Recharger.com

Vietnam Site Planned for New Canon Plant

February 3, 2005

Canon recently announced it will begin construction of its largest laser printer plant in Vietnam this April. In doing so, the company is expected to invest 5 billion yen (about US$50 million) in construction in the country''s Northern Bac Ninh province, where the plant will manufacture and export low-cost laser printers worldwide.

Vietnam was selected, according to Canon''s planning department chief Ogiwara Tadayuki, because the company''s nearby Chinese factories are at maximum production capacity and the demand for inexpensive laser printers remains high.

"We have also picked Vietnam because of its political stability, a liberalized investment environment and cheap labor. The country has quite a good future," Tadayuki said.

The facility, slated to begin operation in 2007 and expected to employ more than 3,000 people, complements the company''s existing inkjet plant also located in Vietnam. The inkjet facility, which opened in July 2004, produces 500,000 single-function printers per month and was the first in a three-year, $100 million plan to expand the company''s inkjet presence. A second inkjet facility specializing in multifunction printers is slated to begin operations in June and produce 700,000 units per month.

Upon completion, the facility will have a manufacturing capacity of 8 million units per year, all of which will be exported, meeting an anticipated 35 percent of the world''s demand for laser printers. Currently, Canon supplies approximately 50 percent of the world''s laser printers, mainly through exports to Japan, United States and Europe. Canon Vietnam also plans to seek permission to adjust its investment to license to include sales and distribution of its products within Vietnam. Until then, it plans to follow the same plan as it did with the opening of the Chinese facilities - all products had to be exported and then re-imported until the Chinese government widened its policies.