Fujifilm Moves Operations to China

It's interesting to see how Fujifilm words the transfer of its operation to China. They say:

"Fujifilm Reinforces the Foundation of its Digital Camera Business Promoting cost competitiveness and increasing the pace of product development by optimizing its manufacturing and R&D business bases"

Really - what they are saying is that it's cheaper to produce digital cameras in China.

Here's the full blurb:

"FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO Shigetaka Komori, hereafter “FUJIFILM”) has been leading the digital camera industry by supplying worldwide the FinePix series of digital cameras featuring unique advanced technologies such as “high-sensitivity and high-image quality” and the world first “Face Detection Technology.” Toward further business expansion in the future, FUJIFILM has decided to concentrate its manufacturing and R&D bases, as more detailed below. The change is to create a solid business structure optimized for the digital camera market amidst intensifying competition



1. Full transfer of digital camera production operation to China and reinforcement of cost competitiveness through external subcontracting of the CCD production.

Digital camera production operation will be fully transferred to our Chinese factory (Suzhou), which has been increasingly shifted by now. A preliminary agreement has been reached to subcontract the CCD’s pre-process production (wafer process) to Toshiba Corporation, which has a broad semiconductor production technology. The move will combine FUJIFILM’s cutting-edge R&D capacity and the specialized manufacturer’s advanced technological capacity to further enhance FUJIFILM’s proprietary Super CCD’s performance and functions speedily. FUJIFILM Photonix Co., Ltd., based in Taiwa-cho, Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi Prefecture, will be disbanded in response to the transfer of digital camera production operations (scheduled for August 2008). Also a preliminary agreement has been reached to sell the related land and buildings in Izumi-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi Prefecture to Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd, due to the above mentioned external subcontracting of CCD’s pre-process production.

2. Increasing efficiency and pace of product development by concentration of business bases and promoting function reinforcement.

The functions of R&D, procurement and quality assurance will be concentrated at the business base in Taiwa-cho, Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi Prefecture, which currently serves the function of developing production technologies. The concentration of business bases will reinforce each function and streamlining process, while increasing the pace of product development. A new company (FUJIFILM Digital Techno Co., Ltd.) will be set up in the same base to serve the functions of centrally controlling after-sales services, reinforcing production technologies and undertaking CCD post-process production (assembly & testing) of digital cameras.


In October last year, FUJIFILM launched the “Slim&Strong” drive to create a more brawny, more robust company. All processes of the photographic film business and other business areas are being reviewed to deliver faster speed, stronger functionality and improved efficiency. In anticipation of intensified competition in the digital camera business, the existing approach of enhancing product strength and worldwide sales operations will be combined with efforts to streamline the organizational structure / workforce / facilities. In addition, the concentration of operation bases and the establishment a new company for added functionality will contribute to the building of a business foundation with greater strength and flexibility.

There will be further acceleration in the development of digital cameras with distinctive features, combining FUJIFILM’s proprietary Super CCD technology, superior image processing technology, and the advanced lens technology of the Group company, Fujinon Corporation. This will demonstrate our commitment to contributing to further nurturing the “Culture of Photography.”





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