Construction will begin in June next year and Canon plans to begin operations at the facility in May 2012.
The facility, estimated to cost 30 billion yen ($356 million), will make use of Canon’s latest automated production systems to manufacture components, which would be supplied to the company’s toner cartridge production bases in Japan and abroad.
Construction of the factory in the Oita prefecture, which is located on the southern island of Kyushu, was originally planned to begin in December 2008 but Canon postponed the project because of the global economic slowdown. The OEM stated “the collapse of a major U.S. securities firm triggered a global economic downturn, which resulted in a sudden decline in demand for toner cartridges”.
The company believes that the laser printer market is now improving and stated that the recovery “is expected to drive steady growth in demand for toner cartridges.”