I still have no clue if I will still be employed at year-end. Nobody has come out to reassure us remaining employees of anything, which is downright terrifying. You would think that real leaders would COMMUNICATE, re-build trust and try to move forward as soon as possible. It’s annoying that my co-workers are more concerned about the third office day being added in January, I’m like dude, you might not even be an employee at that point, get your priorities straight. As others have stated, I believe there will be more layoffs in Q4. The company is so unethical and just wants to spread out the layoffs over multiple periods for legal purposes. Expect something to go down around the week of October 7th, maybe Tuesday the 8th when they can do a mass Teams meeting again. Then, they will have the remaining 4th quarter to prepare whoever is left for the transition. I’ve never been through something like this in my career. I spent the first decade of my career at a small third generation family-owned-and-operated business. This experience at Canon has turned me off from wanting to work for a big company. Even though the pay & benefits stink at a small business, at least I was treated like a family member by the owners. I think that’s why I’ve been so negative the past month. I realized that culture is more important than company name recognition.
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A month into the new year and still no real direction. The many layers of upper management are complaining about flat numbers while doing nothing but micromanaging employees schedule and location. It's like they don't care if you can do your job just be in your cubicle at you designated time. The fact that customer websites, sales portals, and systems are failing, issues being addressed haphazardly, continuously damaging our reputation with customers. Practically guarantees continually flat or dropping numbers. Nobody is sure what team should be handling anything because we still have no clear structure. But they're working diligently to determine how many more they can cut, what offices to close. Most of us are looking for new employment. Writing on the wall.
Already looking for my own burial plot.
I hope I die before the Final Solution is carried out. Hope that makes Canon management happy. It's obvious they want to create a self-destructive environment.
I'm prepared to drink large amounts of Hemlock (Socrates last drink), if necessary. Mentally tired of the torture.
To the original posting, look at this in a logical way and try and put together some assumptions. Obviously, what I will present here is nothing but a guess but will help you decide on your preparedness just in case.
So, what are the facts to look at:
- Production print vendors such as CSA ProPrint all have their highest sales in Q4, as commercial printers spend the bulk of their money in Q3-4.
- Back log an installation on equipment is at their highest in Q4, whereas there will be a strong push for completion of installations so that revenue can be recognized for year end.
- ingesting a wholly owned subsidiary always results in a reduction in fixed cost, meaning head count and closing of duplicate facilities.
- The announcement at Drupa that the Canon sheet fed production inkjet will be resold by Heidelberg in 2025. (Manufactured in the Europe Oce division)
- Also announced at Drupa a replacement sheet fed production unit on the horizon. (Manufactured in Japan division)
So, what can you conclude, again just a logical estimate:
Revenue is key to any operating company and Q3-4 is critical for getting all the backlog and units sold on the books for revenue recognition. It makes no business sense to have CSA/CUSA merge during a time where disruptions within the company would jeopardize year end revenue.
With that said, having a layoff in the existing year, will have a positive impact on the balance sheet. (I'm assuming I have no financial idea)
As with many companies in their industry for production print, reduction in force have all been 2 weeks before the year end. Two reasons, all the equipment that can be installed and recognized, will have been installed and the last 2 weeks are generally dead weeks. So, knowing that CSA will be dissolved with in CUSA in January, this all makes logical sense for 2024 revenue targets. Leaving the fall out for any disruptions, in the first quarter of 2025, whereas all first quarters are generally the leanest for the production print industry. This will also give time for the new CUSA to also right the sales organization in line with new product introductions and new OEM resellers of Canon production equipment. It will also allow for the introduction of new product lines from Japan as opposed to the old Oce plants in Europe.
So, my point is there is some writing on the wall, and no one can be sure what Canon Japan is cooking up, but it is really looking like there are changes on the horizon. It's always best to be prepared with your updated resume in hand and all your networking connections exercised long before anything takes place.
I'm sure I'll get dinged for my comments here, but just going off of public information and throwing out some assumptions and a perspective from witnessing the same situation in the industry before by other manufacturers in the commercial print space.
… and Canon Rumors too !!
https://www.canonrumors.com/an-insight-into-the-current-state-of-canon-usa-and-its-partners/
Well PP has picked up on the Canon story… wonder what will be next….
https://petapixel.com/2024/08/07/despite-reports-canon-not-likely-to-incur-7m-tax-penalty-for-its-layoffs/
I'd seriously look for other opportunities and not wait to be let go. All you can do is look out for yourself and keep publicly calling out Canon's toxic behavior so they no longer fly under the radar.