Nikon Corporation has recently changed its management structure, with the appointment of Muneaki Tokunari as new representative director, president, COO and CFO this month. With the change in personnel comes a change in Nikon's operations, as it looks to collaborate further with other companies.
The company has always taken pride in manufacturing everything 'in-house', setting high standards in quality and efficiency with some of the best mirrorless cameras on the market. However, the changing of the guard also means a change to Nikon's production plans, as it will start outsourcing more of the development of its products.
"Rather than doing everything ourselves, we want to collaborate with startups and provide unique value,'' said Tokunari to Japanese outlet ZakZak (thanks, Digital Camera Info).
Nikon has set its sights on 2030 as a target for transformation. This time in an official statement, Tokunari – who has vast experience in overseas projects – states, "I will work together with our 20,000 employees around the world to achieve our Vision 2030 of becoming a key technology solutions company in a global society where humans and machines co-create seamlessly.
"Achieving sustainable growth requires building a solid management base. We will strengthen global governance, modernization of production plants, and promote digital transformation (DX). On the operational side, we will focus on our balance sheet and cash flow, and work to improve business portfolio management to optimize the capital allocation."
This message comes right after Nikon acquired Red, manufacturer of some of the best cinema cameras. If this indicates Nikon's intentions to expand, it will certainly be an exciting future.
In recent years we have increasingly seen manufacturers struggle to fulfill orders and pre-orders, resulting in pausing sales for production to catch up – Fujifilm in particular comes to mind. Nikon has made avoiding this a priority by planning to share the load of production and by "modernizing production plants".
This looks like a good move for Nikon and we may see more smart acquisitions, or at least collaborations, with other brands in the future to help with its new Vision 2030 plan. Nikon has evolved from its obsession with doing it all in-house, but let's hope that the exemplary Nikon standards remain.
You may also be interested in our guides to the best Nikon lenses, the best Nikon Z lenses, and the best Nikon flashguns.
