Japanese lead-acid maker Hitachi Chemical Company is investigating a breach of quality control procedures concerning batteries supplied to customers for more than seven years.
Hitachi said “inappropriate entries of data” were made in inspection reports given to customers relating to some 60,000 batteries sent to around 500 companies from its Nabari Works from April 2011.
However, the company said it “considers there is no problem” affecting safety or performance of the batteries sold.
“Suspicions arose that an internal inspection method was adopted that differed from the inspection method agreed with customers regarding the capacity of lead-acid batteries at the time of shipment,” Hitachi said. “Figures differing from the actual measured values had been entered into the inspection certificates and submitted to customers.”
Products involved included the company’s MSE, MSJ-series stationary VRLA batteries, which account for around 6% of Hitachi’s industrial-use lead-acid battery sales.
Hitachi said it had not yet identified any “failure in performance” among the batteries concerned— but it has set up a “special investigatory committee to restore trust” and to ensure “such an incident never occurs again”.
At present, the investigation team is back-checking all data recorded about the batteries concerned.
The investigations findings will form part of a planned “fundamental review” of the entire group’s quality control systems, Hitachi said.
Last year, Hitachi announced plans to acquire a 43.9% stake in Thai Storage Battery (TSB)— and use the brand’s value and manufacturing bases to boost Hitachi’s automotive and industrial lead-acid battery business in Southeast Asia.