Last week I was fortunate enough to be a part of a press group, that for the first time ever, was allowed into Canon’s factory in Oita Japan.

As we pulled the plastic shower caps over our shoes to keep the factory floor contaminant free, I wondered what exactly we were going to see. Visions of oompa-loompas dancing around and singing about camcorders were quickly dispelled, but the site of hundreds of young Japanese workers busily assembling camcorders was no less astonishing.

I watched molten glass being transformed into various aspherical lens elements, and tape transports being tested robotically before being attached to the chassis. It was fascinating to watch as you walked around the floor, to see a series of parts take the shape of a camcorder with surprising speed.

Canon uses a “cell” system of manufacturing, rather than a traditional assembly line. The flexibility of being able to create a small teams dedicated to the assembly of just one product allows a great degree of control in reacting to the demand of a particular model.

Canon’s factory in Oita handles all the assembly of Canon’s digital SLRs, video cameras, and lenses. So if you’ve ever bought something in those lines, odds are they were made right here.

Some interesting statistics about the factory:

• This factory makes about 20 new products, and ships approximately 20,000,000 units each year.
• They create about 400,000 circuit boards per day.
• How long did it take them to make your camcorder? About one minute, from pieces in the bins, to finished camcorder.
• Each cell can pop out about 500 camcorders per eight hour shift.