Top secret like Canon Oita - Japan

Located on Oita Island, Japan, one hour away from Tokyo to the south, Canon's most important factory has a large area, full of green, no dust and also absent people.

Oita, a typical island of Japan, with volcanoes still active, smoke columns rippling from the ground, hot springs attracting tourists from all over the world, and is the land of wings rice fields and industrial parks.

A Canon employee is checking the machine.

In Oita, electric poles appear dense and familiar like any land in Vietnam. Simply because, with active volcanoes, earthquakes and possibly the dangers coming from the ocean, electric poles are a better choice than underground electrical systems . After each disaster, the Japanese can rebuild very quickly and bring life back to normal orbit.

I can take a comfortable photo on the way from Oita Airport to Canon's factory located on the island, but when I start seeing the Canon logo, the cameras are immediately required to shutdown, close the lid and fill handbag. The Canon Canon plant could say Canon's "top secret" base , or it could be the way Japanese people often do: seriousness and discipline like iron and steel.

Canon factory campus located in Oita, Japan.

On an area of ​​more than 20,000 square meters, the Canon Oita factory is a campus without tall buildings, very green with many plants, and even rare animals, raised and released naturally when already sturdy. The rooms are also arranged with many glass doors, with light always flooded, saving energy lighting, creating a sense of closeness to nature for those who work here.

After bowing respectfully and hospitable smiles of all those who met, I could step inside the factory, a quieter, quieter space than any factory in Vietnam. Male.

Entrance to the Canon Oita factory.

After a few necessary procedures in terms of security and hygiene, I was allowed to attend a tour of the factory, led and presented by the people in each area, asking questions and waiting for the solution. answer from the best experts at Canon Oita factory.

Canon Oita factory is the place to make Canon products worldwide, including the most advanced EOS cameras (1D X, 5D Mark III or 6D), lenses and lenses. EF, along with a number of Compact cameras and camcorders.

Canon's latest and most important products are awaited by day-to-day residents of the EOS 1D X Mark II, EOS 80D or EF-S 18-135mm f / 3.5-5.6 IS USM lenses , with technology. Nano allows super fast focusing, all produced here.

Many production stages at the factory are fully used by machines.

In the camera production area, there are only more than a dozen engineers working, the rest are long lines of machines that work tirelessly to produce EOS units. In Canon, machines have replaced people in the camera production line at many stages, from assembly, to product testing, to machines that are made quickly and accurately.

To prevent dust from packing when packing, this area is placed adjacent to the body production line, but separated by screens, and the finished machines and engineers go through a road " dust removal " before entering the canning area. Many dust exhaust fans are installed in the production area, because for a product such as a camera, dust is a common enemy.

In the circuit board production area, the number of engineers is even more limited. Machines almost completely replaced the human work in this area. The boards are thinly stamped with only the hair, at very high temperatures, attaching electronic components and then cooling them so they stick together. Micro robot arms perform many operations of circuit board production at the same time, and also check the accuracy.

Canon's best cameras are all made at the Canon Oita factory.

The most secret area of ​​the Oita Canon factory can be the lens and EF production area. Lens manufacturing technologies are always a vital secret of every camera manufacturer, to create better lenses that meet the increasing demands of customers.

From stamping, lens making, polishing, painting, . are carefully and meticulously done by specialized machines. Not many answers are answered in this area, because almost everything is secret. The lenses after coming out here are in perfect condition, transparent, anti-glare, water-repellent paint, and, of course, dust-free. It is then assembled together to create the perfect lens.

The whole production line of cameras, lenses, EF lenses of Canon at Oita factory is developed by this factory, the absolute secret is probably the secret for Canon to still be the big man. Highest position in the field of imaging and optics in the world.