Leaf moves manufacture to China according to this official message in Hebrew
http://www.calcalist.co.il/internet/articles/0,7340,L-3273565,00.html
http://www.calcalist.co.il/internet/articles/0,7340,L-3273565,00.html
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And unfortunate for us all!An automatic translation tells that Kodak is shutting down the professional imaging division?? VERY irritating....
I heard many scary things about Kodak and their professional imaging business in the recent months.An automatic translation tells that Kodak is shutting down the professional imaging division?? VERY irritating....
If this is true it is for sure not good for LEAF. Not move to China or to India or in future to Africa (because of cheap labor costs) will be the right solution. Has basically NOTHING to do with photography, but general global economy.
All these moves will only help very short term, but mid term it becomes a disaster! Sorry to see that Leaf is going down that road, but there were enough signs if you look back to their success in the MF market. The leaders are currently Phase followed by Hasselblad and maybe Leica in the future if they do everything right.
But Leaf was loosing ground and they have NO competitive products right now. Ar least not what the MF "mass market" is asking for in order to make enough money. Moving their manufaturing to China will not solve their innovatins problem
Very true indeed!What you seem to forget is that both Hassy and Phase depend on Kodak chips for most of their line and the S2 if I'm not mistaken, is based on a Kodak chip too.
Starts slowly making me really scary who is owned by whom ....Thanks Ben!
So Leaf is lucky, it's "only" Kodak Israel - whatever that means!?
But what's next? What crazy ideas do the Kodak managers have next? When they end their sensor-business, we are in big trouble... Maybe Dr. Kaufmann should buy Dalsa...
"P1 is owned by lego"
Seriously? That would mean that some of us play with the same toys since decades! ;-)
Dr. Kaufmann has stated that he has no intention of selling Leica, but rather that he has a very long view for the company (10+ years). Since he owns more than 97% of all common stock, I'd say a takeover/buyout isn't too much of a concern.I think the more likely question would be who may BUY Leica vs. who Leica may BUY.
Dr. Kaufmann's holding company ACM has a project in the works: Leica Cinema. No details were given, just the name. This was presented in his keynote to the LHSA in Rochester in Oct. 2007. Your guess is as good as mine.Especially in these times, stock cooperations tend to act stupid/shortsighted, propably Kodak/Dalsa would sell significant know-How and resources to gain a small profit for the next quarter...
I'm wondering anyway that Germany has no problem with relying on foreign producers to crucial elements, even of the space/defence industry - something that the USA or Israel would never do (that's why they have their sensor fabs), the manufacturing/design know-how, the tools, lithographic systems, masks and wafers are there but no sensors!
I was always wondering about a possible relationship with ARRI, they have a custom designed sensor (developed by Frauenhofer) but manufactured in the US... They are currently working on a new digital cinema camera and Leica would be an ideal partner for sharing electronic components/R&D (same/higher quality-standards but entirely differenty markets).
By the way, the DALSA-fab (which they bought cheap from Philips after their 6Mp-full-frame-desaster) is just 200km from Wetzlar (Eindhoven).