, on the theme of “Risk Management that the Management Team Should Keep in Check.”
- Recent Recall Status (as of January 14, 2020)
-
- Recall of ER combine harvesters: Total 873 units (began February 25, 2019)
- Recall of ER combine harvesters: Total 1,722 units (began February 25, 2019)
- Recall of ER combine harvesters: Total 3,533 units (began April 2, 2019)
- Recall of M7 series tractors: Total 281 units (began April 4, 2019)
- Recall of MR, M720W tractors: Total 1,941 units (began April 25, 2019)
QC Circle Activity

QC Circle activities Presentation Competition (November 6, 2019)
For the QC Circle activities Presentation Competition held this fiscal year, 19 circles selected from 763 Kubota circles (domestic and overseas) participated. Circles producing outstanding results participated in the QC Circle National Competition.
ISO 9001 Certification Status (As of December 31, 2019)
Kubota [All Kubota divisions have acquired ISO 9001 Certification.]
Business divisions | Offices (excerpt) | Certification scope |
Date of certification |
Certifying body |
---|---|---|---|---|
Farm and Industrial Machinery Consolidated Division and Procurement Headquarters, Quality Assurance Headquarters (Departments affiliated with the Farm and Industrial Machinery Consolidated Division) |
Head Office Sakai Plant Sakai Rinkai Plant Okajima Business Center Tsukuba Plant Utsunomiya Plant Hirakata Plant Kyuhoji Business Center |
Design, development, and manufacture of agricultural machinery, construction machinery, engines and related equipment for all the above |
Jun. 1994 | LRQA*1 |
Farm Machinery Products and Post-Harvest Division (Precision Equipment Business Unit) |
Kyuhoji Business Center |
Design, development, manufacture, and management of installation services for electronic scales, including load cells |
Aug. 1994 | DNV*2 |
Pipe Systems and Infrastructure Division |
Hirakata Plant Hanshin Plant |
Design, development, manufacture, and associated services of ordinary steel, stainless steel, heat-resistant steel and fired materials (ceramics, metals, composites) for rollers, tubes, pipes, fittings, spools, steel columns, steel piles, sleeves, cylinders, and ordinary cast products, as well as rollers for pressing and non-metallic cast products (titanium oxide compounds). |
Mar. 1993 | LRQA |
Ichikawa Plant | Design, development and manufacture of spiral welded steel pipes |
Jul. 1998 | JICQA*3 | |
Hanshin Plant Keiyo Plant |
Design, development, manufacture, sale, construction work, and associated services for the following:
|
Jan. 1999 | JCQA*4 | |
Pipe Systems and Infrastructure Division Environmental Solutions Division |
Hirakata Plant (including KUBOTA Kiko Ltd.) |
Business administration, research and development, design and development, manufacture, operation, operation technologies, purchasing, construction and installation management, test operation and services related to sewage treatment and water purification plants, valves, gates, pumps, pump stations, and products and equipment |
Oct. 1997 | LRQA |
Environmental Solutions Division |
Shiga Plant Kyuhoji Business Center (including KUBOTA Membrane Corp.) |
Design, development, and manufacture of small plastic water treatment tanks and bath tubs; design, development, and contract manufacturing management of medium- to large-sized water treatment tanks; and research and development, design, manufacture, and after-sales services for filter membrane units, membrane cartridges, and all related replacement parts. |
Apr. 2003 | JUSE*5 |
Tokyo Head Office Hanshin Office |
Business administration, operation, operating technologies, research and development, purchasing, manufacture, inspection and testing, construction and installation management, test operation, and services related to sewage and sludge treatment, water purification and wastewater treatment facilities, products, and equipment |
Jul. 2014 | Intertek*6 |
- *1.LRQA: Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Ltd.
- *2.DNV: DNV GL BUSINESS ASSURANCE JAPAN K.K.
- *3.JICQA: JIC Quality Assurance Ltd.
- *4.JCQA: Japan Chemical Quality Assurance Ltd.
- *5.JUSE: Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers
- *6.Intertek: Intertek Certification Ltd.
Affiliates in Japan
Company | Certification scope |
Date of certification |
Certifying body |
---|---|---|---|
Kubota Systems Inc. |
|
May 1997 | BSI-J*7 |
Kubota ChemiX Co., Ltd. |
|
Apr. 1998 | JUSE |
Nippon Plastic Industry Co., Ltd. |
|
Dec. 1998 | JSA*8 |
Kyushu KUBOTA Chemical Co., Ltd. |
|
Oct. 1999 | JUSE |
KUBOTA KASUI Corporation |
|
Jan. 2000 | BCJ-SAR*9 |
Kubota Environmental Service Co., Ltd. |
|
Feb. 2000 | MSA*10 |
Kubota Air Conditioner Co., Ltd. |
|
Feb. 2000 | JQA*11 |
Kubota Pipe Tech Co. |
|
Mar. 2002 | JCQA |
Kansouken Inc. |
|
Apr. 2004 | JCQA |
Kubota Seiki Co., Ltd. |
|
Apr. 2007 | LRQA |
Kubota Construction Co., Ltd. |
|
Dec. 2011 | JQA |
- *7.BSI-J: BSI Group Japan K.K.
- *8.JSA: Japanese Standards Association
- *9.BCJ-SAR: The Building Center of Japan
- *10.MSA: Management System Assessment Center Co., Ltd.
- *11.JQA: Japan Quality Assurance Organization
Overseas Group companies
Company | Certification scope |
Date of certification |
Certifying body |
---|---|---|---|
Kverneland Group Operations Norway AS |
|
Nov. 1993 | DNV GL |
Kubota Materials Canada Corporation |
|
Feb. 1995 | SGS North America |
P.T. Kubota Indonesia |
|
Jan. 1998 | LRQA |
Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation |
|
Dec. 1999 | DEKRA |
Kubota Industrial Equipment Corporation |
|
Dec. 2005 | DEKRA |
Kubota Saudi Arabia Company, LLC |
|
2011 | TÜV NORD CERT |
SIAM KUBOTA Metal Technology Co., Ltd. |
|
Oct. 2012 | MASCI*12 |
KUBOTA Engine (Thailand) Co., Ltd. |
|
Oct. 2013 | LRQA |
SIAM KUBOTA Corporation Co., Ltd. |
|
Feb. 2014 | LRQA |
Kubota Engine (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. |
|
Nov. 2014 | SGS United Kingdom |
Kubota Construction Machinery (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. |
|
Dec. 2014 | SGS United Kingdom |
KUBOTA Precision Machinery (Thailand) Co., Ltd. |
|
Jul. 2015 | LRQA |
Kubota Baumaschinen GmbH |
|
Feb. 2016 | PÜG mbH |
Kubota Sanlian Pump (Anhui) Co., Ltd. |
|
May 2016 | CCS*13 |
KUBOTA (U.K.) Ltd. |
|
Aug. 2016 | CQS*14 |
Kubota Europe S.A.S. |
|
Sep. 2016 | Apave Certification |
Kubota Farm Machinery Europe S.A.S |
|
Feb. 2017 | BUREAU VERITAS |
Kubota Agricultural Machinery (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. |
|
Apr. 2017 | CAM |
Kverneland Group Manufacturing Lipetsk |
|
Apr. 2018 | IQNet |
Kubota (Deutschland) GmbH |
|
Sep. 2018 | EQ ZERT |
KUBOTA Turkey Makine Ticaret Limited Sirketi |
|
Sep. 2019 | LMS |
- *12. MASCI: Management System Certification Institute (Thailand)
- *13. CCS: China Classification Society
- *14. CQS: Certified Quality Systems
Certification status among companies whose primary operation is manufacturing
Of the 39 Kubota Group companies whose primary operation is manufacturing, 24 have acquired certification.