Nikon's Sendai Plant Shutdown, Damaged

The Japanese site Asahi reports that Nikon’s plants in Miyagi Prefecture (where Sendai is located) are virtually impossible to resume operations in 14 days. The buildings were damaged but still standing. The Sendai factory produces high-end and pro level Nikon SLR cameras. Sendai Airport, which has been badly hit by the tsunami is only a few kilometres from Nikon's Sendai plant. -- Source 1 and Source 2

The Sendai plant is not very large but it is where the top level pro Nikon bodies have been built since the mid or late 1970s, so it is the home of the F3, F4, F5, F6, D1, D2 and D3 series cameras and much of Nikon's engineering staff is located there as well. -- Source

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Location of Nikon plants. -- Source

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Nikon has shifted much of its manufacturing facilities to Thailand, with some production (especially of Coolpix cameras and some low-end lenses) in China and Indonesia. The company constructed a factory in Ayuthaya north of Bangkok in Thailand in 1991. By the year 2000, it had 2,000 employees. Steady growth over the next few years and an increase of floor space from the original 19,400 square meters (208,827 square feet) to 46,200 square meters (497,300 square feet) enabled the factory to produce a wider range of Nikon products. By 2004, it had more than 8,000 workers.

The range of the products produced at Nikon Thailand include plastic molding, optical parts, painting, printing, metal processing, plating, spherical lens process, aspherical lens process, prism process, electrical and electronic mounting process, silent wave motor and autofocus unit production.

As of 2009, all of Nikon's Nikon DX format DSLR cameras are produced in Thailand, while their Nikon FX format (full frame) cameras (D700, D3, D3S and D3X) are built in Japan. The Thai facility also produces most of Nikon's digital "DX" zoom lenses, as well as numerous other lenses in the Nikkor line.

-- From Wikipedia on Nikon

Related Links:

• Google Maps: Location of Sendai Plant In Japan
• Nikon Sendai Plant Visit (09/15/07)
• Wikipedia on Nikon