March 2007

P.6 Interview

Tetsuji Mino: President, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.

P.17 Kaleidoscope

Why do ultra high-end tissues sell well?, etc.

P.21 Detailed Reports

Siemens of Germany buys UGS of the US

P.23 Matsushita Electric’s technology to make digital cameras thinner

P.25 Why Honda, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and others are going into renewable energy

P.29 CoCreate offers free 3D CAD software

P. 31 National project supporting the development of electric car batteries gets under way

P. 32 The relationship between V-shaped recovery and R&D expenditure as seen at Matsushita Electric

and Mitsubishi Electric

P.48 Cover Story

Gas-Powered Cars - Tactics for Improving Fuel Consumption

P.50 Part 1: Environmental regulations - Urgent improvements in fuel consumption: Both domestic and

international regulations start to expand

P.52 Part 2: Approaches - Nissan, Daihatsu, Honda, Toyota, ART METAL MFG. CO, LTD., Nippon Piston Ring, TPR, Taiho Kogyo, Denso/Nittan Valve, Bridgestone, Idemitsu Kosan

P.78 Part 3: The year 2012 - Improvements in engine/transmission/control: Integrated approach sways

competitiveness

P.83 How to Select and Buy Low-Priced parts in China

Part 15: Rubber coming off heat rollers - Masterful techniques that are overlooked due to simplicity

P.87 New Ideas

Mechanism for cleaning drains using water from the bathtub, etc…

P.91 Search for Manufacturing

Success or failure is determined by whether you use arrangements or not

P.97 Special Report

Incidents of wheel bolts on large vehicles breaking off - the problem isn’t just in how they’re tightened

P.105 Learning from toys, the essence of manufacturing

P.113 The Method

ABCs for reforming/improving business (Final Part): application examples

P.118 Toyota Production System and its New Development (Final Part)

How to proceed with improvements and observation points

P.123 Documentary

Development of Lexus LS (Part 5): Breaking your back

P.128 Material Dynamics Mandala

Part 27 Urgent recommendation “Be cautious with constriction”

P.134 Introductory Course on Analysis for Designers

Part 14: Analysis of thermofluids (4) Nail down the flow route when taking heat countermeasures and also be careful of errors in testing results

P.139 Outstanding SMEs

AVEX/YAMAGEN CO., LTD.

P.212 The Master

Part 33: The dangers of being an impersonator

P.215 Accident Investigation

Combustion from a Matsushita Electric dishwasher

P.218 Frank Opinion

International standardization is a double-edged sword - It is indispensable to follow up by building a

business strategy