Fujifilm's Statement regarding its photography business

I'm sure everyone has seen this by now, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to see it again.

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January 19, 2006

[size=+3]S[/size]ince our foundation in 1934, we have been developing our business in photosensitive materials on a global scale, thanks to the support and patronage of general consumers, retailers, photograph wholesalers, and various others. The unexpectedly rapid shift toward digitalization has greatly reduced demand for films and photographic products. The entire photography industry, including our company, has been put in a difficult market situation. In order to respond these difficult market changes, we are currently proceeding with comprehensive structural reforms.

Despite the current challenges, we believe that photography is indispensable to humankind because of its ability to express such precious things as joy, sadness, love and the full spectrum of emotions. Our mission is to preserve and nurture the culture of photography to meet the needs of our longtime customers. Silver halide photography, which is fundamental to photography, has advantages over digital in such areas as power of expression, long term storage capability, reasonable prices, easy handling and a highly established and convenient photo development and print infrastructure.

We intend to continue our silver halide photography business and to further cultivate the culture of photography, and in so doing, continue to support our customers and retailers and all those who enjoy photography.



Media Contact:
Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
Corporate Communications Division, Public Relations Division
Tel: 81-3-3406-2490
Fujifilm website:
Japanese :http://fujifilm.jp/
English :Dead Link Removed

This is such a refreshing departure from all the gllom & doom we have been seeing here lately. Thanks for posting, Robert.

Just when I was starting to really like Provia....

Hadn't seen it. Thanks Robert, for posting.

Fuji is now promoting "PHOTO IS" campaign(in Japan) to enhance the photography culture. They are going to gather 10000 of photos by amateurs and have shows around the country.

"PHOTO IS" is their current keyword, like "photo is love", "photo is smile", "photo is peace", etc.
If you are interested, here's a TV-CM in Japan. Yoko Ono appears. It's moving.

quick time
http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/tvcm/05aut-photois/movie/05aut-photois30-bb.mov
real player
http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/tvcm/05aut-photois/05aut-photois30-bb.ram

BradS said:

Just when I was starting to really like Provia....

Hadn't seen it. Thanks Robert, for posting.

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ditto - thanks

They forgot to add "as long as it remains profitable".

Thanks Kunihiko for the links to the movies, good to see that Yoko is looking so good!

One more reason for supporting the excellent Acros in 120 format.
Helcio

ElrodCod said:

They forgot to add "as long as it remains profitable".

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No, they didn't forget. That's a given. I don't think anyone here is childish enough to think that any company will provide us with materials as a charity. Are you? I don't know what it is that makes people make such statements - some kind of resentment of the fact that a company makes money on you? From the underwear covering your butt to the food you are currently digesting - someone made a profit providing you with it. I really don't understand why people seem to have such a disdain for the idea of anyone other than them making money. They're not stealing it from you - they ask you nicely to buy their stuff. When you do buy it, its your decision. If you are unaware that you are padding someone's profit margin (a fact you should not resent)... well, you need a reality check.
The difference is some (like Fuji and Ilford) attempt to make it profitable, where as nameless others decide it is not, will not be, and walk away. That's the difference. Perhaps Fuji will fail, perhaps they will lose a huge chunk of money and go down in flames for their efforts - at least they are trying to say "we're going to attempt to make it work". Big points in my books, that.

Peter.

ElrodCod said:

They forgot to add "as long as it remains profitable".

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It should be remembered that Japan has 1/2 the population of the US and the number of film cameras per capita is probably much higher there. Japan alone is a good market for film products, and any export sales is just an extra.

Kodak made a big brouhaha with Fuji's pricing policy during 1980s, involving USTR and WTO. Their attempt resulted in failure, but Kodak's complaint was that Fuji must be dumping their products, and also have unfair business practice. (You can still see all of these official correspondenses on Fuji's website.) Kodak was and still is selling their products at higher prices. When the market was big, that might have worked but now I am not sure.

Fuji is still doing new r&d work for silver halide imaging. Although it's not as many as it once used to be, but I still see new patents assigned to Fuji coming out every year for photographic emulsions. They have much fewer people in their labs, but they are still making new films and cameras. Also some of the high ranks of the corporation are those ex-engineers and ex-scientists who were, earlier in their engineering career, told by the above to come up with a better competition product within a few months every time Kodak came up with a new product during 1970s and early 1980s. Those guys spent miserable days, nights and weekends in the lab to make new products. (If you read Japanese language, some of those stories are actually published.) So I personally think Fuji has very good faith in silver halide imaging.

There are some film manufacturers in Central Europe. I am not certain of their environmental regulations at this point, but as EU enlarged, their member country's environmental standards will have to match that of EU. I'm not sure if the manufacturers already meet and exceed the EU standard, but if not, they'll have to make new investment in improving the ir plants. On the other hand, companies like Kodak and Fuji already exceed their national environmental regulation, and they need no major expense in this regard. Needless to say Fuji has much higher level of emulsion technology than Central European competitors.

I have some complaints for Fuji. They manufacture a few fiber based and a few RC paper for b&w photography, but they currently do not export those products to North America. This must change in order for Fuji to gain more confidence in this market.

ElrodCod said:

They forgot to add "as long as it remains profitable".

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Hey dude,...you're spending too much time round those 'shrooms. The spores have infected your temporal-spatial equilibrium.

Seriously though, I support what Gnashings has just said. Why are some people pretending that "profit" is a four letter word. Have you ever run your own business? With this kind of attitude, I imagine it wouldn't have survived for more than an eyeblink. Even a non-profit organisation tries to save money by budgeting creatively. It's about survival & growth/profit. Amongst others, I love Fuji products, and will continue to support them. (and have let them know about it via the recent e-mail campaign)

TV-CM tells a lot. For my eyes, Fuji seems to be aiming more on printing stage than exposing stage. It is not a matter of "A film vs B film" or "digital vs film", but "home printing" vs "in shop printing".
I haven't seen Fuji's TV-CMs about their products. I see many many about advantages of in shop printing. Digital has made and is making photography population bigger, shots per person higher. There is a chance for Fuji to keep their imaging business profitable.
I see Epson and Canon are appealing their printers with advantages of home printing. They are or will be the real competitors for Fuji, I guess.

Ryuji said:

There are some film manufacturers in Central Europe. I am not certain of their environmental regulations at this point, but as EU enlarged, their member country's environmental standards will have to match that of EU. I'm not sure if the manufacturers already meet and exceed the EU standard, but if not, they'll have to make new investment in improving the ir plants. On the other hand, companies like Kodak and Fuji already exceed their national environmental regulation, and they need no major expense in this regard. Needless to say Fuji has much higher level of emulsion technology than Central European competitors.

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Why do people keep spreading doom an gloom about EU enlargement and Forte and Foma? The only thing they are achieveing is to show their lack of knowledge of how EU enlargement happened, and when various laws and regulations had to match those of EU and be implemented. It is almost as bad as the "the countries they are in are about to join EU, so it will be considerably harder and more expensive to acquire capitals so they will probably go under soon".

Ryuji said:

I have some complaints for Fuji. They manufacture a few fiber based and a few RC paper for b&w photography, but they currently do not export those products to North America. This must change in order for Fuji to gain more confidence in this market.

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I have a big complaint about Fuji as I don' think their policy of having "Japanese only" films is in any way acceptable.