By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics is restructuring its camera business, one of its future key business areas, by reducing the number of workers and relocating its main camera manufacturing plant.
“Samsung has transferred its camera-manufacturing base to Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province from the city of Changwon, and it had launched a voluntary retirement program there,” said an official at Changwon City, Friday, asking not to be named.
“Hundreds of Samsung employees were transferred to the southeastern industrial city of Gumi,” the official added.
The move came as part of its efforts to bolster its camera business and optimize the use of its human resources after building a manufacturing plant in Vietnam.
Samsung aims to be the market leader in mirrorless cameras by 2015, after leading the domestic market with a 39 percent share in the final quarter last year.
It also seeks to be the top mirrorless camera vendor worldwide by 2015, controlling over 25 percent of the global market. It has already converted its compact camera manufacturing lines at its main camera plant in China to produce more mirrorless models.
Sales of conventional compact cameras remain sluggish due to the rise of smartphones and tablets. On the other hand, sales of digital cameras and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras have been increasing.
Samsung has produced some of its affordable and premium mobile devices in Gumi since 1988. In 2012, the company produced some 40 million handsets, less than 10 percent of its total shipments, according to Samsung officials.
The world’s top handset manufacturer restructured its Gumi handset factory after pouring billions of dollars to expand its handset-manufacturing lines in Vietnam.
“Because Gumi is the birthplace of Samsung’s handset business, the company can’t completely shut down the Gumi factory. Rather, Samsung chose the city as the new manufacturing compound to bolster its presence in cameras,” the official said.
“Although Samsung moved its camera base to Gumi, the city is a tentative option. In the big picture, it aims to produce finished goods outside the Korean Peninsula by letting its component-producing lines do operate their current status,” said a company official in Gumi, also requesting anonymity.