Assembling The Leica M9

[Samir Jahjah]

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Assembling The Leica M9:

 

Assembling the Leica M9

 

Marc

 

And look here at another assembly line...this time from Nikon !

 

Nikon Sendai plant visit / e-Photographia.com

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[ho_co]

I'm not too surprised that M's arrive with a nice fresh covering of rogue dust spots btw. It's one thing to clean it in the factory prior to shipping but I'm sure that as soon as you pack, ship and shake & rattle the assembly between Solms and the customer's ceremonial opening & first lens fitment there's plenty of opportunity for dust to redistribute itself.

The guy giving the tour and the lady doing the cleaning both comment on this fact in the video as well!

[ho_co]

1) Did you notice the footwear discrimination? Looks as if blue=outsider, white=insider.

 

2) In one of the threads someone commented on the general level of noise in the assembly plant. Notice in the first 20-25 sec or so inside the assembly room, a shelf in the back bears what looks like the international warning sign for 'falling rock' or 'avalanche.' That may be the source of the banging. Or did I read in Sean's current "besser als Du" thread that the noise came from the sentry's trying to block EP's entry?

 

3) Note that the group leader removes his wedding ring before handling the camera, as if to say that dealing with an M9 is like dealing with a mistress. Conversations also are fittingly sotto voce.

 

4) I'd call her a perky-sounding chick, but I'm also curious about who the female was. I was glad to hear someone reassuring the tourleader that he was being understood, which thing it seemed to me was the purpose of Michael's exchanges as well.

 

5) I'm sure you noticed the first assembly lady request the return of her "screwdriver" after the group leader had asked to borrow her (I think) "Schraubenzieher." Looks like a group that gets on well.

 

Excellent that Michael published the video!

[sfokevin]

What with all the plain white hair nets?... I was expecting a nice pointed red Leica hats

 

[marknorton]

I was surprised at how noisy it was. I'm surprised that someone didn't stand up and shout "won't someone answer that goddam phone!". In German of course.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Howard, I think the first assembly lady told him to use this screwdriver it is better, and then asked for it back when he left.

 

interesting how he started handling the camera in the sandwich wrapper.

 

.

[ho_co]

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interesting how he started handling the camera in the sandwich wrapper.

Good point, Bo. That blows my "M9 is like a mistress" analogy to shreds.

 

You're right about the screwdrivers, of course. I just laughed when she used the English word, since all the conversations he initiated had been in German.

 

 

Oh, wait! Maybe he didn't remove his wedding ring. It may be that she had to give him a tip to get him to "use the paper this time" and he was pocketing the evidence.

[marknorton]

interesting how he started handling the camera in the sandwich wrapper.

 

Doesn't bode well for the durability of the new painted finishes...

[normclarke]

Hi,

Very interesting video. One small point that bugged me was that there was no evidence of protection from finger residues onto a high quality piece of kit. Comparison with the Nikon plant where many of the operatives were wearing finger stalls is noted. As an old timer who spent best part of 50 years making high level electronic gear I was not impressed!

 

Best

 

normclarke.

[ho_co]

I was surprised at how noisy it was. ...

I think that's the result of the omni-directional mic and its Automatic Gain Control.

 

That is, since the speaker(s) aren't directly miked, the camera's recording apparatus tries to maximize sound input by cranking up the volume.

 

That's why it's sometimes hard to follow the explanations through the noise floor: Noise and signal are amplified equally.

 

The stereo helps a little there, because it helps localize a speaker for easier concentration.

[Ozkar]

I could be wrong but it appears that the M9 is shipped from Portugal in a fully assembled state minus the sensor. It is then shipped to Germany where it is disassembled and the sensor fitted. It is then reassembled, calibrated & tested.

 

The audio lacks a little clarity and I may be have heard wrong. But if correct, this would rate as one of the most inefficient manufacturing processes I have come across. And it would add considerable cost to the finished product.

[stunsworth]

I think that's incorrect.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Ozkar,

 

There is no doubt the M9 production line could be more effective if it was all outsourced, if cost was a issue I would have it done in China,

 

However, it is not adding considerably to the actual cost, you can FedEX the individual bodies to Solms for less than $20 a pop and we did see how long it takes to dissassemble the body on the video... so lets say its a 5 minutes slowdown.. and lets call that another $20.. the total production cost added might be $40, multiply by 4 for the end user cost, and that is $160. out of $7000. clearly they don't FedEX the bodies one at a time and the box can be opened faster...etc... and we are paying for the German labor on the time the camera is being handled and calibrated in Germany.

 

Saying there is little slow-down, I mean, not counting the shipping time to Germany, the packing in Portugal, and unpacking in Germany probably ads less than 10 minutes to the total production cycle. - That's being conservative - my personal guess is that the additional time is 1-2 minutes for packing and unpacking since we are dealing with a large number of items for each operation.

 

Im postive Leica is doing it this way, not because of the added cost, but rather because they do not feel they can get enough control over calibration and final QA unless its in house. naturally there is also the issue of having enough German labor and parts cost to legally print "made in Germany" on the camera. (wonder if they have to engrave that in Germany or it can be embossed in Portugal.)

 

But in today's JIT manufacturing, moving the calibration to Solms is not particularly ineffective in the greater picture, though it probably ads days to the production cycle. I suspect Solms might be the bottleneck in getting more of these on the shelves around the world quickly, they probably have plenty of "blanks" from Portugal ready to be installed and calibrated... step two should be a parallel line in Solms in the ramp up phase.

 

.

[Ozkar]

You have overlooked the not so trivial fact that Leica needs to maintain two facilities, one in Portugal and one in Germany. This must add considerably more than $40 to the total cost of manufacture. My guesstimate is at least several hundred dollars at cost. The retail price could possibly drop by more than $1000 if the entire unit was assembled from start to finish in one continuous process.

 

 

 

 

Ozkar,

 

There is no doubt the M9 production line could be more effective if it was all outsourced, if cost was a issue I would have it done in China,

 

However, it is not adding considerably to the actual cost, you can FedEX the individual bodies to Solms for less than $20 a pop and we did see how long it takes to dissassemble the body on the video... so lets say its a 5 minutes slowdown.. and lets call that another $20.. the total production cost added might be $40, multiply by 4 for the end user cost, and that is $160. out of $7000. clearly they don't FedEX the bodies one at a time and the box can be opened faster...etc... and we are paying for the German labor on the time the camera is being handled and calibrated in Germany.

 

Saying there is little slow-down, I mean, not counting the shipping time to Germany, the packing in Portugal, and unpacking in Germany probably ads less than 10 minutes to the total production cycle. - That's being conservative - my personal guess is that the additional time is 1-2 minutes for packing and unpacking since we are dealing with a large number of items for each operation.

 

Im postive Leica is doing it this way, not because of the added cost, but rather because they do not feel they can get enough control over calibration and final QA unless its in house. naturally there is also the issue of having enough German labor and parts cost to legally print "made in Germany" on the camera. (wonder if they have to engrave that in Germany or it can be embossed in Portugal.)

 

But in today's JIT manufacturing, moving the calibration to Solms is not particularly ineffective in the greater picture, though it probably ads days to the production cycle. I suspect Solms might be the bottleneck in getting more of these on the shelves around the world quickly, they probably have plenty of "blanks" from Portugal ready to be installed and calibrated... step two should be a parallel line in Solms in the ramp up phase.

 

.

[stunsworth]

You have overlooked the not so trivial fact that Leica needs to maintain two facilities, one in Portugal and one in Germany. This must add considerably more than $40 to the total cost of manufacture

 

Perhaps you should email Leica, it may be something they've not considered before.

 

Then again perhaps they've done their sums, added up the costs, and decided it's a cost effective way of doing things.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Ozkar,

 

Im not disputing that the price could be lower done in one continues operation. particularly if done in Portugal rather than Germany. Im not sure about the $1000 end-user saving estimate, keep in mind that other full-frame camera made as efficiently as possible are still rather expensive. and also the M9 is probably made at a 1/1000 ratio of the typical DSLR FF camera, which also affects the price.

 

The sticking point is wanting control over calibration and QA.

 

The savings would have to assume that the one facility could handle the volume of both processes and employees. increasing facilities do not always cut cost as there are new cost involved. But you could probably cut from two HR directors to one.

 

Anyway, not trying to defend the price of the M9, its up to the camera to prove worth the money, just saying that I'm not sure there are as drastic savings available, particularly not if we also want the quality expected from a Leica camera.

 

.

[ho_co]

Ozkar--

Good observation. The M9 follows the same procedure as with with M7, MP and previous M cameras.

 

Initial pre-assembly in Portuguese plant. But note, the top plate is just laid on, no electronic connections are made.

 

Basically, shutter and body castings are merely laid in place in Portugal.

 

Sensor and electronics come to Solms from Jenoptik totally separate from the other stuff.

 

Then Germany assembles, calibrates and tests all components.

 

Portugal may not be as inexpensive a point of origin as it was at first, but would you want to be the manager who decided to close a plant to save a few dollars, only to find a few years later that the specifics of that plant are better suited to the current product mix?

 

Do a forum search on Portugal. It's a very impressive facility, and you would have to make major changes in Solms if you closed it.

[Ozkar]

I am not at all concerned with Portugal vs Germany. The M9 is not complex relative to a state-of-the-art DSLR from Canon or Nikon. And Portugal could easily do it all. And if we can save $500 - $1000 then I'm all for it.

 

 

 

Ozkar--

Good observation. The M9 follows the same procedure as with with M7, MP and previous M cameras.

 

Initial pre-assembly in Portuguese plant. But note, the top plate is just laid on, no electronic connections are made.

 

Basically, shutter and body castings are merely laid in place in Portugal.

 

Sensor and electronics come to Solms from Jenoptik totally separate from the other stuff.

 

Then Germany assembles, calibrates and tests all components.

 

Portugal may not be as inexpensive a point of origin as it was at first, but would you want to be the manager who decided to close a plant to save a few dollars, only to find a few years later that the specifics of that plant are better suited to the current product mix?

 

Do a forum search on Portugal. It's a very impressive facility, and you would have to make major changes in Solms if you closed it.

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[Ozkar]

Bo,

 

In Australia, the Canon 5d II RRP is $4799. The M9 is $11500. The 5d is built in an expensive manufacturing environment (Japan) and is considerably more complex (from a manufacturing point of view) than an M9.

 

I can't imagine another manufacturer that would adopt this approach of assembling a camera almost to the point of completion, shipping it to a different country where it is pulled apart, supplemented and re-assembled. It is highly unusual (read inefficient) in this day and age. This is 1970's thinking!

 

The sticking point for Leica may have more to do with the "Made in Germany" tag than QC.

 

Ozkar

 

 

 

Ozkar,

 

Im not disputing that the price could be lower done in one continues operation. particularly if done in Portugal rather than Germany. Im not sure about the $1000 end-user saving estimate, keep in mind that other full-frame camera made as efficiently as possible are still rather expensive. and also the M9 is probably made at a 1/1000 ratio of the typical DSLR FF camera, which also affects the price.

 

The sticking point is wanting control over calibration and QA.

 

The savings would have to assume that the one facility could handle the volume of both processes and employees. increasing facilities do not always cut cost as there are new cost involved. But you could probably cut from two HR directors to one.

 

Anyway, not trying to defend the price of the M9, its up to the camera to prove worth the money, just saying that I'm not sure there are as drastic savings available, particularly not if we also want the quality expected from a Leica camera.

 

.