Behind The Scenes At Sigma: An Unexpectedly Captivating Tour Of Their Aizu, Japan Factory

This has got to be one of the most beautifully filmed behind the scenes videos I have ever seen. Sigma recently released this tour of their factory, set to an incredible ambient soundtrack by Voytak and cut with scenes of the Japanese countryside. The juxtaposition of the clinical interior scenes with the natural outside world were very effective and to be honest, I found the whole video somewhat powerful. Then again, I'm the type of person who listens to Brian Eno and gets caught daydreaming on a regular basis. Still, this is brilliant.

"The history of our Aizu factory, our sole production base, is also the history of Sigma itself. From the moment we first conceived the idea of setting up a factory in Aizu, we have aimed to grow and develop as a member of the local community. We believe that when a company sets up a business base, it has an economic and cultural responsibility to the local community from that time onward. The global market may be the principal focus of our business, but our attention to responsibility begins at home.

Sigma's ability to coordinate things smoothly on the spot is largely thanks to our unique, vertically integrated production system. Apart from a handful of processes, everything is done in house. This includes grinding lenses, molding plastic parts, painting, mounting substrates, assembly, manufacturing screws and other parts, and machining molds. All our interchangeable lenses, cameras and strobes are also produced at our Aizu factory with this integrated system. With production lines that can be flexibly realigned according to a meticulous production plan and easily accommodate high-mix small-lot production, the manufacturing that takes place at Aizu is Sigma's greatest asset."

-Sigma.com

Via iso1200.com