Hello Ron,
thanks for the update!
In addition: Kodak has invested a lot in his production infrastructure over the last years. Especially in making much smaller batches due to current demand, more "just in time".
There was a very interesting report about these modernised production methods in the DemocratChronicle on 4th January, 2009.
Journalists visited the Rochester plant and reported about the new production in Building 38.
I quote from this article: "....And the company remains steadfast that camera film will continue to be a part of its business, though admittedly increasingly a niche product.
"You come back in 10 years, there will be a film business here," said Joel T. Proegler, general manager of film capture and a vice president in Kodak's film, photofinishing and entertainment group. It'll be smaller. Maybe there will be a bigger space between innovations."......
Kodak switched a year ago from churning out large batches of film at a time to doing almost daily runs of small batches that are tied to consumer demand. The advantage is that the company carries far less inventory on hand, said operations manager Sue Sweet."
These informations correspond exactly with a report in the German film magazine "Schmalfilm" 2/2008. Chief Editor J. Lossau reported from an interview with Kodak CEO Perez, in which he said that Kodak has recently made some long term contracts with film customers (movie and foto film) for the next ten years. Film is safe for at least another ten years at Kodak, and probably for much more years to come.
Probably a very interesting report from the Kodak plant in Windsor near Denver:
http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/info/kodak/kodak-en.php
In German:
http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/info/kodak/kodak-de.php
It is about the the small format movie film production (Super 8 etc.). Kodak has now moved it from Windsor to Rochester, that means they have recently invested lots of money in this "niche in the niche" production.
Although Super 8 is considered to be "dead" for almost 30 years now by the doom and gloom sayers, these films were produced by Kodak every single day, not one or two small batches a year. Millions of feet of Super 8 film per year.
This view at Super 8, over 30 years after the introduction of consumer video cams, should us let look much more relaxed at the future of photo film, which is a much, much bigger market.
Best regards,
Henning