Nikon Is to Cut 20 Percent of Its Workforce Outside of Japan

Nikon has announced that it will lay off 20 percent of its workforce outside of Japan by March 2022, a sign that the company is seeking to cut costs in response to a declining market.

According to Japanese website Nikkei (translation), the announcement was made at a financial results briefing last week. President Toshikazu Umatate explained that its number of overseas employees — i.e., those working outside of Japan — will drop to 60% of the figure in March 2017.

None of Nikon’s factories will close and Umatate explained the planned cutbacks will reduce the number of personnel in order to match the recent drop in Nikon’s sales. In further measures to cut costs, some manufacturing will be moved from its factory in Miyagi, Japan, to one of Nikon’s factories in Thailand.

As noted by Nikkei, recent statistics show that the number of cameras shipped worldwide during 2020 is expected to be about half of those shipped in 2019.

Nikon fans have reacted positively to the announcement of Nikon’s latest full frame camera, the Z 6II, which seems to be a significant update over its predecessor through improvements to the processor — boosting autofocus performance (check out the low light performance of a preproduction model shooting wide open here) — and the addition of a second card slot.