Quality Initiatives

KITZ Chino Plant mainly manufactures mass-produced products. We are working on improvements on a daily basis to achieve both quality and mass production. In the casting process, automatic pouring enables the stable production of high-quality castings without relying on the skills of operators. At the same time, we have established a manual production line for all processes, and we are working to acquire casting skills and pass on our skills. In addition, assembly robots have been introduced in the manufacturing process to prevent incorrect mixing of parts and to reduce the burden on workers. Furthermore, in the testing process, we use AI to automatically determine whether the quality of casting letters are acceptable using an image-judging technique. Through these efforts, we are able to achieve both quality and mass production. In addition, by projecting the materials of the products being produced on the monitor, we are able to confirm at any time whether the correct work is being performed at the production site.

KITZ Ina Plant manufactures a custom-made large valve. In order to produce high-quality valve, we are working to create mechanisms to prevent errors even in different specifications. In the inspection of the assembly process, the inspection pressure is automatically set by reading QR code corresponding to each product. This eliminates human judgment and prevents incorrect setting of the inspection pressure.

KITZ Nagasaka Plant manufactures valve, which is made from special stainless-steel and high-nickel-alloy castings with superior corrosion resistance. KITZ produces dozens of types of special metal material valves. There are not many manufacturers in Japan that can handle that many special metal materials. We have developed and manufactured a wide variety of valve in-house through our advanced casting technologies developed over many years and our casting design designs based on our advanced technologies, such as solidification simulations. Under thorough process control, we strive to ensure safety by performing heat treatment, material confirmation, and non-destructive tests under our own standards that are stricter than those of official standards.

KITZ conducts online checks on products where quality-related defects have occurred at customers. We connect the customer and KITZ support division via an online conference system, and through interviews and visual checks, we investigate the cause of the failure and propose countermeasures. This has reduced the cost and effort of returning products for our customer and shortened the lead time to resolution. In addition, when visiting customers , we connect related divisions such as design and quality control online, and share the situation in real time. By having related divisions understand the situation at the same time, it is possible to investigate the cause and solve problems on the spot.

On some of KITZ’s production and inspection lines, dimensional measurements are carried out using dedicated tablets and wirelessly connected callipers. Dimension measurement results are recorded on dedicated tablets, from which the dimension inspection table to be submitted to the customer is automatically created. Since it can be done without human intervention from the recording of product dimensions to the preparation of dimensional inspection tables, it improves accuracy and improves operational efficiency. It also contributes greatly to the strengthening of compliance, as tampering and fraud of records can be prevented.