|
Canon Business
Centre Central England & the North
|
|
Sir Stanley Clarke House
7, Ridgeway
Quinton Business Park
Birmingham, B32 1AF
|
|
Canon Business Centre Midlands is one of 6
centres in the United Kingdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rob Ferris
Canon Business Centre Manager
|
In a country that
dates back to 660BC with a history made up of outside influence
followed by long periods of isolation, it's no wonder that Japan
itself is a mixture of globalisation interacting with domestic
developments. Such a legacy also seems to be the backbone of Canon
Inc.'s corporate outlook which is based on creating ground-breaking
technology and achieving a global platform for such innovation, as
touted by Chairman Fujio Mitarai during a press conference in the
company's Shimomaruko headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The press
conference was held during the Canon U.S./Canadian Media &
Industry Analyst Tour, which also afforded us a glimpse into the
company's Toride factory.
Indeed culture and
tradition are important to the company that had its first 35mm
rangefinder camera in 1935. Now, in its 70th year, Canon can pat
itself on the back, gaining $35 billion in worldwide sales in 2006.
Mitarai proclaimed that Canon will reach the No.1 standing in all
of its market segments in the next few years. He also spoke about
his uncle, Takeshi Mitarai, who was one of the original founders
and the first president of the company. "He developed two
strategies," Mitarai noted. The first, to create "unique
technology" and second, to establish "a global viewpoint." The
speech did not go without pointing out that Nikon
lags far behind Canon: "Our profit is 10 times
larger than the profit that Nikon makes annually," Mitarai said.
Canon employs over 120,000 people worldwide, and is among the
top three company's with original patents annually.
Culture and
diversification seemed to be on the tip of every Canon executive's
tongue during the event.
Masaya Maeda,
Director & Chief Executive of Canon's image communication
products operations, heralded "a new photo culture for the digital
age." Tsuneji Uchida, President of Canon Inc. announced the
"creation of a camera culture with optical technology." Even
Canon's Chairman Fujio Mitarai jumped on the "cultural" bandwagon,
boiling Canon's success down to two ingredients: "a culture of
global unity and our [Canon's] own original
technology."
Katsuichi Shimizu,
the printer division CEO, dropped another name that has been the
cause of turmoil for Canon in recent months: Kodak. "We will not
chase Kodak," he said in reply to Kodak's cheap pricing for ink
cartridges. "We believe that consumers appreciate printing in the
privacy of their homes, rather than in the public forum," he noted.
Shimizu said he wasn't afraid of losing any business to other
companies with inferior technology. "Our multifunction printers are
now very affordable, and give both the consumer market and the home
office market very high-quality printing capabilities," he
said.
As for expanding,
President Uchida announced Canon's ambitious R&D spending plan,
which was recently raised to 8% of Canon's income. Uchida said that
Canon plans to increase this 8% to 10% in coming years. He also
said that diversifying Canon products was key in maintaining their
prestigious position in the global market, and plans to grow in the
future by focusing in on technologies in the medical field, digital
commercial printing, semi-conductor projection equipment, and
robotics. Uchida noted that the professional markets, although
small, are integral to the whole of the imaging community because
they not only build awareness, but also influence companies like
Canon to look for better solutions through their
products.
Although no products
were unveiled during the junket, attending press did get to see the
upcoming imagePROGRAF iPF5100 and iPF6100 printers as well as color
management technology in development.
President and CEO of
Canon U.S.A., Inc., Joe Adachi—also in
attendance—focused on what Canon does for the community
outside of its product lineup. "Over 800,000 children go missing
each year in the United
States
, we at
Canon U.S.A. are trying to change that," Adachi
said.
Canon U.S.A. and the
National Coalition for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), have
collaborated since 1997 to raise public awareness about the growing
issue of child abduction. Canon has provided more than 1,200
photographic and printing products to law enforcement agencies to
aid in the recovery of missing children through its Canon4Kids
program spearhead in 2003.
CEO Mitarai said,
"The strength of the North American market is essential for us at
Canon. I have great expectations for Canon U.S.A."
by Tara Propper,
PTN/SP
