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New Camera So Successful That Argus Division May Enter Export Field Soon

New Camera So Successful That Argus Division May Enter Export Field Soon image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
October
Year
1960
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

New Camera So Successful That Argus
Division May Enter Export Field Soon

Sales of Argus Cameras Di-
vision's 35mm "Autronic" cam-
era are so good that the firm
is thinhing» aboyL enterine the
pxport^miAB^ ^-S f96C

The statement is in Steel

•igazine's "Fight for Sur-
al" edition that quotes J. J.
hiiggs, Argus Camera, Inc.,
president, as saying that Au-
tronic sales are running six
months ahead of production.

Riggs said that the $88 Au-
tronic is competitive with for-
eign models. "We're so enthu-
siastic (about sales), we're
thinking of entering the export
market," Riggs said.
Patent Assist

Design has given Argus, a
division of Sylvania Electric
Products, Inc., a potent assist
in meeting foreign competition,
the magazine says.

It noted that, beginning in
1955, Argus' sales were hit by
a barrage of low-priced, high
quality cameras from Japan'
and Germany. By 1959, the im-
pact on 35mm cameras became

-tical. Profits dropped.
The only solution we could
was to fight back with the
; "st possible product at the
lowest possible price," 7
says in the magazine.

"Our objective was to come
up with a product the Japanese
and Germans didn't have. We
decided on a fiillv automatic
35mm unit with ;n light
meter th'11 '"^omaLiCt.liy makes
all adju; " James Brink -
erhoff, Argiiri operations man-
ager, said.

The Autronic was evolved un-
der specific design goals. They

were sheer lines that look mod-
ern, yet in good taste; expen-
sive appearance, compactness
•anrl simplified features.

wanted our product to
u^ uo easy to operate as a box
camera, yet have the features
to entice the sophisticated buy-
er," Riggs relates in the maga-
zine.

To cut product cost, Argus
called for purchase of such
Autronic parts as shutters and

meters, both high labor cost
items, from Germany. And the
firm improved manufacturing
techniques to cut the cost ol
producing lenses below the
price of Japanese imports.

The new Autronic has helped
Argus keep its worker force up
to the 900-plus level during al!
i this year, whereas the firm
generally cut its force to about
750 during slack periods in pre-
vious years.