May 2008

P.6 Interview

Hitoshi Yamada, Director, PEC Industrial Education Center

P.19 The Exquisite “X”

What Are the Structural Advantages Learned from Silkworms?

P.23 Breaking News

New Steel Plates with Improved Metal Fatigue Resistance at Welding Points - Sumitomo Metal Industries Controls the Occurrence and Development of Metal Fatigue Fissures

P.27 Breaking News

Matsushita Electric Completely Reworks Its Fuel Cells, and Looks for an Opportunity to Move to Mass Production

P.29 Breaking News

The New Version of SpaceClaim Makes Modeling Possible with Drawing Representation

P.31 Breaking News

Toho Tenax Has Molding Technology for Cars in Sight, Adding Fuel to Competition in Development

P.33 Breaking News

Movement to Reform Automobile Recall System, With Rapid Release of Information on Accidents and Defects

P.35 Breaking News

Kobe Steel Develops High-Performance Steel Sheets For Use in Magnetic Shielding for Flat-Panel TV Receivers and the Like

P.36 Detailed Reports

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ New Passenger Jet is Looking Strong With Its Next-Generation Engine

P.40 Detailed reports

Protecting 3D Data from Unlawful Use

P.50 Cover Story

Japan’s Factories Fight Back with Robots

P.52   Part 1: More and More Revolutionary Robot Factories

P.54   Part 2: Why Are Robots a Hot Topic Again?

P.60   Part 3: Examples - Denso, Roland, Sanoh Industrial, NTN, Fujitsu Ten, Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi

P.81   Part 4: The Factory of the Near Future

P.86 Series: The Environment

Mitsubishi Electric’s Environmental Friendly Factory - Reducing Costs by 100 Million Yen Through Energy Visualization

P.93 Special Report

Yurikamome  (Transit System) Hub Failure Accident

P.107 Sites in Figures

Passing On Know-How

P.123 Mechatronics Course - The Plan to Develop a Tea-Serving Automaton - Detailed Design Edition

Part 2: Management and Investigation of Design Objectives (2)

P.134 Toyota-Style Human Resources Development

Part 2: Forward-Looking to Prepare for Changes in the Market

P.139 Points of Factory Safety

Part 2: The Basics of Interlock

P.148 The Substance of Geometric Tolerance

Part 2: Notation of Old JIS Standards

P.152 Talking About Manufacturing in English

Part 14 - Production Lead Time

P.154 SME Relay

Akebono Machine Industries Co., Ltd. - Fighting for Top Share in the 3 Fields Related to Cutting Equipment

Sankei High-Precision Co., Ltd. - Development of Barrel Polishing Equipment for Finishing That Is Particularly Well-Suited to Precision Processing of Resistant Metals

P.230 The Master

100% Energy-Saving Homes

P.236 Documentary - Factories

Yamamoto Manufacturing - The Road to Equalization  Part 2 - Linking Process with Process

P.242 Frank Opinion

Large Corporations Should Open Up “Manufacturing Master Schools” Internally