Sony to increases digital camera outsourcing orders to Taiwan
Dec 02, 2005
On the heels of its recent decision to contract with Taiwan's Premier Image Technology Corp. to make some of its digital cameras next year, Sony is seeking another contract manufacturer in Taiwan to make the products. Ability Enterprise Co., Ltd., Asia Optical Co., Inc. and Altek Corp. are vying for the contracts. A final decision is expected to come in the first quarter next year. From the company's recent moves, Taiwanese industry watchers analyzed that Sony has begun moving away from its former in-house manufacturing strategy and increasing its percentage of contracted production. Premier is Sony's first contract supplier. Taiwanese industry insiders pointed out that Sony had approached Ability, Asia Optical, and Altek over the possibility of contracting them to supply cameras after closing the deal with Premier. Altek has secured contracts from Kodak and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co., Asia Optical is a contract supplier for Olympus, and Ability is currently making digital cameras for Samsung and Casio. Taiwanese digital-camera suppliers pointed out that it was natural for Sony to seek a second contract source to reduce the risk of depending too much on one supplier. The industry insiders pointed out that the quality associated with Taiwan's manufacturers had convinced Japanese companies to give them orders that previously only went to Japanese manufacturers like Sanyo. Sony's recent relationships with Taiwanese suppliers are seen as confirming the local companies' quality and lower production costs. It is estimated that Sanyo will ship 13 million digital cameras by the end of this year, helping the company retain the title of world's No. 1 digital-camera supplier. However, Taiwan's Premier projected that its shipments would reach 10 million systems for 2005, posing an increasing threat to Sanyo and likely unseating Sanyo next year. Taiwanese industry watchers noted that Sanyo has a competition disadvantage with Taiwanese suppliers because it does not have the self-sufficient capability to produce camera lenses. source & copyright: CENS
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