Craftsmanship an Old Slogan? Japan’s Top Motor Maker Hit by 850 Quality Violations

Japan’s manufacturing reputation is facing another damaging test. Nidec, one of the country’s leading global motor manufacturers, has been swept up in a large-scale quality scandal.

An investigative committee examining the company’s quality problems identified 850 cases of misconduct, the Nikkei newspaper reported on the 5th. The scale of the findings has raised fresh questions about the reliability of practices long associated with Japanese manufacturing.

The scandal has struck at confidence in the country’s vaunted tradition of craftsmanship. Nidec, formerly known as Nippon Denki, is now at the center of concerns over whether that tradition still matches the reality inside Japan’s factories.