เปิดวงด้วย CASIO ตาม HONDA ไป
ผมล่ะเป็นห่วงบ้านเราจริงๆ นวัตกรรมก็ไม่มี สังคมก็คนแก่
Robots persuade Japanese manufacturers to bring production home
Casio calculates that 'Made in Japan' is possible at Thai-level costs
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Robots-persuade-Japanese-manufacturers-to-bring-production-home
TOKYO -- Japanese manufacturers that spent decades expanding their footprints in Asia and beyond are bringing production back home, with the help of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The latest example is Casio Computer. The company is automating operations at a factory in northern Japan to cut costs and produce more of its inexpensive wristwatches domestically, reflecting a growing "reshoring" trend even for low-value-added manufacturing.
Japanese exporters face rising labor costs across Asia, negating the benefits of producing offshore. At the same time, they are finding that automation can make domestic operations cost-competitive. Domestic production also allows them to display the "made in Japan" label, which still carries cachet.
Casio's move follows Honda Motor, which will shift production of its mainstay Super Cub motorcycle from China to its Kumamoto Factory; Canon, which will build a new digital camera plant in Miyazaki Prefecture to bring back production from Asian locations; and Pioneer, which has moved production of car navigation systems destined for the Japanese market from a Thai plant to Aomori Prefecture.
Many Japanese companies originally moved production abroad to counter a strong yen that forced them to charge more in overseas markets, sapping their competitiveness. The yen strengthened from around 250 to the dollar in the mid-1980s to below 80 in 2011 and 2012. Now the yen is back to around 113 to the dollar, providing some relief to Japanese exporters.
Tokyo-based Casio has sold watches priced around $20 for decades. Affectionately called "cheap Casios" by fans around the world, they account for slightly more than 10% of its annual output of roughly 44 million units -- the biggest share of any watch category.
Output of the watches is split roughly equally among four plants: two in China, one in Thailand and the Japanese site in Yamagata Prefecture. But Japan will account for a greater share of production after the Yamagata plant is automated, with plans to more than double its capacity from the current 100,000 units a month.
Come summer, assembling modules -- the core of the watches -- will become fully automated, as will attaching the case and the band. Casio reckons that it will need less than a fifth of the plant's current workforce after the investments, which the company says will bring manufacturing costs in line with Thailand, where they are now a quarter of those in Japan. They will also be lower than in China, where labor has become particularly pricey by Asian standards.
The upgrades are expected to cost millions of dollars. Sometime within the next three years, Casio will transfer certain production lines to Yamagata from elsewhere in Asia.
Casio's move is just another company opting to invest in Japan rather than overseas.
เอกชนญี่ปุ่นแห่ย้ายกลับบ้าน เดินหน้าใช้หุ่นยนต์-ระบบอัตโนมัติทดแทนคน ลดต้นทุน...เฮือกกกก
ผมล่ะเป็นห่วงบ้านเราจริงๆ นวัตกรรมก็ไม่มี สังคมก็คนแก่
Robots persuade Japanese manufacturers to bring production home
Casio calculates that 'Made in Japan' is possible at Thai-level costs
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Robots-persuade-Japanese-manufacturers-to-bring-production-home
TOKYO -- Japanese manufacturers that spent decades expanding their footprints in Asia and beyond are bringing production back home, with the help of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The latest example is Casio Computer. The company is automating operations at a factory in northern Japan to cut costs and produce more of its inexpensive wristwatches domestically, reflecting a growing "reshoring" trend even for low-value-added manufacturing.
Japanese exporters face rising labor costs across Asia, negating the benefits of producing offshore. At the same time, they are finding that automation can make domestic operations cost-competitive. Domestic production also allows them to display the "made in Japan" label, which still carries cachet.
Casio's move follows Honda Motor, which will shift production of its mainstay Super Cub motorcycle from China to its Kumamoto Factory; Canon, which will build a new digital camera plant in Miyazaki Prefecture to bring back production from Asian locations; and Pioneer, which has moved production of car navigation systems destined for the Japanese market from a Thai plant to Aomori Prefecture.
Many Japanese companies originally moved production abroad to counter a strong yen that forced them to charge more in overseas markets, sapping their competitiveness. The yen strengthened from around 250 to the dollar in the mid-1980s to below 80 in 2011 and 2012. Now the yen is back to around 113 to the dollar, providing some relief to Japanese exporters.
Tokyo-based Casio has sold watches priced around $20 for decades. Affectionately called "cheap Casios" by fans around the world, they account for slightly more than 10% of its annual output of roughly 44 million units -- the biggest share of any watch category.
Output of the watches is split roughly equally among four plants: two in China, one in Thailand and the Japanese site in Yamagata Prefecture. But Japan will account for a greater share of production after the Yamagata plant is automated, with plans to more than double its capacity from the current 100,000 units a month.
Come summer, assembling modules -- the core of the watches -- will become fully automated, as will attaching the case and the band. Casio reckons that it will need less than a fifth of the plant's current workforce after the investments, which the company says will bring manufacturing costs in line with Thailand, where they are now a quarter of those in Japan. They will also be lower than in China, where labor has become particularly pricey by Asian standards.
The upgrades are expected to cost millions of dollars. Sometime within the next three years, Casio will transfer certain production lines to Yamagata from elsewhere in Asia.
Casio's move is just another company opting to invest in Japan rather than overseas.