And just before a holiday as usual

PKM-25 said:

What a depressing thread on many levels.

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Don't be too down. A year ago on this forum I was contemplating the possibility of Kodak Park turning into a section 8 housing project. But alas, my Yahoo news page tells me of new construction of apartment buildings UP 20% this year. There's your section 8 housing right there. So it looks like Kodak Park might just have to go back to making film after all. Better than none at all. How would you like to be the average dimwit taking your photos by whipping out your cell phone? Borrring... That's no hobby, that's just dumb.

Two23 said:

Not true. Many large companies are replacing FT people with PT. My company specializes in helping other companies do this. With the new rules, a company is very wise to get rid of a large percentage of FT workers who aren't key personnel.


Kent in SD

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All politics and partisanship aside, that is simply not true.

First, the corporate trend towards an increasing reliance on PTEs started long before the PPACA and long before January 20, 2009. Second, the only "large companies" [i.e. those that employ 50 or more people] with any sort of possible incentive to even consider transitioning FTEs to PTEs are ones that currently provide no health insurance benefits to their FT workforce.

As far as Kodak is concerned, the insurance benefits that EK currently provide to their workforce already exceed the PPACA minimums, so the PPACA has nothing to do with their decision as regards these layoffs. I would guess that the timing of these layoffs is based on HR planning for the coming new calendar year.

Two23 said:

1. Premiums have done nothng but go UP, to pay for all the changes. This is expensive. A few large companies have been getting rid of their insurance all together.

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The Y-O-Y increase in healthcare premiums peaked around 2009 and have been decreasing steadily ever since.

Stick to Kodak, folks and take the political discussion elsewhere. The racial slur was clearly something that the poster was attributing to others by way of parody, but better not to push the level of discourse in that direction.

chriscrawfordphoto said:

I don't believe you. Why would big companies that give their employees good insurance suddenly want to drop them to part time to avoid doing what they've ALWAYS done for those employees?

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Actually, I work for a very large company. They provided insurance well before this Obamacare debacle. We were warned about upcoming changes when the law goes into effect. For those in my region, changes were far less noticeable, but in other areas, changes were quite drastic.

My company pays the greater portion of our insurance, and when the statement came out, I saw a large increase in what they're paying. If that increase holds true for many smaller companies, I can see where others may not be able to continue providing as much. I have also seen first hand other companies having to cut hours to keep the business running, either through workforce reductions, or hour reductions to PT to save on costs.

Politics aside, certain requirements of the law require vast administrative resources. Because certain plans do not meet the new requirements of the law, plans have to change and costs increase. The law doesn't do anything about increased insurance costs caused by the lawsuit lottery and junk science. These lawsuits cost consumers far more than general healthcare.

In a statement, Kodak said Tuesday that it has consistently indicated that as motion picture film volumes continue to decline, “We will continue to make adjustments to keep our scale in line with the decline.”

It seems very much likely that the future of Kodak is tied to the future of motion picture film.

What will happen when all movies are digital?

RattyMouse said:

In a statement, Kodak said Tuesday that it has consistently indicated that as motion picture film volumes continue to decline, “We will continue to make adjustments to keep our scale in line with the decline.”

It seems very much likely that the future of Kodak is tied to the future of motion picture film.

What will happen when all movies are digital?

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Studios are starting to come to the realization that there is currently no safe and viable long-term archival solution for digital and are creating film-based archival copies of their digital content. Likewise, many museums are sticking with film for archiving their collections.

Many of those studios are also starting to get push-back from filmmakers and consumers alike who don't care for the "look" of high res digital capture. Some filmmakers who were early adopters of digital capture are now taking a hybrid approach, mixing both film and digital capture. Many moviegoers are also beginning to complain that movies that were captured digitally look more like a television broadcast than like the film-based movies they have come to expect [and it appears prefer]. Whether or not there are enough of them to constitute a critical mass remains to be seen.

While there is no question that digital projection will become ubiquitous [the economics of film versus digital projection make it inevitable] I suspect that movies will for many years to come continue to be shot and archived using film stock.

f8&bthere said:

While there is no question that digital projection will become ubiquitous [the economics of film versus digital projection make it inevitable] I suspect that movies will for many years to come continue to be shot and archived using film stock.

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You yourself had it about the critical mass.
Agfa left that cine camera-film segment long ago, long before digital capture was an issue. Recently Fuji left that field too, with only Kodak remaining on that section.

Photo Engineer said:

The economics is simple. Let older trained people train younger people who are paid less. Then lay off the older people and have a smaller payroll and lower individual pay!

PE

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When stated that way, it makes good business sense however, many of the PT will leave the first chance they get for a FT job. Over time, the loyalty of the work force will go down. JMHO

fotch said:

...however, many of the PT will leave the first chance they get for a FT job...

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So what? There are plenty more part timers where they came from. Also, where are all those full time jobs that part timers can leave for? Third world countries?

fotch said:

...Over time, the loyalty of the work force will go down...

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Over the last decades, loyalty of employees has tracked corporations' declining loyalty to their work forces. Seems fair and balanced to me.

chriscrawfordphoto said:

I don't believe you. Why would big companies that give their employees good insurance suddenly want to drop them to part time to avoid doing what they've ALWAYS done for those employees? Are they doing it just to spite the [President]? Or are you just spreading falsehoods to steer people in the direction your handlers want? All Obamacare does is require companies to provide insurance. Companies that already do so are NOT affected, except for some low-wage employers like Walmart that provided insurance few employees could afford that provided little real benefit. It has no effect on high-wage, good benefit employers like Kodak.

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At least someone out there sees things as they are rather than blindly and dumbly follow the party line!

The surprising thing is that while Kodak seems to continue to shrink, Ilford seems to be expanding. More surprising, they are doing it with only b&w.


Kent in SD

Two23 said:

The surprising thing is that while Kodak seems to continue to shrink, Ilford seems to be expanding. More surprising, they are doing it with only b&w.

Kent in SD

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Then Ferrania are about to restart production, Fotoimpex/Adox introduce lost products, Foma films & papers are now very widely available.

Part of the problem is peoples perceptions, I spoke to a photographer last week who thought Kodak had ceased trading. If Kodak Alaris re-build the marketing and distribution of Kodak films then they should regain some of their market share. You need to look at why some people switched away from Kodak films, in my case it was lack of availability of Kodak B&W while living & travelling, in Turkey, Chile, Peru etc, Ilford and Foma films were easy to find as were the odd rolls of Fuji, Kodak non existent.

Part of the restructuring under Kodak Alaris will be to make the company healthy & profitable and that will inevitably mean job losses.

Ian

Two23 said:

The surprising thing is that while Kodak seems to continue to shrink, Ilford seems to be expanding. More surprising, they are doing it with only b&w.

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I only got to know of employees being laid off. No growth in number.

Ian Grant said:

Then Ferrania are about to restart production, Fotoimpex/Adox introduce lost products, Foma films & papers are now very widely available.

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You can count those new employees at your hands. Insignificant in number to what have been laid off at the industry, which once employed tenthousands of people.

Two23 said:

Ilford seems to be expanding.

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I wonder what their total employment is.

Two23 said:

The surprising thing is that while Kodak seems to continue to shrink, Ilford seems to be expanding. More surprising, they are doing it with only b&w.


Kent in SD

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I am sure that Ilford has weathered the economic storm and its future is reasonably bright but can you give us evidence of expansion and if it has then in what terms has it? A few years ago Ilford had to lose I think somewhere between 40 and 80 employees due to the recession. As a percentage of its workforce this was quite large. Much larger in percentage terms than the current Kodak loss of personnel.

Has Ilford since then hired again? Maybe someone can tell us


pentaxuser

Prof_Pixel said:

I wonder what their total employment is.

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In many ways that's irrelevant, what has been happening with all manufacturers is a streamlining to cut overheads, the new management of Kodak Alaris may have a different viewpoint to the Carpet-baggers who ruined Kodak and lined their own pockets.

From our points of view we need to emphasise the positives, Kodak is still making film but the new management has to make some major changes to revitalise their market position, that will inevitably mean a turnover of the work force, better use of existing staff will mean job losses but potentially a far more viable company.

Ian