Canon Inc. announced on July 7 plans to build a new manufacturing plant in Japan, to boost production of digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras and compact digital cameras.

The company said that both the current and expected demand has created a need to expand production capacity for digital SLR and compact digital cameras.

The new plant, whose operations will begin in December 2009, will be located in the Hasami industrial complex, based in Higashi Sonogi-gun, Nagasaki Prefecture.

The new plant's workforce will be made up primarily of directly hired employees to ensure the passing on of essential technologies and skills, with plans to actively and continually hire recent graduates and experienced personnel, according to the company.