Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/03

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Funny Glass ?
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 21:43:09 -0400

At 08:25 AM 6/4/98 +0900, Ken Lisaka wrote:
>Many, many years ago, during and not long after the MacArthur era,
>foreign corporations were made to partner with their Japanese
>competitor, not too much unlike the current Australian law.  Thus were
>born Hoya-Schott, Sumitomo-3M, Fuji-Xerox, etc.  Foreign corporations
>were given access to the manufacturing facilities in Japan, while
>Japanese corporations had a greater access to knowhows.  While this
>restriction is long gone, many firms, including all three of the above,
>decided to remain together.
>

I am relatively certain that this restriction is still in place -- both
Ford and Kodak were forced to take Japanese partners before being allowed
to market in Japan.  That was the principal complaint Kodak had in their
recent trade dispute.

In any event, it has been well known for years that a Schott imports its
chemicals and glasses from a number of sources outside of Germany, as well
as using internal production.  (Germany, for instance, produces virtually
no tungsten, so any optical glasses containing this have to be made from
"imported" materials.)

Marc


msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
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