After Nikon, Olympus, another Japanese camera manufacturer, also closed down the Chinese factory.
On May 7, Olympus announced the suspension of production and shutdown of a digital camera production facility in Shenzhen. This company is named Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd. (Olympus Shenzhen Factory) and is mainly engaged in digital camera business. The production of related products.
Olympus confirmed that the Shenzhen plant had suspended production and shutdown on May 7. The estimated cost is currently being scrutinized and is expected to be announced on the May 11th March 2018 final account on May 11th.
Regarding the reasons for shutting down the Shenzhen factory, Olympus returned to the Xinhua News Agency on May 8. The productivity of the Olympus Shenzhen factory has dropped significantly with the dramatic shrinkage of the digital camera market brought about by the popularity of smartphones; , Olympus Shenzhen factory has been established for 26 years since its establishment, its equipment has also been aging, it is difficult to maintain competitiveness.
In view of the above, Olympus decided to stop the production of the Shenzhen plant and concentrate the production to Olympus Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Olympus Vietnam) in Dong Nai, Vietnam, to increase production efficiency and profitability, and strengthen Digital camera business in the international competitiveness.
Information provided by Olympus shows: Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd. was established in December 1991 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus. As of March 2018, Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial The number of employees is 1,774. From three years from 2015 to 2017, Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd. had revenues of HK$1.289 billion, HK$1.11 billion and HK$980 million respectively; the company did not lose money. The operating profit for the year was HK$28 million, HK$81.22 million and HK$32.65 million, respectively.
However, Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd. had about 15,000 people at its peak, not only the headquarters of Olympus in the Asia Pacific region, but also one of the largest camera and parts production bases in the Group. It was still in Shenzhen. In addition established a sub-factory.
However, as the smart phone's photography function becomes more and more powerful, the market for ordinary card machines is getting smaller and smaller. Nikon, Olympus and other vendors are powerless under the impact of smart phones, and some factories have been shut down.
Olympus (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd. door.
Chairman of the Olympus Shenzhen plant, General Manager Komatsu Koon wrote in the “Part of the Staff Report” that around 2002, in the new wave of technological advancement in the rapid development of silver salt film cameras to digital cameras, the Shenzhen factory also quickly expanded its business. The center shifted to a digital camera and established a system of digital camera lenses P9106 with a monthly production capacity of 1 million units, and grew into a factory with more than 12,000 employees.
However, since 2008, with the popularization of smart phones, the digital camera market has gradually shrunk, and the Shenzhen factory, which is the main factory, has dropped to 20% of the peak period. As a new business, the export business, which is also the mainstay of income generation, is accompanied by technological innovations. Entering the time of product replacement, many models ceased production in 2017.
In addition, Komatsu also mentioned that the Shenzhen plant has been in production for 24 years. Currently, the equipment is gradually aging and there is no room for export business. Therefore, the decision to suspend production is made.
Olympus said that due to the shrinking of the camera market worldwide and changes in China's socio-economic environment and other macroeconomic factors, the company's operating prospects are severe. The group has to adjust its business internally.
It is Nikon Japan that made the decision to close the plant earlier than Olympus. On October 30, 2017, Nikon’s digital camera factory in Wuxi was closed. The company will cease its subsidiary Nikon Optical Instruments (China) Limited in Wuxi. The company's business activities.
Nikon's closure is also due to the rapid development of smart phones, and the market for small digital cameras is shrinking. Nikon said that due to the popularity of smart phones, the market for card-type digital cameras is rapidly shrinking. Nikon related responsible person revealed During the five years from 2012 to 2016, the sales volume of the card-type digital camera decreased by 68%. During this time, the operating rate of the Wuxi plant was only 30%. It is clear that such operating rate cannot support the continuous operation of the factory.
According to an announcement issued by Nikon China, while the activities of Nikon Optical Instruments (China) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Wuxi, will cease operations, the factory responsible for the production of Nikon digital cameras and digital camera accessories will also be discontinued.
According to the latest data released by the Japan Camera Imaging Machine Industry Association (CIPA) on February 1, 2018, a total of 24.98 million digital cameras were shipped by camera manufacturers in Japan in 2017, an increase of 3.3% year-on-year. This is a digital camera worldwide. 7. The volume of goods increased again after 7 years.
A chart drawn by market research firm Statista based on CIPA data shows that: Since 2010, the digital camera industry has been in recession.
In recent years, smart phones have adopted new camera technologies such as dual cameras, which have begun to replace card SLRs in terms of functionality. It is not necessary to purchase card machines separately. In addition, as smart phones are improved in algorithm, SLR-like effects can be captured. This will also impact the sales of SLR cameras.
Capacity transfer to Southeast Asia
According to the Securities Times, the Olympus Shenzhen factory currently has three major operations, namely cameras, onboard cameras and microscopes. The camera business will be transferred to Vietnam; the on-board business will be uncertain and may not be done; the microscope business, high-end Moved back to Japan, and the rest went to Olympus (Guangzhou) Industrial Co., Ltd.
The transfer of foreign-owned factories from China to Southeast Asia is not just an example of Olympus.
In early 2017, the hard disk manufacturer Seagate Suzhou Plant announced the dissolution, and Seagate switched its production capacity to Southeast Asia. Public information showed that Seagate launched the expansion plan for the Nakhon Ratchasima plant in Thailand in 2015. It invested US$470 million to expand its production capacity by half to increase 2,500 employees.
Before Nikon announced that it would close its Wuxi plant, it plans to improve its revenue through outsourcing production. It is reported that Nikon also chose a Southeast Asian outsourcing factory.