Safety confirmation results on products of Shinko Wire Stainless Company, Ltd. subject to JIS violations

July 29, 2016

Kobe Steel, Ltd.
Shinko Wire Company, Ltd.

With regard to the violation of JIS regulations by Shinko Wire Stainless Company, Ltd., a subsidiary of Shinko Wire Company, Ltd., announced on June 9 and June 21, a task force established in Shinko Wire Company proceeded to confirm the application of the subject products (stainless steel wire for springs), as well as their quality and safety aspects. We hereby report the results.

Once again, we apologize to our customers and other parties for causing considerable trouble. We have re-examined our quality assurance system and are continuing to work on recovering trust.

Safety confirmation

With regard to the subject products in violation of JIS regulations for the period of nine years and two months (April 2007 to May 2016), according to inspection records at Shinko Wire Stainless Company, Ltd., confirmation was conducted with the cooperation of spring manufacturers and others on whether there had been any problems in quality or safety.

The subject products, recovered from wholesalers’ inventories, amounted to 55.3 tons. (The previously reported amount was 55.5 tons.) The 55.3 tons of subject products, excluding 1% to undetermined spring manufacturers, were shipped to 64 spring manufacturers. Excluding another 1% from two companies that have since closed down, all spring products (98% of the total amount) made by 62 spring manufacturers using the subject products passed the shipping inspection of the spring manufacturers. We confirmed that there was no impact on the performance of the spring products.

  • 1.The applications of the 55.3 tons of subject products were appliances (66%), household goods (13%), water heaters and other gas equipment (12%), and automotive (5%). Unknown applications made up the remaining 4%. Of the 4% unknown applications, 2% consisted of cases where no shipment records remained of the sales contacts of spring manufacturers. Spring manufacturers that had closed comprised 1%, and undetermined spring manufacturers made up 1%.
  • 2.A follow-up investigation was conducted on users that had procured spring products from the 62 spring manufacturers. Of the subject 55.3 tons, we confirmed that 2% of user applications were not related to tensile strength. For 91% of the users, the spring products passed shipping inspections. We explained to the users that there was no effect on the performance of the spring products and received their understanding that the spring products were safe. In total, 93% (41.2 tons) have been confirmed to be safe. A breakdown of the remaining 7% is as follows:
    Follow-up investigation impossible (undetermined applications, etc.): 5%
    Users are currently undertaking safety confirmation: 2%
  • 3.Edition, published by the Japan Society of Spring Engineers in 2008, subject products with tensile strengths of 4% below specifications underwent replication experiments in order to verify the improvement effect of mechanical properties in products that had undergone the low-temperature annealing process, which normally occurs in the manufacturing process of spring products. The results of the experiments showed an improvement in the tensile strength of the subject products owing to the low-temperature annealing process and confirmed that the subject products satisfied the lower limit of the specifications for tensile strength applicable when the spring products were designed.

In regard to this matter, we have responded individually to each user, including users currently undertaking safety confirmation of the subject products. We have not found any problems in the performance of the spring products and believe that spring products made from the subject products are safe.

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