CONFIDENTIAL
- 22
Factory Visit - Canon Business Machines
65.
We then visited Canon Dalian Business Machines, Inc. (A), the largest Japanese investment in the ETDZ, and received a briefing from the Plant Manager, Mr. Hajime Nakajima ( +$). We
were told that the operation was a solely Japanese-owned operation with an investment of
¥9.6 billion (about US$66 million). It occupied a site of 90 000 sq. m. An adjacent site had
also been reserved for Phase II expansion at a later stage. The factory now had 1 030
workers, two-thirds of which were female, and hoped to employ 1 800 workers by next year;
the average age of the workers was 20. There were 19 Japanese and 50 Chinese workers
at the managerial level. Training was also provided to Chinese staff both on-the-job as well
as in Japan. The average monthly wage rate of the operatives was Rmb300.
66.
The factory, which produced cartridges for laser printers, commenced operation in May this year. The present monthly production was 240 000 units and they expected to go up to 280 000 next year. All materials for production were supplied from Japan or other Canon factories in China. Only carton boxes for packaging were purchased locally. All the cartridges were exported to USA and Europe.
67.
In response to our question as to why Canon had chosen Dalian for the operation, Mr. Nakajima told us that Canon had long experience in doing business in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Guangzhou. Having considered all the investment environment of these cities, they concluded that Dalian was the best location. The ETDZ's proximity to new port of Dayao Bay was a definite advantage.
68.
Problems encountered so far were few: inflation and congestion of the existing Dalian port which sometimes caused 4 to 5 days delay in shipment were among them, but the situation would ease on completion of the Dayao Bay port was completed next year. Mr. Nakajima also felt that the quality and working attitude of the local workers were comparable to those in Japan. Things had proceeded so smoothly that they expected that
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