Lens craft

It’s not every day you get a chance to tour a Japanese lens factory. Michael Topham reports on his experience of watching Sigma lenses roll off the production line

- Michael Topham

Approximately 300km north of Tokyo, in the Aizu region of Fukushima, lies a small town named Bandai. To get there, you have to take the bullet train from Tokyo to Koriyama and transfer onto the Ban’Etsusai line towards Bandaimachi station – a long-winded journey and a destination that has taken me three and a half hours to get to.

Upon arrival, a select group of press and I are ushered towards a Sigma-branded taxi bound for the company’s Aizu factory where the manufacturing of cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories all takes place.

Ten minutes later we arrive at Sigma’s headquarters and at the request of our host, remove our shoes and slip on a pair of white Crocs before entering what feels like a very clinical working environment.

As we head to a conference room to meet Mr Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma Corporation, more than 50 employees rise to their feet and greet us with a traditional Japanese bow. It’s a reception I’ve never experienced before and I return the Japanese code of etiquette by bowing in return.

A warm welcome from Mr Kazuto Yamaki follows, and a brief presentation about the company and its history reveals some interesting facts and figures that are new to me. Mr Yamaki’s late father founded the business in 1961. He took it over in 2012, after working for the company for 23 years. The factory I’m fortunate to visit today was built in 1974 and is currently the workplace of 1,400 employees, 75% of whom are engineers.