Anyone hear about the flooded Nikon plant?

[epmi314]

I just visited a local camera shop to check their stock of D7000s as I have been flirting with the idea and they informed me the Nikon plant in Thailand is flooded. They have an every shrinking stock of Nikon DX DSLRs from the D7000 down. They also manufacture a number of DX lenses there as well.

The D7000 had a couple of bugs initially but they seemed to have been corrected. Now production has halted due to the flood and may not begin again until sometime in December or January.

Does it make sense to purchase a D7000 now vs. purchasing one in a few months that was produced in a recently flooded facility??

[Colin Southern]

You might be interested to read this ...

http://nikonrumors.com/2011/10/10/th...actories.aspx/

[shreds]

Yes I had read about this too. What with Earthquakes and nuclear plants followed by flooding I think I would move my plants to higher, firmer ground However, looking at that photo of Thailand, the factory appears to be built on stilts and even has a ramp/gangway leading up to it on the far side. So perhaps it was built with flooding in mind? What is under the building car parking or a manufacturing plant? Need more info rather than supposition

[rpcrowe]

That's what happened when they moved out of Japan. Everything is safe in Japan

[Colin Southern]

That's what happened when they moved out of Japan. Everything is safe in Japan

Reminds me about the old quip about backup systems at nuclear plants. They go something like this ...

... Backup everybody ... BACK UP!

[herbert]

Hi,

I read this a few weeks ago:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/N...aspx?News=1388

Nikon expects profits to be down 25 billion yen. That is roughly 321 million US dollars. A quick search for past Nikon profits found this:

http://pmanewsline.com/2011/05/23/ni...scal-20102011/

In short they only made 341 million dollars in 2010-2011. So the flood has nullified all their profits for an entire year.

I think Nikon would like it if you bought the camera now. They need the money. We can expect delays and price hikes in the future. You'll probably get the best deal now.

Anyway the general rule is that you should not wait for what is round the corner. Buy the gear that will do the job now and start enjoying it. In the event of significant price hikes you could even sell it for a profit.

Have fun.

Alex

[Hansm]

The same happened to Sony. They moved the production for the NEX7 and A77 to a production plant where they normally produce car audio.
I feel sorry for the people who live there.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

A lot of electronics manufacturers were affected by the floods in Thailand. I know Seagate - a hard disk drive manufacturer has also been badly affected with limited drives now available on the open market.

I've heard through one of my warehousing contractors who has a facility over in Thailand that there are still areas at risk. The floods are also causing some political headaches because I believe the government is trying to protect some areas and completely ignoring others - so some of the people in the affected areas are sabotaging the government's efforts to protect the other areas (removing sandbag walls at night etc).

Been an interesting year for natural disasters!

[Simon Garrett]

Back in October when the floods hit, many of the factories in the area N of Bangkok were flooded to a depth of 3m or more. Water levels have gone down, but many flooded factories are still coping with 0.5m of water, and the water is not predicted to subside until December. I don't know about cameras, but hard drives are predicted (in the trade press) to be in short supply (i.e. expensive) for a year or more. Not to mention the 600 who have died and many thousands who have lost their homes or their jobs.

[Milzarr]

I'm getting a D7000 in December, but I'm worried that it would be sold out by then

[Milzarr]

I'm getting a D7000 in December, but I'm worried that it would be sold out by then

I've been looking for it ever since. Nikon D7000 is out of stock everywhere for the regular price. It is still available on eBay for $300 extra without warranty.

[krispix]

I've been looking for it ever since. Nikon D7000 is out of stock everywhere for the regular price. It is still available on eBay for $300 extra without warranty.

My guess is that Nikon have been concentrating all their efforts on the D4 and D800 (it was important to get them out before Canon and in time for the Olympics). Now that they've achieved this I imagine they'll get back into production for the lower end of the market.

[Black Pearl]

D5100's have been back in stock for about a week now, the D3100's should hit stores this weekend with the D7000's not far behind.
Have your cash ready as there won't be many and you'll need to be quick.

[epmi314]

I ended up finding a new D7000 manufactured pre-flood. Doing more learning than shooting right now. So far it is wonderful. Good to have Nikon up and running again. Can't wait to see what people have to say about the D800!

[Halfaboy]

Take a look at http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2...rwater/100178/ if you are interested what has happened on the outskirts of Bangkok at the end of last year.

A number of Industrial Parks were inundated with water with depths varying from 0.50 – 3.00 meter. Not only have the factories of Nikkon been hit but also factories of i.e. Western Digital (hard disks), Honda, Toyota etc etc. Besides this, all logistics in that area were disturbed as many roads were flooded too i.e. factories being able to produce could not do so because basic materials could not be delivered (and final products could leave the compounds).

It may take up to mid this year before all factories are fully operational again.