Safety and Quality of Products and Services

• Quality Assurance
• Product and Service Safety
• Product and Service Information Disclosure
• Training and Education Related to Product and Service Quality and Safety Management
• Product and Service-Related Legal Violations, etc.

Quality Assurance

Quality Management System

The Yamaha Group has formulated the Group Quality Management Policies & Rules to help it continue to provide satisfying customer experiences through products and services, and a plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle is implemented to drive improvements in product and service quality.

Under the oversight of the Board of Directors, Yamaha Corporation has established the Quality Strategy Committee, which is chaired by an executive officer, as an advisory body to the president. This committee discusses Groupwide quality policies and objectives as well as important quality-related measures and reports its findings to the president. Based on guidance from the president, business divisions and Group companies set their own targets based on Groupwide quality policies and objectives. The Quality Assurance Division of Yamaha Corporation conducts monitoring to confirm the degree to which these targets are met and to perform quality audits, and reports on these matters are issued to the Quality Strategy Committee. In addition, we have established regulations stating that serious quality issues and their responses are to be managed in a concentrated manner by the head of the Quality Assurance Division of Yamaha Corporation in order to strengthen Groupwide quality assurance governance.

Quality Audits

Auditors of the Yamaha Corporation Quality Assurance Division conduct quality audits of business divisions and Group companies. Quality audits go beyond confirming the levels of compliance and effectiveness of quality management systems to inspect the safety, effectiveness, and labeling appropriateness of principal products sold by the Yamaha Group (approximately 20 products a year). Audits are performed of product businesses as well as service businesses, such as those associated with our music schools and resorts, from the perspective of customer safety. The issues and best practices identified through quality audits are shared with business divisions and Group companies to refine and improve the effectiveness of quality management systems and ultimately to heighten customer satisfaction. At the same time, product business divisions issue instructions to and perform audits of the Group companies they oversee, both inside and outside Japan, in pursuit of higher product quality.

Quality Management System Certification

Certification has been acquired under the ISO 9001 standard in relation to the Yamaha Group’s core businesses, namely its musical instruments, audio equipment, industrial machinery and components, and golf businesses. For the automobile interior wood component business, we have acquired certification under IATF 16949, an international standard developed specifically for the automotive industry.

As of March 31, 2025, quality management system certification had been acquired for 78.1% of the Group’s operations (on an employee number basis).

Product and Service Safety

In order to protect the safety of customers, a top priority, the Yamaha Group endeavors to ensure and improve product and service safety through safety-conscious product design, product inspections, compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and regular inspections of and improvements to the facilities and furnishing of music schools worldwide.

Safety-Conscious Product Design

The Yamaha Group practices safety-conscious product design, and its efforts include incorporating a risk assessment process into design reviews at the development phase. Through the risk assessment process, we identify and project potential risks related to products and their use. We are thereby able to examine methods for the minimization or removal of these risks during the product design process.

To facilitate these efforts, we are entrenching the R-Map risk assessment method^* as we move ahead with activities to further enhance the effectiveness of our risk assessments.

• The R-Map risk assessment method proposed by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers entails mapping risks on a 6 x 5 matrix. This method is utilized for reducing risks during design processes and for evaluating product risks. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation also evaluate risks using the R-Map method.

Product Safety Testing Facilities

The Yamaha Group has constructed a testing building within the premises of its headquarters equipped with safeguards against fires and explosions for the purpose of verifying the safety of components and products. This full range of in-house safety testing facilities has been installed in this building. In addition, the building is also used to advance development of safety verification methods and research projects for predicting deterioration patterns.

Response to Product Regulations and Standards of Different Countries

The Yamaha Group monitors trends regarding regulations, formulates internal policies, and implements systems to guarantee full compliance with the regulations and standards of relevant countries pertaining to product quality and safety as well as environmental protection, cybersecurity, and data. Internal standards are established and revised in reflection of regulatory expansions and revisions and the introduction of new voluntary standards. In addition, information is shared among overseas subsidiaries to facilitate swift and accurate response to changes in the regulatory environments of countries of operation while frameworks for managing regulatory information are reinforced.

In response to the recent global tightening of regulations applying to electromagnetic waves and energy conservation, Yamaha Corporation has installed electromagnetic wave measurement equipment and various other kinds of measurement, analysis, and evaluation equipment at its facilities. This equipment is used to evaluate product and component prototypes for compliance with the regulations of relevant countries. Regulations for chemical substances have also become more stringent. To ensure compliance with these regulations, the Company has implemented a management system for chemical substances contained in products and established its own Standards for Chemical Content in Products. These standards have been used to manage chemical substances across the supply chain during the product design and development phases and have helped facilitate legal compliance while reducing environmental impacts.

Immediate Action in the Event of Product Safety Issues

The Yamaha Group takes steps to prevent safety issues involving its products and services and has put in place a system to ensure that it places top priority on the safety of customers as a precaution for the unlikely event of a safety issue. When an employee becomes aware of a safety issue, they will quickly report it to the relevant division. The division that receives the report will immediately notify the quality assurance division for the respective business. Steps will then be taken to respond to the affected customers, notify the appropriate government authorities, and initiate measures aimed at preventing recurrence. Should the relevant business divisions determine that the issue is particularly serious, a report will be submitted to senior management and the head of the Quality Assurance Department of Yamaha Corporation shall assemble representatives from the relevant departments from across the Company.

Product and Service Information Disclosure

The Yamaha Group conducts advertising and promotions that accurately convey the details of products and services to customers. At the same time, we strive to provide accurate information related to our products and services in accordance with laws and regulations. We have stated these principles in our Compliance Code of Conduct.

Furthermore, the Group provides and discloses safety information in a timely and appropriate manner to ensure that the products, services, and facilities it offers do not have an adverse impact on the lives, health, or assets of people.

Appropriate Disclosure of Product and Service Information

To ensure appropriate disclosure of information on its products and services, labeling confirmation processes have been incorporated into quality management systems.

Instruction manuals, catalogs, websites, and other accessible mediums provide product and service specifications and other basic information as well as information on the safe use of these offerings in order to educate customers on safe usage methods and prevent accidents. In addition, we provide safety awareness information about school instruments and equipment on our corporate website and in catalogs.

The Company has defined procedures and workflows for use in the event that a product defect or product or service-related accident occur, which include notifying the relevant authorities as legally required and promptly providing recall and other information necessary for ensuring customer safety in the appropriate manner. When such issues are deemed particularly serious or urgent, the Company will take the necessary steps to inform customers via the channels viewed as appropriate based on sales and usage trends. Such channels may include announcements via websites, press conferences, newspapers, specialized magazines, social media, direct mailings, and telephone calls.

In January 2025, an accident occurred in which a sound field panel that had been installed at a school more than two decades ago fell, causing light injuries to students of the school. To prevent similar accidents, we have provided information on how users of said panels can receive free inspections on our corporate website in March 2025.

Training and Education Related to Product and Service Quality and Safety Management

The Yamaha Group provides regular training and education in relation to relevant regulations and social expectations as it takes steps to improve the quality and safety of its products and services. In addition to general training programs for all employees, our training programs include rank-based training as well as specialized training for relevant personnel with the goal of improving quality awareness and quality management skills. We have also been implementing initiatives for improving employee awareness through increased receptiveness by sharing information on customer input and quality improvement measures via an intranet site detailing lessons that can be learned from customer experiences and physical displays on the floors of buildings where development divisions are located.

Moreover, November has been designated as our annual quality awareness month, during which we arrange quality-related seminars, workplace team meetings, and various other activities aimed at raising employee awareness. In 2024, we once again arranged online seminars for all domestic Yamaha Group employees on the science of learning from failures, which represents one approach toward prevention. More than 600 individuals took part in these seminars, which were focused on fostering the logical thinking and communication skills needed for exercising the science of learning from failures.

Product and Service-Related Legal Violations, etc.

Legal Violations Involving the Safety of Products and Services

In fiscal 2025, there were no legal violations resulting in punishment in relation to product safety.

Serious Quality Issues

From the perspectives of safety and product-related regulations, the Yamaha Group defines serious quality issues as those that can potentially or necessarily have serious or widespread impacts on customers or on society. Measures are implemented to minimize the impacts on customers and society from such issues.

In fiscal 2025, five serious product issues occurred, of which one was a new issue requiring a recall.