Is Canon keeping manufacturing in Japan or moving away?

In my town they just closed a major car plant, and made me wonder about what goods are kept in the country they were designed and first built.

So I was thinking of Canon in general, their photography line-up. When I ordered my 40D two years ago, all of the accessories were made in Japan. Late last year, I ordered my 5D and noticed the batteries are now made in China. Somewhat disappointed, and would prefer Taiwan over China, but I guess if it goes bad, it's still OEM.

Just thinking of the future, will Canon (or any major photographic company) ever move their entire manufacturing line to China? I heard a large problem is the theft of the design, which is hard to control, not to mention some quality control.

I'm not talking about a Rebel being made in China but high end cameras as well.

There is nothing inherently wrong with items made in China. It wasn't that long ago that japanese items were considered cheap low quality knock offs. Attention to quality turned that tide. China is making a strong effort to do the same.
I kinda wish they would stop executing the CEO's of companies that make Chinese quality control look bad. It makes the whole country look bad.
Nowadays with backward engineering and easy replication through the use of modern measuring equipment and design software, many companies are forced decide to either watch as their designs are stolen and reproduced with lower labor cost, or get their companies established in China so that they can at least match the low cost and hopefully not get totally undercut. That sucks for them. They either lay off workers to be replaced by chinese labor now, or lay off everyone when the whole organisation goes kerblooey.

birdfromboat wrote in post #9922664
It wasn't that long ago that japanese items were considered cheap low quality knock offs. Attention to quality turned that tide.

Huh? I don't ever recall a time when japanese items were considered "cheap low quality knock offs". After having lived in Japan for three years, I can tell you that attention to quality and a constant desire to attain perfection is deeply rooted in japanese culture and has been for centuries.

birdfromboat wrote in post #9922664
There is nothing inherently wrong with items made in China. It wasn't that long ago that japanese items were considered cheap low quality knock offs. Attention to quality turned that tide. China is making a strong effort to do the same.

And that "attention to quality" in China is making China "too expensive" for some companies and they are moving manufacturing contracts to vietnam and other cheaper counties where workers make pennies per hour. Recently it was posted that nikon workers are striking somewhere that make about $27 a month.

CafeRacer808 wrote in post #9922720
Huh? I don't ever recall a time when japanese items were considered "cheap low quality knock offs". After having lived in Japan for three years, I can tell you that attention to quality and a constant desire to attain perfection is deeply rooted in japanese culture and has been for centuries.

I'm going to take a guess you're under 40.

mike_d wrote in post #9923227
I'm going to take a guess you're under 40.

No, but I'm half Japanese! lol :p

CafeRacer808 wrote in post #9922720
Huh? I don't ever recall a time when japanese items were considered "cheap low quality knock offs". After having lived in Japan for three years, I can tell you that attention to quality and a constant desire to attain perfection is deeply rooted in japanese culture and has been for centuries.

You should have seen the cheap Japanese products imported to the U.S. in the 1950's.

As said above, you probably don't have the benefit of having lived through that era to really know what we saw.

I'm sure some things were made with quality in mind back then, but certainly not the typical cheap junk we saw imported over here.

In the early to mid 1960s, Nikon's optical equipment surprised me. That was well made for sure. Pentax and Canon weren't far behind, but the Nikon F was built like a tank. My two Nikon F cameras, purchased in 1967, are still with me and are in great shape considering the age and heavy use I put them through.

Yeah, Skip, I definitely wasn't around in the 50s (although I do love a lot of what came out of that time -- music, literature, furniture design, car design, etc). I think I reacted to the blanket statement about "cheap Japanese products" without remembering the context of the conversation.

Either way, given the numerous, high profile manufacturing woes we've heard about in China over the past couple of years (lead paint in childrens toys, contaminated baby formula, etc), I suspect we've a long time to wait before "Made in China" is associated with a high quality product.

CafeRacer808 wrote in post #9925599
Yeah, Skip, I definitely wasn't around in the 50s (although I do love a lot of what came out of that time -- music, literature, furniture design, car design, etc). I think I reacted to the blanket statement about "cheap Japanese products" without remembering the context of the conversation.

Either way, given the numerous, high profile manufacturing woes we've heard about in China over the past couple of years (lead paint in childrens toys, contaminated baby formula, etc), I suspect we've a long time to wait before "Made in China" is associated with a high quality product.

Being half Japanese and under 40 I'm surprised you never heard about the inferior products from Japan before WWII. Did you know they basically rebuilt the entire country after the war?

Oh the topic, I personally think China has a way to go before they achieve the same level of quality as other countries, especially their practice of toxic waste. Maybe in the next rev the 1D mark 5 will be designed in Japan but made in China. Ouch.

CafeRacer808 wrote in post #9925599
I think I reacted to the blanket statement about "cheap Japanese products" without remembering the context of the conversation.

Either way, given the numerous, high profile manufacturing woes we've heard about in China over the past couple of years (lead paint in childrens toys, contaminated baby formula, etc), I suspect we've a long time to wait before "Made in China" is associated with a high quality product.

Sorry I was interpreted as making a blanket statement about Japanese quality, good or bad. There was a time when the PERCEPTION of Japanese products was based on the cheaper low quality items they flooded certain American markets with. Overall, Japanese products were CONSIDERED to be of lessor quality, and to some degree still are by some.
No doubt Toyota quality is world famous now, but the first corolla I ever drove and worked on for a friend kind of scared me away from the brand for a long time. I won't even talk about Datsun pickups in the early days of Nissan.
Overall the Japanese enjoy a deserved reputation for quality now, but the exceptions are still there and resurect the opinions of alot of older Americans. Lets not talk about the swings in American built quality over the past 40 years, I will just admit that we have dropped the ball a couple of times for sure.
My comments were meant to share my view that although Chinese goods are associated with cheap knock off products now, the method for changing that perception has been made clear by the Japanese and it looks like the Chinese are following it, vigorously.

Ah, yes, Datsun. My memory of inferior Japanese products has been effectively jogged! (Although you have to admit that when it first came out, the Datsun 240Z was a pretty hot car!)

And my oh my, Toyota's made a mess of their brand, haven't they? It's truly ironic that their production methodology is based on the Japanese concept of kaizen, the constant drive to improve. Thanks for the clarification, birdfromboat, and my apologies for interpreting your post as a blanket statement. You obviously put much more thought into your post than I'd initially gleaned.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program...

birdfromboat wrote in post #9922664
There is nothing inherently wrong with items made in China..

Uhhhhhhhhh...........y​eah, there IS. When manufacturers in China see nothing wrong with adding harmful chemicals and materials to products there IS something inherently wrong. Also, China is one country (amoung others) that seems to have no ethical attachment to things like copyrights and patents laws.

China has a long way to go before I trust products built from there. Not that it will never happen...

It was an American, Dr. William Deming that turn things around for Japan starting in 1950.
He started their quality control programs.

Maybe China could use a Dr. Deming?

SkipD wrote in post #9925545
You should have seen the cheap Japanese products imported to the U.S. in the 1950's.

And early 60's ... although they did steadily improve from the late 50's onwards.

The Japanese manufacturing industries made very poor products until an American, W. Edward Deming, taught their engineers about quality methods and statistical process control in the early 50's. By improving Japan's quality they were able to secure key contracts to manufacture equipment for the US military during the Korean war.

In 1960 Emperor Hirohito awarded Deming with the "Order of the Sacred Treasures, second class" for being instrumental in turning around industry in Japan.