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Plastic Molding Tutorial

#044 On the 400th Issue of These Courses - Part 2

Category : Technical Topics
June 4, 2010

The industry of plastic mold in Japan has been affected by the world-wide economic depression, and is, on the whole, in a stagnant state. However, there are some types of industries that are very robust, depending on the field in which they are active. Further, although Japan has a population of only 130 million people, but there are about 7 billion persons living in this world. If our eyes are turned towards the entire globe, we come to know that the demand for plastic products is extraordinarily huge. Considering that about 40% of the amount spent in the world on mold production is spent on molds made in Japan, it is easy to say that the potential capacity of Japan in molds is very strong in the world.

When we think of the industry of the plastic injection mold from now on, in order to acquire high value orders in the world market, the molds need to be the following:

(1)Molds that can guarantee the quality of molded articles
(2)Molds that offer a high production capacity
(3)Molds that are easy to maintain
(4)Molds that can manufacture special molded products.

The molds that meet the needs such as the above are very highly evaluated in the world market, and even their prices are at appropriately high levels.

However, there will also be practical problems about business matching. While Japan is a country where only Japanese is used for all purposes and it is common for students to study foreign languages such as English for three years in junior high school, three years in senior high school, (and possibly 4 years in the university). In the case of most Japanese persons, in spite of having six to ten years of English language education, Japanese people are not competent in carrying on business communication in English. It is very important from now on that all Japanese persons in the mold industry who will be the back bone of the industry increase their ability in practical English.

Even if it is a single sheet of mold drawing, it takes quite a bit of time to translate that into English. The business chance will be lost if time is consumed for translation. Also, if the translation is entrusted to a translation company, it will be necessary to pay translation charges that are almost equal to the design charges. In order to convert the pinch into an opportunity one has to have the braveness and quickness of wit as if to take out chestnuts from the fire. On this event of reaching the 400th course in this series, one more thing that the author would like to recommend to all readers is that it is important to spend one's time in improving one's English ability.

In order to obtain orders from a good foreign company, it is necessary to converse in English or other languages with the mold designers or managers of the foreign customer company, and to exchange opinions smoothly with them. At present in Japan, the number of mold technicians who can use English for business sufficiently is very small indeed. Don't you think this is an opportunity? If you utilize your free time, it is possible to spend about 200 hours in a year. It is necessary to know that such a method of making efforts is there for opening up new vistas.

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