Re: Kodak

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cremati" <johnjohnc@core.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 9:24 AM
Subject: Kodak

> I had just talked to a Kodak rep and he said that they
just completed a several hundred million dollar building
with all new equipment for the sole purpose of the
manufacture of film.. They had just transferred the Black
and White manufacturing to the new building...He said film
is what pays the bills around there and that film is still
alive and well.....
> John Cremati
>

  Kodak made this announcement some time ago. Some of the
"new" films have actually been produced in this plant for
some time. Kodak announced that it thought that the movie
industry would continue to use film for some time and it
would support film.
  Kodak has a very large investment in digital technology of
various sorts. Some have been successful and some have not
but the company has had financial problems for a very long
time. For that reason they are cost cutting almost
continuously. The victims we notice are relatively low
volume films, papers, and other products which have been
discontinued in considrable numbers in the last few years.
Kodak has skinned down to products that it evidently
believes will have a continuing market of sufficient size to
be profitable.
  Part of the problem may be that Kodak is a very large
company and simply can't make anything that doesn't sell in
large quantity. In the past I think they had enough margin
to be able to make some specialized products, they still do
make a few, but most have disappeared.
  Much graphic arts stuff has been displaced by electronic
imaging means so have gone away.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com