Canon announces the complete closure of its main factory located in China – the Zhuhai factory. The 32-year-old factory is the only production base for digital cameras, sensors and lenses among Canon’s 15 companies in China. The decision may indicate Canon’s intentions to reduce the number of camera models and focus on those with the highest margin level (pro mirrorless?)
After careful consideration, a difficult decision had to be made: to stop production at the company.
Shen Yue – Canon China Public Relations Department Representative
Following on from our previous report regarding Canon ending its flagship DLSR (Canon ESO 1D X Mark III), here’s more evidence that Canon is cutting back on its camera manufacturing. Canon announced to reduce the production of the factory of Zhuhai. According to reports, Canon will close part of its Zhuhai factory in southern China, with a 32-year full plant shutdown planned, due to falling demand in the market for digital cameras and cameras. continued fallout from the coronavirus.
Rumors of the closure of the entire facility in Guangdong province began Thursday with an internal company letter circulating online. The announcement, published on Wednesday, states that “the operation of the company is facing unprecedented difficulties. Despite the joint efforts of the company and all employees, it has failed to reverse the situation,” said Shen Yue, representative of Canon China’s public relations department. “The head office needs to adjust the overall operational structure of the group. After careful consideration, a difficult decision must be made: to stop production at the company,” he says. In addition, according to Shen, it is not known how many employees at the Zhuhai factory will be affected, and the company has not yet decided whether the affected production line will be moved. At the end of 2020, the Zhuhai plant had 1,317 employees. , according to the company’s website.
Shen points out that due to the development of the smartphone, the market for compact digital cameras has shrunk. Other shocks include the pandemic and the chip shortage. It should be mentioned that by the end of 2020, investment in the Zhuhai subsidiary had reached $220 million, with 1,317 employees. Its lens production amounted to 12.29 million in 2020, and it produced 1.03 million digital cameras and 94,000 digital video cameras. The factory is Canon’s only manufacturing base in mainland China for digital cameras, digital video cameras, image sensors and lenses (source).
The announcement came in conjunction with the CEO’s statement regarding Canon’s new strategy. “It’s only natural that mirrorless cameras will become the mainstream of digital cameras… Market needs are increasingly shifting towards mirrorless cameras. With this in mind, we regularly change manufacturing,” Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai said when explaining the decision not to launch a new DSLR flagship (Read: Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai: “The EOS-1D X Mark III is our latest DSLR”).
Canon’s decision to close its main factory in China demonstrates its new strategy regarding the Imaging Systems division. Let us guess here that Canon is going to focus on its professional mirrorless range and less on DSLRs and Point N’ Shoot cameras. Canon knows that the high-end hybrid (EOS R5, EOS R3…) is a very promising niche that will not be intimidated by smartphones. Nevertheless, the high price makes these products relevant only for professional users. I don’t know if Canon wants that. However, we will see a significant reduction in the number of camera models that Canon brings to market.
Product list
Here are the products mentioned in the article and the links to buy them from authorized retailers.
- Canon EOS-1D X Mark III
- Canon EOS R3 mirrorless camera
- Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera
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