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Visit to Nikon Thailand

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Rumpis

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No. Not me. Group of dealers and journalists from Russia, Ukraina and Belorussia visited Nikon Thailand. Just found this story in russian photo magazine "Foto & Video" April 2007 edition. They have their website but there is placed only short excerpt from the printed edition: http://www.foto-video.ru/tech/report/12856.html

Briefly:

In Thailand Nikon produces around 95% of all their DSLR's. Currently in production there are D200, D70s, D80 and D40 and the new D40x. D50 production was ceased recently. Lenses - 18-55, 18-70, 18-135, 18-200VR, 70-300VR. Also - film scanners. Till the last year there were produced film cameras F80, F75, F55 but now the remaining few film cameras F6 and FM10 are made in Japan.

Nikon is rapidly expanding the production space. Latest addition was 66,600 m2 this March and now the total space is 115,200 m2. Total number of employees - little bit less than 14,000. Management - 58 persons - 27 Japaneese and 31 Thai. Medium salary $230 - $280 (I assume it is not bad for Thailand).

Visitors were surprised to see less automatic production in assembly than expected. Mostly there was handwork. Management explained that when film cameras were produced there was lot of automation. Now the product life cycle is so short that only handwork can give the needed flexibility.

The production capacity now is 250,000 lenses and 250,000 DSLR's a month. Soon the capacity will be expanded to 300,000 lenses a month.

Nikon Thailand is the largest factory of Nikon Imaging. They have two in Japan (one for D2 series and the second one for lenses) and three in China where P&S are produced.

Disclaimer:

For accuracy of these facts responsible is the said magazine. I'm responsible for translation, spelling and typing errors only ;-)

--
Rumpis :o)
 
Rumpis said:
Visitors were surprised to see less automatic production in
assembly than expected. Mostly there was handwork. Management
explained that when film cameras were produced there was lot of
automation. Now the product life cycle is so short that only
handwork can give the needed flexibility.
Click to expand...
Hmmm. If true, I find that a bit worrying. In the good old days of expensive hand production, such as the original Rolls Royce production line, a hand produced product was something to cherish. But translate that to a modern factory employing cheap high-turnover labour, and the outcome is more likely to be very variable quality control.
--
Dave (Sgt. Pepper), Epsom, England.
http://www.pbase.com/davecq

 
Why do you think there is a high-turnover labour?

Few more words from the article. Russians discussed the possibility of such a factory in Russia and decided that is impossible because of mentality of russians. So intense and accurate work is not for them. I think russians are not an exception ;-)
Dave Chambers said:
Rumpis said:
Visitors were surprised to see less automatic production in
assembly than expected. Mostly there was handwork. Management
explained that when film cameras were produced there was lot of
automation. Now the product life cycle is so short that only
handwork can give the needed flexibility.
Click to expand...
Hmmm. If true, I find that a bit worrying. In the good old days
of expensive hand production, such as the original Rolls Royce
production line, a hand produced product was something to cherish.
But translate that to a modern factory employing cheap
high-turnover labour, and the outcome is more likely to be very
variable quality control.
--
Dave (Sgt. Pepper), Epsom, England.
http://www.pbase.com/davecq

Click to expand...
--
Rumpis :o)
 
Rumpis said:
Currently in production there are D200, D70s, D80 and D40 and the
new D40x.
Click to expand...
The D70s is still being produced?! What?
Rumpis said:
Lenses - 18-55, 18-70, 18-135, 18-200VR, 70-300VR.
Click to expand...
From an efficiency standpoint I'm curious if there's a lot of part reuse among the lenses. If I were interested in wringing out cost efficiencies...
Rumpis said:
Visitors were surprised to see less automatic production in
assembly than expected. Mostly there was handwork.
Click to expand...
And so am I. Really surprised actually.
Rumpis said:
Management explained that when film cameras were produced there
was lot of automation. Now the product life cycle is so short that only
handwork can give the needed flexibility.
Click to expand...
:S

I'm curious if a) this explanation is valid/true or simply spin and b) how one would go about changing this. Heh. Sounds like they need to look at the "flexible manufacturing approach" of the Japanese automakers :D

That's partially tongue-in-cheek; Obviously it was feasible for the film cameras...
Rumpis said:
The production capacity now is 250,000 lenses and 250,000 DSLR's a
month. Soon the capacity will be expanded to 300,000 lenses a month.
Click to expand...
I guess they're expecting to sell a lot of the consumer lenses...

Again, thanks for the quick translation - it was an interesting read.
--
Photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allengeorge/
Terminal Musings: http://www.allengeorge.com
 
Rumpis said:
Allen George said:
Rumpis said:
Currently in production there are D200, D70s, D80 and D40 and the
new D40x.
Click to expand...
The D70s is still being produced?! What?
Click to expand...
Checked the original text once more. Yes, the D70s was in the list.
Click to expand...
I find it hard to believe. If they still produce the D70s, it must be in a very low volume and I don't think that would be very economical. They may still stock some though.

Here are a few pics of the D70 assambly line back in 2004 one month after its official annoucement:
http://www.dpmac.com/factory/index.html

I love their comment:

"Art on the Assembly Line - A well designed machine is also a work of art and sometimes the workplace itself that produces these machines can become a gallery that can present it's works of art in a better way than any other environment."
 
The only pic from magazine's website:


argentix said:
Rumpis said:
Allen George said:
argentix said:
Currently in production there are D200, D70s, D80 and D40 and the
new D40x.
Click to expand...
The D70s is still being produced?! What?
Click to expand...
Checked the original text once more. Yes, the D70s was in the list.
Click to expand...
I find it hard to believe. If they still produce the D70s, it must
be in a very low volume and I don't think that would be very
economical. They may still stock some though.
Here are a few pics of the D70 assambly line back in 2004 one month
after its official annoucement:
http://www.dpmac.com/factory/index.html

I love their comment:
"Art on the Assembly Line - A well designed machine is also a work
of art and sometimes the workplace itself that produces these
machines can become a gallery that can present it's works of art in
a better way than any other environment."
Click to expand...
--
Rumpis :o)
 
I live in Thailand and that is about standard pay for a regular thai graduate. I would say it's very slightly above average for factory workers which usually starts at about $200.

Still, nothing much to get excited or motivated about, as basic living expenses (at that 'standard') would probably take 70-90% of the monthly paycheck. I don't expect it to have a high turnover though, as the majority of Thai people are just like little worker ants busy working, and not really planning much in life. Not that I look down on them for that, but it's just the truth of things.
 
You stated that the D200 is produced in Thailand but later below said that the D2 series is produced in Japan?

Laslo
Rumpis said:
No. Not me. Group of dealers and journalists from Russia, Ukraina
and Belorussia visited Nikon Thailand. Just found this story in
russian photo magazine "Foto & Video" April 2007 edition. They have
their website but there is placed only short excerpt from the
printed edition: http://www.foto-video.ru/tech/report/12856.html

Briefly:
In Thailand Nikon produces around 95% of all their DSLR's.
Currently in production there are D200, D70s, D80 and D40 and the
new D40x. D50 production was ceased recently. Lenses - 18-55,
18-70, 18-135, 18-200VR, 70-300VR. Also - film scanners. Till the
last year there were produced film cameras F80, F75, F55 but now
the remaining few film cameras F6 and FM10 are made in Japan.
Nikon is rapidly expanding the production space. Latest addition
was 66,600 m2 this March and now the total space is 115,200 m2.
Total number of employees - little bit less than 14,000. Management
  • 58 persons - 27 Japaneese and 31 Thai. Medium salary $230 - $280
(I assume it is not bad for Thailand).
Visitors were surprised to see less automatic production in
assembly than expected. Mostly there was handwork. Management
explained that when film cameras were produced there was lot of
automation. Now the product life cycle is so short that only
handwork can give the needed flexibility.
The production capacity now is 250,000 lenses and 250,000 DSLR's a
month. Soon the capacity will be expanded to 300,000 lenses a month.
Nikon Thailand is the largest factory of Nikon Imaging. They have
two in Japan (one for D2 series and the second one for lenses) and
three in China where P&S are produced.

Disclaimer:
For accuracy of these facts responsible is the said magazine. I'm
responsible for translation, spelling and typing errors only ;-)

--
Rumpis :o)
Click to expand...
--
lv1
http://laslo.smugmug.com
 
The other part of the story is cost.. At work ,we deali with one of the largest electronic contract manufacturing companies in China and for many operations, they tell us it is faster and cheaper to manually machine a part than to create the programming or tooling.. They do have very well trained operators and tolerances and repeatability are actually amazingly good, so I do believe it when they say that they can save money and still maintain quality..
 
Thank your for kind explanation because plain salary figures in Nikon factory tell us very little if we can not compare them to other salaries.
ChrisE18 said:
I live in Thailand and that is about standard pay for a regular
thai graduate. I would say it's very slightly above average for
factory workers which usually starts at about $200.

Still, nothing much to get excited or motivated about, as basic
living expenses (at that 'standard') would probably take 70-90% of
the monthly paycheck. I don't expect it to have a high turnover
though, as the majority of Thai people are just like little worker
ants busy working, and not really planning much in life. Not that I
look down on them for that, but it's just the truth of things.
Click to expand...
--
Rumpis :o)
 
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