We wish to send you all readers a message on the event of the 400th issue of this series of courses.

We have been issuing this series of technical courses on plastic molds for about seven years now. Perhaps this is the first time in the world that such internet contents related to the plastic molding technology have been continuing for so long with uploading frequency of once a week. The contents of these courses were left to the free will of the author, and while they covered a wide range of topics such as molding materials, steels, strength calculations, thermodynamics, odd but general knowledge, or technology trends, etc., perhaps it was difficult for the readers to read because of the succession of rambling topics, and the author is also contrite feeling that it might have been hard for the readers to keep up with the topics.

At the time that series of courses was started, the economies in Japan and in the world were healthy, and it was not possible at all to predict that an economic shuddering such as the present would ever happen. However, looking back, over the past seven years, the environment surrounding the molds for plastic molding have definitely changed although gradually, such as advances in computers, progresses in machine tools and machining, appearance of new plastic materials, etc. Although it is this author's opinion that sudden changes such as economic fluctuations will continue to affect in the future the mold technology and it is certain that there will be gradual and definite changes.

Even under such wild economic fluctuations such as the present one, there are mold manufacturers who are extremely busy. These companies have one thing in common among all of them, that is, these companies have been steadily and definitely carrying out research and technology development from some time before. Although it is thought that technology development and research require large sums of money, it is the author's opinion that irrespective of whether small or large sums of money are spent, the crucial factor is whether or not the topic paid attention to is the right one or the wrong one.

In addition, how fast the actions are taken and the acceleration of actions is very important. One of the most important factors that obstruct technology development is that decision making and acceleration of activities are stagnant. In particular, in large companies, there is a terrible phenomenon in which the wasteful time spent on indirect work such as drawing the conclusions, preparing the documents for decision making, getting them signed by various parties concerned, circulating preliminary documents for decision making and getting consensus, etc., delay research and development by putting them on the back burner. On the other hand, in a medium scale or small scale company, many opportunities come to the people if experiments and verifications are made at an accelerated pace.

Although these days it is possible to reach easily 90% of the design and fabrication of molds using publicly available information and technology, the approaches for coming closer to 100% become the differences in technology. The strength to meet the remaining 10% becomes the competitive strength of the company. It is not sufficient merely to compete about the speed of reaching up to 90%. We wish that you become technicians who compete abut how quickly and definitely the completion of the final 10% is made.

Enhancing this technology depends on how highly reliable technical information is gathered. Prototype preparation and experiments are a typical example. It is also very important to build up the ability to spot the real thing from among a lot of technical information that is going around. Since the range and depth of the information given to all of you readers through these courses are limited, we will continue to send the maximum possible information within the permissible range.

Further, we have also heard that there are many Japanese readers who are active in foreign countries. We wish to touch upon the technological trends in Japan at suitable times.

Although this time the discussion was wandering about various aspects, the author's wish is only that all of you will continue to manufacture products that support the happy lives of people all over the world using expert and refined mold technology. As a mold technologist, the author wishes to carry out the pursuit over one's own entire life.