Originally posted by Jeff Lopez This is the trend, so I would say so..
The smartphone excuse is really so childish, I really doubt that statement came from Nikon top management.
This is not only Nikon, but look around 2017..You get to see a lot of made in Cambodia,Vietnam,Indonesia..
But this could be a good thing for some, as you may expect to see more made in Japan again, if that comforts them.
I have no information in front of me that would suggest that is what is happening. Unless there was an announcement that they can do what they did before with 10% less manpower, and that even though they are closing the plant , production capacity will remain the same.... I see absolutely no reason to assume manufacturing costs have anything to do with it. And "everyone is doing it" isn't always (or even often) applicable to a specific case.
I'm sure this is a set back for Nikon just the way the information was released. Blame smartphones, nothing at all positive. If it was neutral, they would have said why. IN fact if there were anything positive at all about it, we would have seen some spin.
What the announcement says is "In the current economic climate Nikon doesn't need or can't afford 10% of it's workforce and one of it's plants."
No matter how you spin it, that's not good for Nikon. If things were good for Nikon, they'd be hiring staff and opening new plants. Notice, no new plant announcement. No announcement that new staff will be hired in a new plant somewhere else, to replace the one that's closing. It may well be that all camera makers are somewhat caught up in the downturn they describe. But that makes it bad for everyone, not just Nikon, but, it's still bad or Nikon.
Last edited by normhead; 11-01-2017 at 10:19 AM.