Another KA Gerbershagen interview 11 Apr 14 Rochester Business Joirnal

Prof_Pixel · Apr 11, 2014

http://rbj.net/mobile/article.asp?aID=207020 or even better http://rbj.net/article.asp?aID=207020

Kodak Alaris CEO eyes future

In part:

RBJ: What do you see as the biggest challenge facing you and the company, particularly over the short term?

GERBERSHAGEN: The biggest challenge is to decide upon our priorities.

There are so many things we can do—and I told this to the team yesterday. The challenge is to decide on what we’re not going to do, because there is an overwhelming amount of opportunities here. I think we have to pick our best. We have to be very careful how we utilize our resources; we have to do what we can to scale this business up. We are going through this process at the moment. Focus is very important—decide what we are going to do and we are not going to do.

It's all about priorities.

Prof_Pixel · Apr 11, 2014

Can anyone change 'Joirnal' to the correct 'Journal', please?

RattyMouse · Apr 14, 2014

The interview with the CEO found on second link is profoundly depressing. A very extensive interview with many questions, long detailed responses and not one, not ONCE was the word film used. Not in the entire interview.

Film is clearly an unimportant part of Kodak Alaris. I think the CEO of Kodak Alaris would has gone out of his way to avoid using the world film. A CEO interested in film would go out of his way to MENTION film.

Any hope I had in KA being part of the future for film just died today.......

MattKing · Apr 14, 2014

RattyMouse said:
The interview with the CEO found on second link is profoundly depressing. A very extensive interview with many questions, long detailed responses and not one, not ONCE was the word film used. Not in the entire interview.

Film is clearly an unimportant part of Kodak Alaris. I think the CEO of Kodak Alaris would has gone out of his way to avoid using the world film. A CEO interested in film would go out of his way to MENTION film.

Any hope I had in KA being part of the future for film just died today.......

You have to realize the importance of the venue.

This is in the Rochester Business Journal.

Kodak Alaris isn't going to be expanding any film related businesses in Rochester, but they will be trying to expand their other business there.

The Kodak employees and operations that are film related in Rochester are almost entirely Eastman Kodak's, not Kodak Alaris'.

Any analogue focused growth in Kodak Alaris is likely to be centred elsewhere - most likely in the UK.

It occurs to me as well that Kodak Alaris may be intentionally down-playing the attention paid on the film side of the business while they investigate either extending the timeline for their source of supply, or replacing it.

If they are, for instance, trying to pin down a long term supply contract with Eastman Kodak, they probably don't want to be publically trumpeting how valuable that supply might be to them.

AgX · Apr 14, 2014

He does not refer to film, but he names two drugstore chains as example for important business partners. These two form local, nationwide sources for type 135 film in Germany..

StoneNYC · Apr 14, 2014

AgX said:
He does not refer to film, but he names two drugstore chains as example for important business partners. These two form local, nationwide sources for type 135 film in Germany..

Do they also make photo prints for customers?

AgX · Apr 14, 2014

The CEO in this context refered to the Kiosk business. But at least they are important partners in the consumer business.

Aside of the kiosk business and film sale those two chains serve as in-/out-let for two industrial photo finishers. Both finishers though use Fuji RA-4 papers...

kuparikettu · Apr 15, 2014

Also: I would be very surprised if he wasn't also referring to film oriented customers when he said:

"Kodak Alaris has a very loyal customer base around the world. It is an unbelievable asset we can draw on. Even (with the) difficult time the team has gone through the last couple years, it is amazing how loyal the customers are to the business."

RattyMouse · Apr 15, 2014

I think this guy went way out of his way not to mention film on purpose. It's hard to imagine how he could have marginalized film more than what he did.

StoneNYC · Apr 15, 2014

RattyMouse said:
I think this guy went way out of his way not to mention film on purpose. It's hard to imagine how he could have marginalized film more than what he did.

Because he didn't want to indicate his plan... His plan is probably to suck the film line dry and then shut it down... That's just a suspicion, if he planned to keep it, he would have mentioned it.

pentaxuser · Apr 15, 2014

Prof_Pixel said:
Can anyone change 'Joirnal' to the correct 'Journal', please?

Nothing wrong with Joirnal if you are from Joirsey. Sorry, couldn't resist

pentaxuser

RattyMouse · Apr 16, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Because he didn't want to indicate his plan... His plan is probably to suck the film line dry and then shut it down... That's just a suspicion, if he planned to keep it, he would have mentioned it.

Exactly. KA has no hope for a long term future for their film line.

Xmas · Apr 16, 2014

RattyMouse said:
Exactly. KA has no hope for a long term future for their film line.

CEOs statements to press are for investors, they will have a similar set for staff, as well as goal statements for executives.

All these would be vapid nonsense.

The letter last Nov indicating 10% rise in cine film and process price was a commercial position, citing reduced demand.

If you were planning on a shoot and had the money you would have spent it before Jan'14 when it became effective.

If your budget was tight and you did not have credit you would have had to gone back to backers or cancelled or gone digital.

But Ferrani must be considering their position if Fuji and Kodak pull out of film. Cine E6 could be a niche product if they get it to market before the infra structure is scrapped...

OT flash back
The Mazda Mx-5 roadsters development team early in dev cycle have a panic stop and gather around for a management edict, number one says 'BL in UK have stopped development of their MGB roadsters follow on.' Inscrutable dev team break out in cheers.

There is a lot of dumped Fuji in stores below manufactured yen.

Ken Nadvornick · Apr 16, 2014

Xmas said:
But Ferrani must be considering their position if Fuji and Kodak pull out of film. Cine E6 could be a niche product if they get it to market before the infra structure is scrapped...

Film Ferrania likely considered their cine position in that regard years ago. Hoping to supply only a surviving niche cine E-6 market, they must be concerned now that the talk of niche E-6 stills in gazillions of formats, with them as potentially the world's only source, is rampant on the net.

Adding stills makes for a much larger niche that will want to be supplied at the same instant that cine users get theirs. I do wonder if they are worried that potential demand will outstrip their ability to supply. Especially at the beginning of availability.

Ken

Xmas · Apr 16, 2014

HiKen

Don't buy much larger niche of E6 stills eg I went to C41 2005 not enough infra structure ie too many mini labs and I could home process C41 easily, and C41 film is cheap on every town high street here.

1GBP 24x 35mm cassette 200ISO rebadged MIJ.

It is just like the video format war where the low quality format wins, and then dies with digital.

The door on E6 or ECN cine is closing rapidly they need expensive machines.

If they make E6 in 35mm cine and have finishing machines for 135 they can reduce risk but they may have missed the boat.

They might need to consider C41 instead if the market collapses, as evidenced by 'and C41 film is cheap...' above

I still have a fridged pro pack of Astia 100 2005-12... seems to be a good investment. When I asked a chum last week end they said the Lomo people cross process it and pay silly prices.

The other example is my normal supplier still has residue ULF...

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ProductByGroup.asp?PrGrp=2234

must make them a bit reluctant for this year.

Prof_Pixel · Apr 16, 2014

Here is the reply I received from the Rochester Business Journal:

Film did not come up during the interview with the CEO. He spoke more broadly about the two divisions and my questions centered on his views on ways to drive growth. The company's stated view has been that film is profitable and its lifecycle with Kodak Alaris depends on profitable demand by consumers and professionals for the products.

The president of Kodak Alaris' Personalized Imaging business touched on it briefly during an interview back in September.

http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=199977

Sal Santamaura · Apr 16, 2014

Prof_Pixel said:
...The president of Kodak Alaris' Personalized Imaging business touched on it briefly during an interview back in September...

Pertinent quotes from that interview:

"...The deal with Kodak included...research and development and intellectual property..."

"...There is no long-term supply agreement with Kodak; we will be completely independent"

Taken together, they seem to support my position that, after Eastman Kodak's motion picture supply agreement ends, Building 38 will cease being the place where still film is coated. At that point, either Alaris will schlep its R&D staff and IP to Harrow in an attempt to coat still films itself, or some third-party supplier's film product(s) will have a "Kodak" brand slapped on them. In either situation, what becomes available for retail purchase won't be the 320TXP, TMX or TMY we know today. I intentionally omitted Ektar and Portra, since Kodak color film, in my opinion, will be a thing of history when this happens.

RattyMouse · Apr 16, 2014

Sal Santamaura said:
Pertinent quotes from that interview:

"...The deal with Kodak included...research and development and intellectual property..."

"...There is no long-term supply agreement with Kodak; we will be completely independent"

Taken together, they seem to support my position that, after Eastman Kodak's motion picture supply agreement ends, Building 38 will cease being the place where still film is coated. At that point, either Alaris will schlep its R&D staff and IP to Harrow in an attempt to coat still films itself, or some third-party supplier's film product(s) will have a "Kodak" brand slapped on them. In either situation, what becomes available for retail purchase won't be the 320TXP, TMX or TMY we know today. I intentionally omitted Ektar and Portra, since Kodak color film, in my opinion, will be a thing of history when this happens.

I think you are 100% spot on (sadly). Seeing that option #2 is infinitely more easy, I guess Kodak will sell 3rd party film, just as they do (sort of) with cameras now!

This would still be good for film, assuming sales are made, as whomever is the 3rd party will have much higher volume.

Lee Rust · Apr 16, 2014

I work very near the George Eastman House in Rochester and often enjoy lunch in their very pleasant cafe. Today it so happened that Kodak Alaris was holding a local employee conference at GEH and several participants were taking a break at a cafe table. Seated nearby, I couldn't help but overhear the topic of their animated conversation ... the development of marketing concepts to encourage cellphone and tablet users to print out their digital photos. I don't know if they were talking about photo kiosks or online services, but I certainly didn't hear any mention of film.

Ken Nadvornick · Apr 16, 2014

Lee Rust said:
I work very near the George Eastman House in Rochester and often enjoy lunch in their very pleasant cafe. Today it so happened that Kodak Alaris was holding a local employee conference at GEH and several participants were taking a break at a cafe table. Seated nearby, I couldn't help but overhear the topic of their animated conversation ... the development of marketing concepts to encourage cellphone and tablet users to print out their digital photos. I don't know if they were talking about photo kiosks or online services, but I certainly didn't hear any mention of film.

Wait a minute...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the same concept (among others) that EK was already late to the table with? And contributed to their eventual demise as a photography company?

Moved to mass-market digital P&Ss after the market went cell phone cameras? Moved to printing cell phone pictures after the market moved to online display of digital photos? And moved to online display after it was just too late for them entirely?

Ken

StoneNYC · Apr 16, 2014

Lee Rust said:
I work very near the George Eastman House in Rochester and often enjoy lunch in their very pleasant cafe. Today it so happened that Kodak Alaris was holding a local employee conference at GEH and several participants were taking a break at a cafe table. Seated nearby, I couldn't help but overhear the topic of their animated conversation ... the development of marketing concepts to encourage cellphone and tablet users to print out their digital photos. I don't know if they were talking about photo kiosks or online services, but I certainly didn't hear any mention of film.

Probably a phone app, sadly, this already exists with infrastructure and print options already..

Lee Rust · Apr 16, 2014

Given the limited resources that Alaris presently has to work with ... an existing deployment of retail printing kiosks, a photo paper manufacturing plant and a disappearing film market ... what else can they do? Management is committed to short term profits, not long term investments. It would appear that they're betting on a cellphone app and attendant marketing campaign to suddenly ignite an unquenchable worldwide passion to print out all the family photos trapped on millions of iPhones and SD cards. This plan does seem to be an uphill climb, a bit of a stretch, a day late and a dollar short, and very, very familiar to any long-term Kodak observer.

AgX · Apr 16, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Probably a phone app, sadly, this already exists with infrastructure and print options already..

As you indicatedd, already offered by photofinishers. There even is more innovation on the field of photobooks at independant finisher side than at Kodak.

Ken Nadvornick · Apr 16, 2014

Lee Rust said:
This plan does seem to be an uphill climb, a bit of a stretch, a day late and a dollar short, and very, very familiar to any long-term Kodak observer.

StoneNYC · Apr 16, 2014

AgX said:
As you indicatedd, already offered by photofinishers. There even is more innovation on the field of photobooks at independant finisher side than at Kodak.

Yup, I use blurb, it links with Adobe Lightroom. I may go to others as for my personal books but for clients blurb works... I think it's called blurb, I'm not at the computer to confirm, I've only used it a few times. But it's so simple and easy...

What they should certainly do is come out with some profiles for their Kodak product in the past in digital form so that photographers could mimic the color palettes of previous films, like the film that shall not be named "K64" and others. This would at least sell...

Another KA Gerbershagen interview 11 Apr 14 Rochester Business Joirnal

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