DPReview Tours Canon's Utsunomiya Factory, Where the L is Made

[Canon Rumors]

DPReview had the priviledge of touring Canon’s Utsunomiya factory during their time at CP+ in Yokohama, Japan.</p>
<p><strong>From DPReview:</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Recently, following the CP+ 2017 show in Yokohama, we were granted the enormous honor of a guided tour through Canon’s Utsunomiya lens factory. Canon has been making lenses in Utsunomiya since 1977, and we were the first journalists ever to be allowed to see the L-series assembly line. <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/articles/4996495413/the-home-of-the-l-series-we-tour-canon-utsunomiya-factory">View the full tour</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The best part? Robots that deliver various components around the factory on pre-programmed routes.</p>
<p><em>image credit // <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/articles/4996495413/the-home-of-the-l-series-we-tour-canon-utsunomiya-factory">DPReview</a></em></p>
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[BeenThere]

Interesting that the Canon plant had some Pentax and Nikon cut in half or display products. I guess they do get ideas from each other.

 

[rrcphoto]

Interesting that the Canon plant had some Pentax and Nikon cut in half or display products. I guess they do get ideas from each other.

where did you see that?

 

[BeenThere]

Interesting that the Canon plant had some Pentax and Nikon cut in half or display products. I guess they do get ideas from each other.

where did you see that?

Saw a Pentax camera cut in half and a Nikon tele lens display in the series of photos called something like "what we saw that was cut in half". There were abut 15 images in the folder.

Correction. I looked again and these images were from CP+ Show.

 

[Chaitanya]

Damn, I missed that article. These lens factory tours never cease to amaze.

 

[LordofTackle]

Very interesting article. Nice to see how one's lenses are actually produced.
And very funny that they use our german word "Meister" for their most experienced technicians

- Sebastian

 

[IglooEater]

Waaaaiiiit... the 16-35 takes 24 hours to make and costs $2000. If production cost is $1500 and if materials are a third of the cost, that leaves $42/hr for the workers and machinery. suddenly that lens looks dirt cheap.

 

[Crosswind]

And very funny that they use our german word "Meister" for their most experienced technicians

Hi Sebastian - yeah I was surprised about that too I'm kinda curious why!

The factory seems to be not far off of Fukushima. Hope that doesn't mean anything

 

[privatebydesign]

And very funny that they use our german word "Meister" for their most experienced technicians

Hi Sebastian - yeah I was surprised about that too I'm kinda curious why!

The factory seems to be not far off of Fukushima. Hope that doesn't mean anything

Several possibilities come to mind:
1/ It is a misunderstanding/mistranslation by the people leading the tour. After all the masters are also referred to as 'Takumi'.
2/ It is a throw down from the origins of the camera business where they copied German cameras and lenses, maybe they 'borrowed'some other terminology too.

The way I read it they are called Takumi, which means master craftsman or meister.

 

[LordofTackle]

And very funny that they use our german word "Meister" for their most experienced technicians

Hi Sebastian - yeah I was surprised about that too I'm kinda curious why!

The factory seems to be not far off of Fukushima. Hope that doesn't mean anything

Several possibilities come to mind:
1/ It is a misunderstanding/mistranslation by the people leading the tour. After all the masters are also referred to as 'Takumi'.
2/ It is a throw down from the origins of the camera business where they copied German cameras and lenses, maybe they 'borrowed'some other terminology too.

The way I read it they are called Takumi, which means master craftsman or meister.

I've recently seen some documentary about a Japanese moving company and they also hat three "Master Movers" that they called "Meister". The explanation was that their boss was in germany decades ago and there he learned about the term and its meaning (expert craftsman) and decided to use it for his own company.

-Sebastian

 

[rrcphoto]

I find it incredible how much experience some of these people have that are creating the lenses we whine about all the time

 

[Sharlin]

The factory seems to be not far off of Fukushima. Hope that doesn't mean anything

The related interview article mentioned that the 2011 event caused some roof segments to collapse and some equipment were damaged. The repairs (and hardening things to better withstand future quakes) took a few months.

 

[unfocused]

Several possibilities come to mind:
1/ It is a misunderstanding/mistranslation by the people leading the tour. After all the masters are also referred to as 'Takumi'.
2/ It is a throw down from the origins of the camera business where they copied German cameras and lenses, maybe they 'borrowed'some other terminology too.

The way I read it they are called Takumi, which means master craftsman or meister.

Or a third possibility. The terms are interchangeable, so they used the Western term, figuring that their visitors would understand the meaning of meister more readily.

 

[privatebydesign]

Several possibilities come to mind:
1/ It is a misunderstanding/mistranslation by the people leading the tour. After all the masters are also referred to as 'Takumi'.
2/ It is a throw down from the origins of the camera business where they copied German cameras and lenses, maybe they 'borrowed'some other terminology too.

The way I read it they are called Takumi, which means master craftsman or meister.

Or a third possibility. The terms are interchangeable, so they used the Western term, figuring that their visitors would understand the meaning of meister more readily.

Very true. For sure the word Meister, in our Latin alphabet, is not written on the badge referred to, so there is an element of translation in it.

Having said all that, lets not get too concerned with minutiae, rather lets revel in the levels of skill, quality, and commitment Canon as a company are dedicating to getting us such competent gear.

 

[magarity]

I hope they have an upcoming generation of craftsmen(craftpersons?) who can accumulate that experience. I read an article a while back about how Patek Phillippe couldn't hire young people to learn watchmaking because it takes 30 years of apprentice work to get good enough to be a master and that was too long of a haul for modern attention spans.

 

[capital1956]

The factory seems to be not far off of Fukushima. Hope that doesn't mean anything

The related interview article mentioned that the 2011 event caused some roof segments to collapse and some equipment were damaged. The repairs (and hardening things to better withstand future quakes) took a few months.

I assume when he mentioned fukushima he means the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster which is classified as a Level 7 event of the International Nuclear Event Scale (highest/worst level possible on the scale).

At this point this is an ongoing event where ground water mixing with the highly radioactive water inside the Three wracked reactors/buildings.

In another word, he is probably hoping that our highly prized L lens won't glow in the dark or set off radiation detector at the TSA checking point

 

[IglooEater]

I hope they have an upcoming generation of craftsmen(craftpersons?) who can accumulate that experience. I read an article a while back about how Patek Phillippe couldn't hire young people to learn watchmaking because it takes 30 years of apprentice work to get good enough to be a master and that was too long of a haul for modern attention spans.

I found two ideas were dominant: the skill of the workers, and an increasing automation.

Canon is at pains to point out that machines like this can only be created as a result of the Master Craftsmen's decades of experience.

It would seem that Canon goes out of the way to honour these masters, but is working hard at eventually automating everything. I'm guessing by the time all there current Meisters retire, they will have found a way to automate even that.

 

[Rampuri]

Waaaaiiiit... the 16-35 takes 24 hours to make and costs $2000. If production cost is $1500 and if materials are a third of the cost, that leaves $42/hr for the workers and machinery. suddenly that lens looks dirt cheap.

It might take 24 hours to make the 16-35, but it doesn't mean they produce just one per day. Each machine in the production line produces parts continuously. So it takes one lens 24 hours to proceed from the beginning of the line to the end, but at the same time there are many other lenses produced.

 

[magarity]

It would seem that Canon goes out of the way to honour these masters, but is working hard at eventually automating everything. I'm guessing by the time all there current Meisters retire, they will have found a way to automate even that.

Unfortunately the logical extension of that path is total automation of the existing process with no changes or improvement.

 

[goldenhusky]

It is quite exciting to hear about Canon's automation. For those who are interested here is a video on the making of a Canon 500mm f/4 L Lens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovxtgj4SsiI obviously this does not show everything involved but a high level demo.