Kumho Tire Triple Doors: "True Acceptance", "False Discontinuation", "Recalling"

At 5:00 pm on March 29th, 2011, Kumho Tire Co., Ltd., in front of the Tianjin Binhai Plant, lined up more than a dozen Kumho buses that shuttle employees to and from work. The taxi driver next to them waited patiently. A trader who drove the Changhe River to sell water laid out a variety of beverages in turn. Beside the slight deviation from the gate of Kumho Lake, the kebabs of the kebabs began to roast and smell....

It seems that since the “15 March” CCTV exposure exceeded the standard and used “back-grade rubber” for two weeks, Tianjin Jinhu Tire, which had been ordered to suspend production by the relevant state agencies, was not as serious as the outside world had thought.

“Kumho has been implementing the “three-shift” production system, and it is not producing during the day, but the production work at night continues.” According to one person who had entered Tianjin Kumho production workshop in the past few days, he told reporters. The ground floor of the workshop is clean and clean. The next day, you will see obvious production of dust. “Although the country has suspended 13 3C certificates, the factory is still producing at night.”

Is it “repeated to change” or is it hidden? Tianjin Kumho “violation” stems from process problems or management problems? With many suspense, the reporter gradually penetrated into the interior of Kumho Tires.

Discontinued two sets of standards

According to a person from Tianjin Jinhu Production Department, since the “exposure” on March 15th, the Tianjin and Binhai New Area Quality Supervision Bureau had entered the Kumho Company for a law enforcement inspection, sample inspection, and ordered the company to The investigation of the production and sales of related products was stopped before the facts were found. On March 16th, the China Quality Certification Center suspended 13 sheets of 3C certificates for Kumho tire products and ordered the relevant products not to be sold.

However, the reporter noticed that on the morning of March 29th, in the main entrance of the Jinhu Tire Plant Area of ​​the Tianjin Development Zone, there were still a lot of trucks waiting for the loading and unloading of tires, and some were walking through the factory. At the main entrance of Kumho Tyres, a lorry owner who is waiting for pick-up to help Kumho deliver raw materials for a long period of time said that although his car is empty, Kumho Tire still depresses his car to prevent the outside world from seeing the vehicle coming in and going out. , And think the factory is still in production. The announcement posted at the main entrance of Kumho Tire also stated that vehicles from 11 o'clock to 13 o'clock will not be permitted to enter the factory area. And some employees in the factory told reporters that production has not completely stopped.

When the reporter threw Kumho Tire's production problem at night into a manager of the TEDA Administrative Committee, the person immediately expressed disbelief, but she later said that Kumho Tire was stopped for Domestic production and sales of 3C certification, therefore, Kumho Tire is likely to be in the production of export products abroad.

It is understood that 50% of Kumho Tire's products manufactured in China are used for export, and are mainly exported to European and American markets. "European and American countries have much higher certification standards for tires than China, and they have frequently raised standards in recent years." A tire industry official told reporters that since June 2007, the United States has started implementing FMVSS139. The biggest feature of the tire test standards is that the safety parameters are more stringent than the original standards; in the EU, the new “Registration, Evaluation, Licensing, and Restriction System for Chemicals” was also implemented in 2007. This policy requires tire companies to 30,000 kinds of chemicals are evaluated for safety. “The quality standards of tires currently being implemented in China are the standards released 20 years ago. There have been no changes for many years and they have lagged behind the current speed of development of automobiles and roads.”

If this is the case, if Kumho Tire still produces products exported to Europe and the United States, it will at least be able to show that this part of the product meets the stringent requirements. However, the question is whether the products that are manufactured by Kumho Tire for the Chinese market are experiencing quality problems. Is Kumho Tire using the "double standard" when facing the European, American and Chinese markets?

In response, Zhao Huaqiao, head of the marketing department of Kumho Tire's Shanghai headquarters, responded that whether or not the Tianjin plant has completely shut down needs to be understood. However, as of press time, the other party has not given relevant information.

Craftsmanship

In fact, as early as the CCTV exposure, Kumho Tire's "quality problems" have appeared many times.

According to the AQSIQ website, Kumho Tire’s "Propriety Division" disclosed that: from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2008, many owners indicated that Kumho Tire had serious quality problems; in 2008, Kyba Tire's supporting Buick Excelle appeared "abnormal drum kits" In May 2009, China Consumers Association announced that it had received 495 complaints against tires in 2008, of which the more serious was the bulging and side cracking of Kumho Tyre.

However, the cries from consumers not only failed to get the attention of Kumho Tire's senior executives for a long time, but they constantly encountered Kumho Tire's "shouted accusations": In June 2009, he served as general manager of Kumho (China) tire sales company. Says: “The 24.8 million tires produced by Kumho are not bulged but only God can do it” and are “inappropriate for consumers”.

On the second day after being exposed, Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. first refused to admit it, saying that its “back-grade rubber” used in tire production was not a defective product and there was no quality problem. Until the afternoon of March 21, Li Hanyi, president of Kumho Tire China, officially issued an apology statement to consumers through CCTV’s “Consumer Claims” column. He said that after the investigation, he discovered that the “constructed section” was not in accordance with the company’s internal standards. The facts of production also confirmed the fact that the management and supervision personnel of the Kumho Tire Tianjin Plant were neglecting their duties.

However, Kumho did not express enough sincerity about the sensitive topics such as how large the production scope of Tianjin Kumho is in terms of the production scope of the process, how the production capacity is geometry, and how Kumho's internal “back-grade” rubber is defined.

According to reports, the Rubber Division of the former Ministry of Chemical Industry stipulated in the "Regulations for Meridian Tire Technology" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") formulated in May 1991 that the percentage of recycled rubber blended in the tread pressing process is not greater than 20 %; The side rubber, shoulder pad rubber, apex rubber extrusion process back to the rubber should be separated according to the different types of plastic back, after the film is mixed, the proportion of not more than 20%.

However, since the cancellation of the Ministry of Chemical Industry in 1998, the role of the “Regulations” has been gradually diluted, and the relevant quality inspection departments have not followed the “Regulations” to test the tire products, only after the Kumho tires were exposed. The "Regulation" was re-inverted again. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine only stated that everything must wait until the results of the investigation of laboratory tests come out before explaining.

Tire industry veteran told reporters that the tires are mainly divided into the three parts of the tire tread, sidewalls and fetal base, the largest tread contact area, the highest demand, CCTV lens exposure shows that Kumho tires are mainly used in the sidewall part of a large number of mixed The proportion of rubber blended is more than 30%. Therefore, the Kumho Tire's side cracks and bulging problems mentioned by the aforementioned consumers have only been solved.

In this connection, the reporter asked Zhao Huaqiao again for confirmation, but Zhao only emphasized that Kumho Tire's “back-grade rubber” was not a “defective product” and was a “point material” produced during the production process. However, for more information, he refused on the grounds of a meeting. Interview with reporters.

Management: Poor communication

At the same time as the Kumho Tire Incident worsened, Kumho Tires announced on March 21 that it had already removed three duty-holder positions in order to eliminate the adverse impact. According to a survey conducted by the reporters, the three were the general manager of Tianjin Jinhu Tire Co., the head of the production department and the head of the quality assurance department, and both were Koreans.

According to report, at the beginning of 2011, Kumho Tire replaced most of the management. Now Lee Han-ho, the president of China, has just taken office in January; at the same time, the public relations officer of Kumho Tire has been left vacant for a long time, resulting in consumer-reflected quality. The issue is hardly valued by top Korean officials.

In this regard, Zhao Huaqiao said: "At present our company is actively working internally to collect necessary information and work closely with all parties."

“In Kumho, most of the former chiefs (including section chiefs) are Koreans. This year, they intend to reduce this ratio.” The above sources stated that after targeting China as an important target market, they are mainly located in the medium and low areas. Kumho in the end-of-tire market has realized the above deficiencies. In 2010, Kumho Tire also organized a group of reporters and consumers to visit the Tianjin factory.

According to industry veterans who are familiar with Nanjing Kumho tires, the Nanjing Kumho factory is a joint venture company. Although the Korean company holds more than 70% of the shares, Nanjing Kumho general manager Huang Guozhong is Chinese and has a “strong” management. The veteran said, "Tianjin Kumho is a Korean-owned company, and South Koreans occupy all major positions. Although this can improve efficiency, the lack of checks and balances in management and localization is not enough to make Tianjin Kumho management innate."

In addition, the above-mentioned veteran also stated that the parent company of Kumho Tire, Hanya Group, involves a large number of industries, while the financial, banking, and aviation industries are much more important in the Asian-Asian Group than the tire industry. Some companies that focus on the tire industry, Kumho has not a deep accumulation of tire technology.

After exposure to the sun, it is still unknown where Kumho Tires will go in the future, but one thing is for sure, before the final results of the AQSIQ's sample inspections came out (Tianjin TEDA Quality Supervision Bureau It is said that the final confirmation result will be announced within two weeks.) Kumho Tires will also have to wait in trepidation. What about after this?

Data link

What is a back gel?

Blending is a process in the production of tires. It mixes raw materials such as rubber, carbon black, vulcanizing agents, accelerators, antioxidants, etc., and refines them in a compounding machine to become a compounded rubber. After quality inspection, it is used in the following. The production process. Unqualified mixes are tested and blended into the next mix as raw materials. These unqualified mixes are called back mixes.

What kind of supervision do we need?

While the problems of management confusion and poor communication in Kumho Tire China were exposed, at the same time, in the “Kumho Gate” incident, the domestic quality inspection department was also pushed to the cusp.

During the investigation in Tianjin, the reporter asked the relevant personnel of the Tianjin Development Zone Quality Inspection Bureau, the Binhai New Area Quality Inspection Bureau, the Tianjin Quality Inspection Bureau, and the AQSIQ from the bottom up, but the answers were almost identical: the test results were not yet available. Out of this, there is a lack of relevant standards in the country. The recall plan for Kumho Tires announced on March 21 has been waiting for approval.

Indeed, it takes time for experimental testing of tire wear resistance and durability, but Kumho Tires are being used by 10 million vehicles, and the interests of consumers are once again ranked in the “missing supervision standards” and “required experimental results”. .

As for the next step in tire recalls, Jia Xinguang, an expert in the automotive industry, said that although the quality inspection department faces practical difficulties in product inspection equipment and funds, the current inspection procedures and future supervision methods can all be more reasonable: at present, the quality inspection department tests The tire products are mainly from the company "send inspections", not the quality inspection department to the market "sampling", such test results are clearly unfair; in the future, as "clenbuterol" testing can not be the same as a pig test It is more reasonable to attach importance to consumer complaints and find the complaint feedback mechanism immediately after finding a complaint. The random inspection and the emphasis on complaints are also commonly used internationally.

The problem now is that consumers’ enthusiasm for complaints must be mobilized and at least their complaints should be given feedback. If it is impossible to establish a set of detailed rules from the system, public complaints will not be answered, and the rights and interests of people cannot be guaranteed. Even the progress can not be known, and how can the “authority” of related departments be established after waiting for a survey result?

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