After the initial news that Nikon is planning to move part of its production outside Japan, Notion VTEC announced yesterday that they will start manufacturing Nikon camera mounts immediately. The raw materials will be supplied by Nikon, the finished mounts will then be transported to Thailand for assembly. Notion’s understanding is that this is a long term solution.
Here are the parts of the announcement that refer to Nikon:
2. Nikon’s SLR camera and Interchangeable Lens main production and assembly operations are based in Nikon Thailand plant in Ayuthaya but supply of components are from both in-house as well as external approved vendors. Notion Thailand, Ayuthaya and Notion Venture Sdn Bhd, Klang (“Notion” or “Notion, Klang”) are both supplying cam barrels and other camera parts to Nikon Thailand.
3. Amongst Nikon’s in-house supply vendor will be Sendai Nikon Corporation, Natori, Miyagi and this plant is affected by the event and it manufactures the high end SLR camera body as well as body and lens mount. The body and lens mount are metallic mating surfaces for the lens to be attached to the camera body and are high volume parts typically in the hundreds of thousand per month.
4. As a contingency plan, Notion, Klang will be supplied with raw materials from Nikon for the production of the body mount with immediate effect. Notion is preparing jigs & fixtures and utilizing existing CNC machines to produce these precision components. Hard chrome surface treatment will be out sourced to a surface treatment company. The finished body mount components will be trucked to the customer’s plant in Thailand for assembly. We expect this new business to contribute between RM36 million to RM60 million in sales per year.
6. The understanding is that this relocation will be long term.
