Kawakin Holdings Co., a Japanese maker of earthquake shock absorbers, said Tuesday it had fabricated quality data for products, in yet another scandal affecting the country's construction equipment industry.
Kawakin said its oil damper maker unit altered quality data for four quake absorption and 89 quake control devices shipped between February 2005 and last month, when they did not meet standards agreed with customers.
The announcement, which sparked worry and anger among the owners of public and private facilities equipped with the products, came just days after another manufacturer, KYB Corp, admitted to falsifying quality data for similar products for over a decade, possibly affecting around 1,000 buildings nationwide.
"We deeply apologize to our business partners and product owners," said Kawakin Holdings President Shinkichi Suzuki at a press conference at the land ministry in Tokyo.
The problematic products have been installed in 93 structures in 26 of Japan's 47 prefectures, including 31 educational facilities, 13 government buildings and 16 offices, according to Kawakin, listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The company, headquartered in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, did not disclose the names of the affected properties. But some local governments said the devices were used in their facilities.
The Saitama prefectural government said 12 devices believed to have been shipped with fabricated data were used in its main building.
Besides the 93 structures, Kawakin also said it had altered data for quake control devices shipped to Taiwan and likely to other Asian markets. It said the details were still being determined.
The misconduct was found following an internal probe after KYB, which has the largest share of about 40 percent in the seismic isolator and damping device market in Japan, reported data fabrication last week.
Kawakin said a total of three inspectors falsified the data, with one having left the company years ago, and their motive was probably to meet delivery dates.
Suzuki denied company-wide wrongdoing, saying the falsification was only known by a limited number of inspectors, adding it remains unclear how the malpractice would affect earnings.
The products in question were made by Koyo Seiki Co. and shipped by Kawakin Core-Tech Co., subsidiaries of the holding company.
The infrastructure ministry has ordered 88 makers of quake absorption devices in Japan to report by this week whether there were similar cases of malpractice, moving up the initial deadline of year-end.
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