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| The Precision Instruments Industry |
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| Current State |
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| High Share Secured in the Global Market |
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| There are about 160,000 people employed in the precision instruments industry, which include fields such as cameras, timepieces (watches and clocks), office automation equipment, medical equipment and measuring equipment. With the total value of product shipment at roughly 4 trillion yen, it is one of Japan's key industries after automotives and electronics. Cameras, timepieces, etc. which began being exported from the 1960s, came to dominate the world market and are among the leading industry sectors in the world as well. In the photocopier field, where there recently is a shift away from B&W to color copiers as well as multi-functional machines, Canon Inc. and Ricoh Co., Ltd. have surpassed America's Xerox Corporation and have captured a more than 40 percent share of the world market. Canon and Seiko Epson Corporation (formerly known as Suwa Seikosha) also lead the world in printers. Furthermore, in digital cameras, the world shipment of which surpassed film cameras in 2002 at 2.455 million units, precision instrument makers such as Canon, Olympus Corporation, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Nikon Corporation, Casio Computer Co., Ltd., and PENTAX Corporation are virtually monopolizing the market along with electronics manufacturer Sony Corporation. While electronics manufacturers of semiconductors, liquid crystal displays and personal computers have lost a large market share through competition by Korean and Taiwanese makers, the precision instruments industry in Japan, together with the Japanese automotive industry, has secured a global position as a leading industry of the world. |
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| Konica Minolta Challenges the Three Majors: Canon, Fujifilm and Ricoh |
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| Many companies in the precision instruments industry had their beginnings in cameras or timepieces through which they grew and then later succeeded by diversifying. Among them, Canon, which succeeded through copiers and laser beam printers (FY2003 sales: 3.198 trillion yen); Fuji Photo Film, a top manufacturer of photo film (FY2003 sales: 2.5603 trillion yen); and Ricoh, the major manufacturer of copiers and other office automation equipment (FY2003 sales: 1.7802 trillion yen) form the leading group in the industry. Seiko Epson, which is Japan's domestic leader and No. 2 in the world for ink jet printers, leads the second pack with sales of 1.4132 trillion yen. These companies were followed by companies such as Nikon, a major manufacturer of single-lens reflex cameras as well as semiconductor steppers (exposure equipment); Olympus, which is the world leader in endoscopes; Casio, which is displaying strength in digital cameras and TFT liquid crystal; and Hoya Corporation, which has a high share in optical and electronic materials. However, Konica Corp. and Minolta Co., Ltd., which were companies that were both in the third pack, merged in 2003 and established Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. Konica Minolta's sales for FY2004 are forecast at 1.1145 trillion yen, making it a 1-trillion-yen corporation after Canon, Fuji Photo Film, Ricoh and Seiko Epson. Copiers and printers have been positioned as one of the core businesses of the new company as it endeavors to expand market share. There is now a possibility that the industry map, centering on the three majors, may be rewritten in a big way. |
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