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Kobe Steel’s president, Hiroya Kawasaki, told reporters the company had uncovered nine more types of products whose inspections had been faked or manipulated, including copper alloy pipes and molds and steel wire rods used in vehicle tires and engines.
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The exact extent of the problem remains unclear since Kobe Steel has not identified the customers affected. But it is a major supplier to many manufacturers, including railways, automakers, aircraft manufacturers, semiconductor factories and nuclear power plants.
According to the company’s website, Kobe Steel has a 50 percent world market share for wire rod products, a 40 percent world market share for built-up and solid crankshafts used in ship propulsion systems and half the Japan market share for aluminum panels used in engine hoods for vehicles.
The company also makes casks for nuclear waste and other equipment used in both conventional and atomic power plants.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., said Friday it had bought a backup duct for a heat exchanger for one of four reactors at one of two nuclear power reactors in northeastern Japan’s Fukushima that narrowly survived the 2011 tsunami despite some damage.
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