Canon eyes robot-only production

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Canon Inc. is moving toward fully automating digital camera production in an effort to cut costs a key change being played out across Japan, a world leader in robotics.

If successful, counting on machines can help preserve this nation's technological power not the stereotype of machines snatching assembly line jobs from workers, Jun Misumi company spokesman, said on Monday.

The move toward machine-only production will likely be completed in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2015, said Misumi, although he declined to give specific dates.

Japanese manufacturers have been moving production abroad recently to offset the earnings damage from the soaring yen. And fears are growing about a hollowing-out of Japan Inc. as jobs move to China, India and the rest of Asia, where labor costs are cheaper. Misumi was adamant that jobs won't be cut at Canon.

"When machines become more sophisticated, human beings can be transferred to do new kinds of work," he said.

Toyota Motor Corp. is also working on beefing up automated production not only to cut costs but achieve better quality.

In a recent plant tour for reporters, Toyota showed how welding got much faster and more precise through instantaneous laser-welding.

Toyota used that technology to make Lexus luxury models move and withstand sharp turns better. Despite growing pressure from the high yen, Toyota is innovating production efficiency to keep annual Japan production at 3 million vehicles, about a third of its global production, by reducing costs through boosting robotics use.

Akihito Sano, professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology, said Japan needs to do more to fine-tune its sophisticated technology so robotics can become more practical, and was doing some soul-searching lately about practical applications.

Japan has tended to focus on research and come up with razzle-dazzle humanoids and then get been beaten in simple but practical products like the Roomba vacuum cleaner by iRobot Corp. of the United States, he said.