Canon To Spend $192M On High-End Copier Plant
Kyoko Hasegawa, 03.31.04, 1:47 PM ET
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Canon, a major manufacturer of PC printers, will invest about 20 billion yen to build a factory at its development base in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, and begin production of high-end copiers there by around fall 2005, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources.
Canon (nyse: CAJ - news - people ), which has been revamping its production system to increase its international competitiveness, hopes to roll out new products more quickly by consolidating development and production at Toride.
It plans to bring its development and manufacturing divisions together at Toride to establish smooth communication between the two, the report said.
Construction of the factory, with a total floor space of 76,000 square meters, will begin in July for completion by July 2005. It will mainly manufacture color copiers and other high-end products priced between 1.5 million yen and 5 million yen, which are enjoying brisk demand, the newspaper said.
About 1,000 employees from the Ami plant will be transferred to Toride, bringing the total number of workers at the latter to 5,500. The Ami facility will halt production of copiers and begin specializing in equipment used to manufacture liquid crystal display panels.
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