Today, Takuya Hashimoto operates a cutting-edge high-speed machine center and is a member of a team producing precision molds used for making parts for mobile phones and other equipment.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. pays great attention to all aspects of all parts – even those that users do not see, such as hinge mounting angles of cellular phones, mating surfaces, surface flatness, and print quality on equipment. As a result, processing accuracy, timing and so on for mold making are strictly set.

Even winning gold at the National Skills Competition is not qualification enough to be in charge of this important role. After the Competition, he continues to gain experience from making simple molds, such as for the drum of a washing machine, the shadow mask of a CRT tube, or a digital camera tube and even more complicated dies.

Takuya’s colleagues expect micrometer dimensional accuracy with conventional milling machines. He can apply the experience of μm manual control to machining center processes, using the most appropriate procedure, setup and choice of cutting tool. This has a favorable impact not only on his technical skills, but also on ingenuity, creativity and a professional approach to problem-solving.

Two years have passed since the Competition and Takuya is now responsible for even more difficult tasks. Recently, he was required to establish a new production process. Put simply, the task was to manufacture a number of molds in parallel. This was a big challenge to increase productivity and accuracy of the NC machine tool is essential in this process. Takuya’s role ranges from choosing cutting tools to checking the program.
This autumn, the products he made the molds for will come on the market. Smiling, he says, “I will buy one as soon as it is in the shops. I’ll be very happy to have a product I worked so hard on.”

-Making a mold for a mobile phone case	-Case parts	-Mobile phone with digital TV function.

Born in 1981, Takuya Hashimoto graduated from Sadamitsu Technical High School in Tokushima. He joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd in 2000 and won a gold medal in the milling machine skill category at the 41st National Skills Competition. Takuya is now a member of the production control group.

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