Metz maker of Leica branded flashes files insolvency

[wlaidlaw]

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Metz, who make the flashes for Leica, SF-24D, SF-58D etc, filed for insolvency yesterday. Approx 600 people may be made redundant, unless a white knight can be found. I think regretfully, the days of substantial sales of German built separate flash guns are past, with the majority of sales being of OEM branded Chinese/Malaysian/Thai made flashes for the Japanese brands.

 

I wonder who Leica will get to make their flashes now and if they or Metz own the current designs.

 

Wilson

[bocaburger]

Wow, sad to hear that. I'm not familiar with German bankruptcy law, but in the US there are different kinds of bankruptcy filings (called chapters). One means the company is kaput, another simply allows the company to "reorganize", which basically means they can screw their creditors and start over

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[wlaidlaw]

Wow, sad to hear that. I'm not familiar with German bankruptcy law, but in the US there are different kinds of bankruptcy filings (called chapters). One means the company is kaput, another simply allows the company to "reorganize", which basically means they can screw their creditors and start over

 

I am not sure about Germany but in the UK we have this thing called "pre-pack", where the directors can arrange to screw their creditors and restart with basically the same business, directors, workers and premises but without the debt. However I believe they have to demonstrate a fresh injection of capital (how much I am not sure). I suspect at the beginning, it was formulated to keep people in work, which is wholly laudable but it is being totally misused now.

 

The problem with Metz, is would anyone want to invest in a German electronics company with their attendant high labour rates, short working week, long holidays and social costs. I have just come back from Taiwan, where the average working week at over 70 hours, is close to double that in Germany. My guess is that at the end of the day, someone will buy the brand, designs, etc and move production to China or another far east country.

 

Wilson

[luigi bertolotti]

... My guess is that at the end of the day, someone will buy the brand, designs, etc and move production to China or another far east country.

 

Wilson

 

I agree that is a probable conclusion... I don't know the current Mtez product line in the high range... but surely std. flashes are a "low cost" commodity for which a short lifecycle at a very low price wins over a long life at a high price...

[fotoism]

They can move to China all they want, but look at all the flash China is producing now, it would still be an uphill battle. I hope they can keep the quality instead of giving in to the lure of high profit/cheap labor.

[wda]

Thank goodness for superb fast prime Leica lenses.

[dkCambridgeshire]

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Metz' insolvency and stretched resources could explain the 'silence' from Leica ref the much needed SF26 flash firmware upgrade.

 

dunk

[wlaidlaw]

.....and the firmware update for the SF-58D flash V.1 that we have never had to bring it up to V.2.

 

Wilson

[fotoism]

This is the reply I got from Solms November 20 when I asked about how I could update SF-58 firmware:

 

"....We are looking for an way to give the Firmware to our Subsidiary

in the States. I send you more information as soon is possible....."

 

Hope that does not take too long.

[mmradman]

Wondering, how much potential sales were not realised due to Leica markup for own branded Metz products.

 

For instance my EVF is branded Olympus, I would never pay double for Leica copy.

[wlaidlaw]

This is the reply I got from Solms November 20 when I asked about how I could update SF-58 firmware:

 

"....We are looking for an way to give the Firmware to our Subsidiary

in the States. I send you more information as soon is possible....."

 

Hope that does not take too long.

 

......and Europe?

 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

Wondering, how much potential sales were not realised due to Leica markup for own branded Metz products.

 

For instance my EVF is branded Olympus, I would never pay double for Leica copy.

 

Mladen,

 

Leica/Metz carefully never updated the Leica SCA module in recent years, so that the last camera it worked properly with SCA flashes, was the M7. It sort of worked with the huge MZ-76 on the M8. They therefore forced us to buy the SF24 and SF58.

 

Wilson

[fotoism]

......and Europe?

 

No mention of that. But honestly, how difficult it is to make firmware available to any country in the world nowadays?

[FrozenInTime]

Source code escrow services exist - if the Metz-Leica OEM agreements were well drawn up, Leica should get access to the source code with Metz folding.

[timde]

The problem with Metz, is would anyone want to invest in a German electronics company with their attendant high labour rates, short working week, long holidays and social costs. I have just come back from Taiwan, where the average working week at over 70 hours, is close to double that in Germany. My guess is that at the end of the day, someone will buy the brand, designs, etc and move production to China or another far east country.

 

Suggest to visit CeBit or Hannover Messe, lots of German electronics companies seem to cope with the competition, and quite a few don't. Take Taiwan for instance, average hours per week is around 48 (Germany its 42), they have 14 public holidays (Germany its 10), and between 7 and 30 days annual leave (Germany its 20-30). Not such a big difference!

 

Its not really so bad as it seems, the market for expensive TV's has been destroyed by Samsung, Metz lasted longer than most (see Loewe or Sony) and perhaps now they can stop doing that and the remainder of the business will survive in some form. Production will probably move east, but perhaps only as far as Poland!

[wlaidlaw]

I have just come back from Taiwan. I met the son of some UK friends who is a financial journalist there. The average working week, which is believed to be the longest in the world, is over 70 hours being 5 x 12+ hour days plus every other Saturday. This was borne out by the hours I saw people on duty in the hotels I stayed in. The hourly rate I would guess is about 50% or less of that in Germany and there is very little social cost (national insurance, pension, health insurance, etc) in addition. What this means it that it costs between a third and quarter to employ someone in Taiwan compared to Germany.

 

Flash guns are not exactly high tech. All you really have to do is to reverse engineer the systems for the exposure control in the camera to build in TTL. The actual flash bit is not that different to the Mecablitz 102 I had over 50 years ago. The Taiwanese are the world's experts at reverse engineering of electronics. Much of the local semi-conductor and microchip business is based on this.

 

Wilson