Vol.3 Secrets of Glass Insert Molding with In-mold Decoration Development | Secret of Development | Pioneer of In-mold decoration

Vol.3 Secrets of Glass Insert Molding with In-mold Decoration Development／New technology developed from resolving existing problems and continuous challenges

Along with the increasing popularity of smart phones
and tablets, an important technical issue of how to attach
a glass panel to the plastic base had arisen.
The Glass Insert Molding with In-mold Decoration,
the integrally molding of glass and plastic,
was born in such a challenge.

Market demand: "Panels with blocking property"

Back in 2005, when the smart phones and tablets were not as familiar as they are today, General Manager, Mr. Nakayama, suggested the idea of the panel with blocking property. Then we once started developing the panel, however, breaking glass problem forced us to give up. Later, the fast popularization of all those smart phones and tablets pushed up the demand of "Panels with blocking property" again.
Generally, the cover glass of LCD were attached to the plastic bodies with glue or tape. In this way, certain amount of spaces are needed for gluing or taping. It results that displays get smaller and the visibilities get reduced.
There was another problem with this method. There could be a gap between the body and the glass, and dust might enter into the gap affecting the clarity of the display.

Ideas from the pioneers of In-mold technology

Naoto Aida, a system engineer, and Kosaku Otsuka, a group leader, who came up with the idea of placing the glass between the tools and making it into monolithic molding, started developing the Glass In-Mold technology. The excellence of making it into monolithic molding is it can avoid having dusts coming inside from the gaps between the body and the glass. It is an unique idea only the In-Mold technology pioneer can think of. The first difficulty was glass breaking problem. We faced this problem every time we insert the glass into the tools.

But we, Yoshida Technoworks, never give up.
It is worth challenging because no other companies can achieve. There is a new technology which can be seized only when we have a spirit of challenge that we never say something is impossible.

Our strong desires established a new technology

We solved the problem of the glass breakage by using tempered glass. However, the strength in attaching the plastic and the glass becomes new problem.
We developed a special adhesive to ensure enough strength even if the device drop on the ground.
Even we faced various problems in waterproof property or adhesion property, Kosaku Otsuka made machine tools with available materials around himself and solved the problem one by one.
"If you have a problem, you think a new method to solve it," Kosaku Otsuka says without hesitation, but he might have much of his effort and hard work.

In these three years, we have developed the Glass Insert Molding with In-mold Decoration

In 3 years of development, the technology of Glass Insert Molding which was placing the glass between the tools and making it into monolithic molding, was established. It broke the existing convention.

This technology has commercialized for smart phones.
We want to create products even more beautiful than those that currently exist.
We want to create products more useful than their predecessors.

It was Yoshida Technowork's dedication as a manufacturer that created the Glass Insert Molding with In-mold Decoration technology.