Customers: Engagement Methods

• Initiatives for Quality and Safety
• Improving Customer Satisfaction

Initiatives for Quality and Safety

Basic Policy on Product Safety

In 2007, we formulated and published our Basic Policy on Product Safety. The policy’s main two points are as follows:

The Happinet Group understands that providing safe products and securing the safety and protection of customers is our greatest social responsibility. We thoroughly familiarize executives and employees with this Basic Policy to ensure that it will be fully implemented.

• Basic Policy on Product Safety and Independent Action Plan (In Japanese only) (PDF: 264KB)

Quality Assurance Promotion System

We have established a Quality Assurance Division that supports the manufacturing of all of our business divisions involved in production.
The Quality Assurance Division engages in the formulation and reinforcement of our risk management system concerning quality assurance.

The division is also in charge of creating drafts of the Happinet Quality Standards; supporting business divisions in building systems for product development; and quality inspection in every stage, from product planning to shipping. In addition, the division gathers information on government developments and trends in the toy and other relevant industries, sharing this information within the Group. The Quality Assurance Promotion Committee, which is primarily composed of members of the Quality Assurance Division and persons in charge of quality from various business divisions, meets regularly.

This committee considers systems for handling revisions to quality-related laws and regulations, shares information such as cases of product accidents and failures, and reviews revision of Happinet Quality Standards.

Initiatives on Original Toy Products

At the Happinet Group, we have established our own Happinet Quality Standards to ensure the creation of safe products when developing original products.

The Happinet Quality Standards are a set of independent standards we have formulated based on laws and regulations, such as the Food Sanitation Act, as well as the Japan Toy Association’s Toy Safety Standard (ST Standard). We revise these standards as necessary based not only on trends in laws, regulations, and industry standards, but also on cases of product accidents. Contract manufacturers are also notified of these standards in order to further promote and deepen understanding of the Happinet Group’s quality standards. The safety and peace of mind of our customers is our top priority, and each product sold by our Group is subject to the ST Standards, inspections by third-party accredited inspection organizations, and safety testing based on our own standards according to product use scenarios. In addition, we are practicing product manufacturing that enhances safety based on feedback from customers who have used our products.

Initiatives on Toy Products Procured from Other Companies

In order to verify that the toy products we handle meet the ST Standard, a safety standard in the toy industry, we have built a system for collating product information and ST testing certification dates.
This enables our toy business divisions to obtain information about products they intend to source from manufacturers and verify a product’s ST certification information before selling it. This system ensures that we do not distribute products which cannot be confirmed to be ST Standard-certified.

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Efforts to Optimize and Improve the Productivity of the Entire Supply Chain

Aiming to optimize and upgrade operations together with manufacturers, retailers, materials suppliers, contract factories, and many other business partners, we have built a system that enables us to respond quickly to business partner plans through such means as implementing electronic data interchange (EDI).

In addition, we strive to deliver safe products to our customers. We establish product safety guidelines that apply not only to products we manufacture but also to those procured from other companies, coordinate information with all of our business partners, and establish necessary business procedures.

Fair and Equitable Transactions

The business of a corporation stands on the diverse and varied support and cooperation of its many stakeholders, including business partners, consumers, employees, and shareholders.

Recognizing this fact, in order to further increase the trust that society has placed in it, the Happinet Group is constantly considering what is fair and equitable and acts accordingly.

In addition, we perform code of conduct audits of the labor environments at our major overseas contract factories through third-party agencies. These audits cover both the tangible aspects of factory facilities and equipment, and intangible aspects, such as work regulations and health management.

Further, with regard to the issues of forced labor, child labor, and nonpayment of wages, we also conduct audits in accordance with the labor laws and other laws and regulations of the countries where our contract factories are located.

Logistics-oriented Initiatives to Improve Quality

Aiming to improve quality, our logistics division collects statistics on breakages, under- and over-shipped goods, and other quality problems. The division then holds monthly Quality Improvement Committee meetings to discuss and draft measures to improve quality. The committee specifies indicators for managing logistics quality and defines Group-wide indicators. In the event that established targets are not achieved, the committee engages in a detailed investigation of the causes, considers countermeasures, and operates schemes thus implemented.

In addition, we have held Quality Improvement Meetings with carriers continuously since 2010. These meetings are attended by Happinet Group members in charge of logistics and representatives from transport carriers that the Group contracts. During the meetings, participants work together to consider measures to make improvements after the occurrence of shipping damage and incorrect deliveries, as well as measures to meet customer demands.