The OEM’s US branch is looking to market its expertise in recycling, while work on its $100 million printer cartridge production line is already underway.
Canon Virginia is hoping to recruit employees who know how to utilise the latest technology, Daily Press reported. Its toner manufacturing and filling division is also set to grow. The subsidiary’s President and CEO, Toru Nishizawa, said this week that while the company “started out manufacturing” it is now aiming to “diversify and grow […] and transition and answer the demand from the community, and turn it into something more valuable”.
Senior Vice President Ron Briggs added that development of bespoke parts is allowing Canon Virginia to become more responsive to the need of its customers, while plans are underway to market to independent groups. “The more competitive we are here, the more we can attract more business here”, he stated.
However, Nihizawa also commented that the US continues to lack workers with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills. “We hope to find a solution within the city and state to find solutions together,” he noted.
Another issue is that many high school graduates do not realise that the manufacturing sector is no longer primarily focused on the assembly line. Briggs pointed out that most high-tech manufacturing is “all done by robots. It’s learning how to fix the robots to maintain the operation […] in order to have the knowledge to complete those operations, STEM is critical”.
Canon Virginia previously announced the $100 million (€92 million) investment in its production line and toner remanufacturing and refilling operation in January 2015. Virginia State Governor Terry McAuliffe said at the time that the innovative technology the expansion would involve would require “intensive higher scale training, and will provide workers with skills of the 21st century that are essential as we build a new Virginia economy”.