[rr1736]

I was very concerned with my initial read of the announcement I am glad they have "corrected their statement" now I am just concerned for their future as a company and not expecting an immediate collapse

[luftfluss]

Wonder if anyone could paint a picture as to what Ricoh Imaging's 'workshop' approach might entail?

Here ya go...

[cdd29]

So, apparently the strategy change IS only aimed at Japan, for now.

Correction from Ricoh US: "Ricoh will continue mass production and sales but will be adding more direct-to-consumer approaches to its distribution in Japan" - Pentax Rumors

[Digitalis]

apparently the strategy change IS only aimed at Japan, for now.

Makes sense to try it in local markets first. A move like this in international markets if not handled well, would have been a disaster: far worse than what Hoya did.

[RGlasel]

One person building a camera? Small teams working on small production lots? Larger teams churning out 100's of units? What sort of timeframe would be required to produce a batch?

I see a camera as a relatively small item (handheld, right?) that has several heterogeneous components of diverse materials crammed into as small of a space as is physically possible. That rules out robotics for the final assembly and it rules out more than one person working on a product at a time. On the other hand, environmental controls (maintaining dust free, controlling humidity and temperature) are probably not critical and production of a single unit can be paused multiple times. Having more than one person assemble each camera provides opportunities for quality control (making sure the previous steps were completed properly) and workers need to learn a smaller set of procedures and skills if they don't assemble the entire camera by themselves, so I suspect a small team (3-5?) assembles each camera. Each team probably only produces one model, but you can adjust the number of teams per model to match demand and still maintain a steady production rate, so the inventory of incomplete and finished cameras is kept as low as possible. The biggest problem is keeping the right inventory of components at the factory, because most of them are sourced externally and have to be paid for before the camera is sold.

Lenses are a different story, their manufacturing lends itself more to a batch process.

The facility in Cebu was designed for a much higher production volume than is needed today, but as long as current sales don't have to recover the costs of building this facility, it is relatively simple to close off parts of the factory and reduce the cost to maintain and operate it.

[cdd29]

Here ya go...

Can I post that on facebook?

[luftfluss]

Can I post that on facebook?

I don't know who owns the rights to the movie image*, but sure, go for it! I'm glad it amuses you.


* It's probably OK under Fair Use doctrine, anyway.

[biz-engineer]

New Statement from Ricoh Imaging Americas : https://us.ricoh-imaging.com/statement-from-ricoh-imaging-americas-regarding...maging-co-ltd/
The press releases regarding workshop manufacturing, online sales focus and involving customers is only for Japan. Bad press release was like throwing a stone in the Pentax pond, creating a lot of waves in a time of slow media announcements, as well as getting the internet tolls out in action.
Business as usual for Europe and US, boring, go out take pictures.

---------- Post added 22-01-22 at 06:08 ----------

Makes sense to try it in local markets first. A move like this in international markets if not handled well, would have been a disaster: far worse than what Hoya did.

Testing a new approach into the largest market for Pentax? Nope. My guess is that the Pentax Japanese retail is lagging behind the rest of the world, as most physical camera stores in EU don't carry Pentax anymore, I believe most Pentax camera sales in EU are done online, amazon EU sites are probably the biggest Pentax sellers for Ricoh Imaging in EU. Of course, the service from online sellers is what it is, but honestly if I order a Pentax lens or Pentax camera online and it doesn't work, I don't mind being sent another one even before I return the copy I have. I can even receive a second copy , compare it to the first copy purchased, and return the copy I don't like, I can even do that with a physical camera shop.

[Digitalis]

One person building a camera? Small teams working on small production lots?

I visited Leica's Factory in Solms* a number of years ago and the actual construction of a small number of Leica Rangefinders are handled by around 10 or so workers each responsible for installation and calibrating various optical/electronic components and making sure they were within tolerances as they were installed into the camera shell. A lot of their Lenses are ground on site from blanks. Lens barrels are machined and DOF markings carefully painted (with what I take to be some sort of hard setting enamel) and the whole lens hand assembled and tested by a group of workers designated to build and finish a specific optic. An expensive way of doing things, but the results speak for themselves.

Another example would be the Flutes I play on, which are handmade, the manufacturer of one of my flutes (Altus, based in Azumino Japan) a single worker can spend 6 months and up to year meticulously building a single instrument to order**. This manufacturer also do make a separate line of instruments (Azumi) that are largely machine made, albeit hand finished and possess similar qualities to their handmade instruments for a lower price than fully handmade instruments.


* I have also been to Leica's Wetzlar factory, where they serviced my grandfathers 60 year old Leica M3 and replaced some components with NEW parts they still had on hand.
** Yes, it can take that long - Backorders are common with high-demand instrument makers. Instrument mechanisms require extremely high tolerances to move smoothly and Altus technicians make everything by hand. Custom alloys of gold such as 12K 16.7K 19.5K red gold (even 24K has been used, even though it is soft as hell) it often has to be prepared and smelted by hand and exceptionally hard alloys of Platinum and Iridium (which is notoriously difficult to work with) are typically left off official price lists, but can be ordered.

[Kunzite]

Well PetaPixel seem to agree with me in their article. Selected quotes:

"In 2020, BCN reckoned Pentax had about 3% of the DSLR market in Japan which may equate to about 100,000 units globally (compared to possibly around 1.2 million in 2012)."
If those figures are even close to correct, then it is inevitable that sales will fall further into niche territory, which will require build to order and batch production. "Mass production" only works if you are selling masses of units.

In terms of digital camera sales as a whole:
" the 2011 high in the industry when the number of units shipped peaked at 120 million before imploding back to a new low in 2021 of 8.3 million."
...and that is not just DSLRs, that includes mirrorless, bridge and point-and-shoot cameras as well. That is a 93% drop in digital camera sales across the industry!!
Interestingly no sub-sector of the market increased in the numbers of units sold. MILC sale numbers are no higher in 2021 than they were in 2012. However, the value of sales has risen x3, meaning that mirrorless has moved from "cheap and beginner" to "expensive and enthusiast", and is on the verge of moving to "very expensive and professional" as well.

Their conclusion (and I agree) is that this is probably a trial run in Japan towards a workshop based batch production model globally. It is difficult to produce as many as 100,000 cameras a year with a workshop model but also, with a product as sophisticated as a DSLR, it is difficult to make mass production profitable producing so few cameras. If sales continue to fall then it is inevitable that mass production will be pointless.

I don't see any conclusion from this announcement, and from the crash in camera sales generally, other than that Pentax will be scaling down production - they just want to do it in an orderly way, planning for an inevitable future and making sure they can continue making cameras and stay profitable.

"Income from the sales of GR and Pentax models is falling off a cliff, so the key question is whether it can bolster those sales in order to build a profit-neutral business. Is the shift to “workshop-like” manufacturing a sound business solution that could eventually be implemented to save Pentax as a brand, or does this mark beginning of the end?"

I know that the demise of Pentax has been foretold many times in the past, but with camera sales crashing so disastrously it will become increasingly difficult to keep this great little business viable. I am so glad they managed to get the K-3 III out the door. It is a truly innovative camera and is a total joy to use. I suspect, however, that it is the last time we will see such an entirely new product from Pentax

Pentapixel agreeing with you isn't really in your favor, you know that?
What I'm saying here is that one should apply a healthy dose of critical thinking when it's about these tabloids.

You're also quoting them claiming that "Income from the sales of GR and Pentax models is falling off a cliff".
I'll counter-quote from Ricoh's financial report:
"Cameras: Increased sales and earnings on strong demand for new products (Pentax/GR)"
https://www.ricoh.com/-/Media/Ricoh/Sites/com/IR/data/pre/pdf/r03q2_4.pdf
The difference is that Ricoh can't lie in these documents; Petapixel can.

Last but not least, we've heard it all before, how this time really is it, how things are now really bad; and we'll hear it again.

[Kunzite]

There is a news release on another forum that neither production or distribution is changing, this is a Japan only new business model.

Yeah. I might be the bad guy around here, the grumpy Pentaxian, but I'm usually right.
Just by not trying to imagine things that aren't there and panic about them.

[aldo taddia]

I don't think that Pentax's production, both of lenses and cameras, is much higher in number than that of a good watchmaking Maison. It employs a few hundred employees, all highly specialized. So I think we are adopting a policy of this kind at Pentax. Moving factories and optimizing resources would result in niche products.

[house]

Moving factories and optimizing resources would result in niche products.

They aren't moving any factories though are they. They're just adjusting how they engage and sell in the japanese market that previously used an ancient store based system.

[Hayashi]

Indeed this announcement is targeted to their home market, Japan.

If the shift towards 'workshop-like' manufacturing only affects the 'variants' of models, like the six K-3 Mark III variants recently presented or the J Limited cameras that have shown the way, and each model in its standard version remains mass-manufactured, it will be of little concern to customers outside Japan.

Simply, non-Japanese customers will have no direct access to these variants. In addition, they could also be affected by the (already ongoing) shift towards more and more online sales and less and less presence in brick-and-mortar stores.

If, on the other hand, the entire production process switches to the 'workshop-like' manufacturing model (small batches, less automation, more hand manufacturing or hand assembly), then non-Japanese and Japanese customers will be affected alike.

Thanks for comment

This simply reliefs many people's worry.

Obviously many of us here overeacted to the announcement

[allanmh]

Someone on the other forum stated that dSLRs are a dying breed.

Apart from the fact that with a long enough perspective we are all dying breeds, I'm going to go out on a limb and claim that EVILs too are a dying breed.
I see a future where - with the inclusion of computational photography - every cell-phone will have 3 cameras, a WA camera, a normal camera and a tele-camera. You will choose your FL, and the phone will take 2 pictures and interpolate between them. We may all be carrying a camera capable of 10mm to 400mm focal lengths in our pockets before many years have passed. That will leave only the absolutely hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool professionals and enthusiasts as a market for the camera industry to serve. I wonder how many different brands that size of market will be able to sustain.

On a more personal note, I am 72 years old, and my first dSLR - a Canon 300D - is still going strong, having just been resurrected from a bout of sticky-rubber syndrome. I doubt I have 18 more years left in me, so my Holy Trinity - the K5iis, the KP, and the K3iii, will probably outlive me.
The only item on my wish list is that when the K3iv is introduced with a deeper buffer and a faster bus, Pentax will offer a type of K1 to K1ii conversion service. Otherwise, regardless of the shenanigans of Ricoh/Pentax manufacturing or marketing. I consider myself set for life.