In an era of climate change, do beware recurrence of previous disasters.
Credit: Popular Photography
That is the factory in Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand.
The same factory that Nikon now says they want to place all their camera making bets on.
The company has 24,632 employees.
According to a DP Review article, a visit to Sendai factory observed 352 employees.
352 out of 24,632 is 0.014.
Thus not sure what extent of labour cost savings they are talking about.
Camera making accounts for 38.2% of revenue in Nikon.
Nikon has numerous other factories in Japan making other types of products. Those remain in Japan AFAIK.
Beside Imaging Products Business, Nikon is into Precision Equipment Business, Healthcare Business, Industrial Metrology and others.
By this move you can see Nikon is giving the other business segments higher profile. Especially the Healthcare Business.
Imaging Products Business seems in a sense, "demoted" within the company.
It is a good news for Thailand.
But it is bad domestic labour news for Japan. When local jobs in Japan are sacrificed.
US made a big complaint about when their Rust Belt factories got hollowed out and manufacturing went overseas.
[Made in Japan] is still an illustrious marketing accolade. Do not under estimate the importance of this.
Whether consumers worldwide will tolerate Nikon's move remains to be seen.
Credit: petapixel.com
It is also good news for competitors that continue to make their top camera models in Japan.
No doubt they will highlight [Made in Japan] prominently in their product advertisements and brochures.
Just to rub it in. And denigrate Nikon ( and Olympus?) indirectly.