Ilford ULF-film in Europe

BarryWilkinson said:

I'm sure others will follow in China.

Barry

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The backside of this is that more products are coming out of china the more jobs we are loosing.
It maybe so that the UK hasn’t got unemployed people but some other countries in Europe the situation is different! And films coming out of China it will affect the overall revenue of Ilford, Kodak, Forte, Efke, Foma and other companies.

uraniumnitrate said:

The backside of this is that more products are coming out of china the more jobs we are loosing.
It maybe so that the UK hasn’t got unemployed people but some other countries in Europe the situation is different! And films coming out of China it will affect the overall revenue of Ilford, Kodak, Forte, Efke, Foma and other companies.

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I quite agree. The UK does have high unemployment and manufacturing here is at its lowest since the 19th Century!

Barry

According to OECD figures, in 2006, the UK had the joint lowest rate of unemployment (joint with Japan) of all G7 countries and the highest rate of employment (includes self employed and others who do not figure in unemployment figures).

Whilst manufacturing continues to decline, so it does in all other developed countries. It is of no real consequence financially as other so-called "knowledge industries" have more than taken up the slack.

WRT China: it was China that knocked the UK off its spot as world's 4th largest economy last year...

Cheers, Bob.

Bob F. said:

It is of no real consequence financially as other so-called "knowledge industries" have more than taken up the slack.


Cheers, Bob.

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Yes Bob you are right about the “knowledge industry” it sure pick up some but its open only for young people with a high academic education and it’s not going to help that machine operator at Ilford, Efke or at Forte with their some 45 years of age. Or for any lower educated person here in this country either now if we are talking about Europe as one united country. Are we united?

Bu the way we are far off from the topic here. Aren't we?

Dear All,

The latest posting regarding our current ULF make is now on the sponsors forum, it will be made available to the European distributors and the UK specialist resellers, I will keep you all informed who orders it outside the USA.

Simon. ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited

I placed the order some time ago through Fred Newman (USA) for this ULF run. Is there a way to have the film shipped to me (Italy) without having it rerouted via the US? I would hate to pay custom duties for a product that originates within the EU. (Because the ULF films originate from within the EU, don't they?)

Is Fred the person I should instead talk to for this?

Apologies for all these questions, but maybe other folks are in my situation.

Cheers!

Ilford ULF from Robert White.

I have been pestering RW for a few weeks and he says that he expects to have a price list from Ilford in the next few days.

Why not register your interest with him;I am hoping the carriage costs
will be a lot less than from US suppliers.

Ilford ULF

Never mind what Simon R Galley has to say I asked an Ilford rep at the Forum show at the NEC about 11 x 14 and he said "You and three others". With attitudes like this why the hell should I buy Ilford?
If you're reading this Simon get into a bit of a challenge, allow those of us who want ULF sizes to send you an order and collect from the factory one Saturday or Sunday at your convenience.
Bottle out of this and you stand to loose all your credability as a film manufacturer in the U.K.
See you at Focus?
Pete.

pete oakley said:

Never mind what Simon R Galley has to say I asked an Ilford rep at the Forum show at the NEC about 11 x 14 and he said "You and three others". With attitudes like this why the hell should I buy Ilford?
If you're reading this Simon get into a bit of a challenge, allow those of us who want ULF sizes to send you an order and collect from the factory one Saturday or Sunday at your convenience.
Bottle out of this and you stand to loose all your credability as a film manufacturer in the U.K.
See you at Focus?
Pete.

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Speak for yourself.

Ilford ULF

Simon,
I've had an even better idea. Why not make our ULF orders available at Focus. As demand in Europe for your ULF film is so low this will give the factory plenty of time to cut the few sheets of film that would satisfy your customers and potential customers.
Best wishes,
Pete.

Ilford ULF

Bob if it's a ploblem get up to The Midlands and I'll give you a lift to the factory. The whole thing is just fantasy 'cos Ilford don't care about us anyway.
Pete.

Thanks for the offer, but I am happy sticking to 5x4...

However, if I can draw your attention to a previous post above:

Dear All,
The latest posting regarding our current ULF make is now on the sponsors forum, it will be made available to the European distributors and the UK specialist resellers, I will keep you all informed who orders it outside the USA.

Simon. ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited

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Silverprint will probably stock it (or at least, will order it on your behalf) - why not ask them?

I for one will not be judging the entire Ilford company on their unwillingness to cut out their own dealer network, jeopardizing their business relationships with said dealers, just to supply a dozen or so people with specialist film directly - especially when said specialist film can be ordered via said dealer network... No company in its right mind is going to undermine its own dealer network if it wants to stay in business.

I've seen Ilford's film slitting/punching/guillotine/packaging and some of its Q/C operations and I can see very clearly that "to cut the few sheets of film" is not even close to being a practical proposition. Even doing the whole worldwide order will mean considerable interference with everyday operations (i.e. it is expensive in both time and wasted materials during each setup operation).

Give Martin at Silverprint a call (or PM him here) and see if he will order what you want.

Cheers, Bob.

Ilford ULF

Bob,
Ilford have let Silverprint down for quite a few years on the ULF front that's why they stock Bergger 11 x 14 on a regular basis. I had to virtually ram the gaffers arm up his back to sell me the last box of 11 x 14 HP5 that he had in stock (he was saving it to use in his Dorf) a few years ago and even then it was outdated. I've still got some in me freezer if you want the evidence. I assume that this is the last box of HP5 cut to 11 x 14 in the country, if not in Europe. No U.K. distributer owes Ilford anything and Ilford think that they are so big that they really can't be bothered with Europe then so be it.
Pete.

Remember this is a new Ilford - without the suits... If it was still the old Ilford, there would be no LF at all. Do you seriously think Ilford/Harman Tech will make any real profit out of this? Maybe enough to run the air-con and heating in the factory site for as much as several hours - it's mainly a goodwill/marketing exercise.

No, I don't believe Harman Technology Ltd. "care" about me: I believe they care about making a sustainable profit. I do not need, nor seek, the approval of inanimate objects and/or non-corporeal legal entities...

If you want to dismiss Simon Galley's post above and call him a liar, that is up to you, but if the only way to "prove" it to your satisfaction is to not even attempt to order any film from a dealer, it seems rather self-defeating to me. Of course, if you are so annoyed at Ilford for perceived past failings then by all means boycott them - that's your right too. But I don't think going into Mr. Angry mode and calling people liars is helpful.

We shall see if any Europeans order through the dealer network and if they do, what happens to those orders.

Bob.

Tempting but...Nah

What I would say though...

Ilford could use their 'Direct 2 Dealer' service for these films. This was specifically set up recently by Ilford to enable low volume items, not often stocked by dealers to be purchased by telephone. This helps Ilford and the buyer. One simply dialed the Ilford freephone number, pay for the items, and appointed a local Ilford dealer from which to collect them. Simple!

No dealer upset here (I assume the local dealer gets his cut?)

Barry

Yesterday I asked to Silverprint abot ULF Ilford Film and they replied me this

Yes, we will be able to place one order this year, in the first week of
March. Unfortunately they haven't given us a price yet, so I can't let
you know how much it will be.

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I've decided to buy a 8x20 camera, and I usually use for my 8x10 Ilford Films, I would like to buy also for the new my format.
Now I can decide to buy in UK or USA, in Italy my dealer isn't able to put this order.

Best

Stefano

Dear All,

Reality check time : What has got lost in the mists of time is why we special make ULF film.....we MUST cover our costs to produce it, it is obviously hand finished, and it is very, very, very small by volume and value and under no circumstances would it be viable to hold it in stock, we supply these items as a SERVICE to our customers, whether you believe it or not, and because it matches our strategy to have the widest range of products available for monochrome and our end users, hence this is why we we have to pre sell it to ensure we have sufficient volume to cover the manufacturing costs. The reseller profile also affects what we do, why ? simple, we have about 20 dealers / resellers in the World who are able and willing to handle this product, and they do not want to to have excess stock of this item either, and I do not blame them. As was said above we value all our reseller partners, especially those willing to manage this sales process for us. But this does make it difficult to 'arrange' a suitable, slick and efficient supply chain for our end users.

When people ask about other 'country' distributors around the World, they are made aware of the product but in 99% of cases its not even viable to raise the item on their computer systems, which does have a cost. As to the UK Direct2Dealer list, we only put items in it that are truly stock items, ( ie items that are stock items or that can be manufactured for stock within 2 working days ) we do not hold ULF film in stock, nor can it be made in 2 days, therefore it cannot be in the list. Finally, as to our UK resellers of ULF they are different from the USA, which is why they have not had the supply prices as yet, to make it easier for them we break our own rules and 'over' make the USA orders and make that small stock available to them, and indeed they can, and do ship Europe and World wide.

I note your idea re Focus, seems easy, its not, we do not sell off the stand, and we do not have storage facilities for film.

It has been said in this thread that other ULF products, from other manufacturers are available, that is absolutely true, and it is your prerogative as a consumer to buy from whoever you wish, but it was the end user feedback, especially from APUG that encouraged us to make our products available.

Finally, I do not normally respond to peoples personal opinions, as we all have the right to hold them and express them and that is absolutely right, what I do have a little bit of a problem with is anybody stating that we do not care about our customers, because we really do care, I care and the other 395 people who work at ILFORD Photo really care.

Kind Regards

Simon : ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

As I said at the start of this thread Johannes, don't hold your breath.



Barry

Silverprint have put the following in their News section:

ULTRA-LARGE FILM PROGRAMME 2007

This is the full listing of the non-standard size Ilford films to be available in the new annual programme from Ilford / Harman Technology. Although dealers in the US closed to acceptance of further orders on 2/3/07, as establishing UK prices took some time, we have been given a further period of time to accept UK & European orders.
The prices shown here are in UK pounds sterling, without 17.5% VAT
Sizes are in inches, and all sizes are packs of 25 sheets.
The listing shows code, type, size in inches and price - some sizes have not been priced for the UK, if you need these sizes please contact us.
Goods will be manufactured this month for delivery by the end of March

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followed by a list of sizes and prices.

Cheers, Bob.

Update from Silverprint

I placed an order with Silverprint for two boxes of HP5 14x17. I placed a similar order with Freestyle.

Silverprint has come back to me today telling me that Ilford requires (for the 14x17, I guess, but I am not 100% sure) a minimum order of 6 boxes.

At this point I am confused on whether this is due to (1) lack of 14x17 requests worldwide or (2) a minimum order from every (European?) vendor as a pre-requisite regardless of size.

Can someone from Ilford shed some light on this? Frankly, 2 boxes form Freestyle and 6 from Silverprint would vaporize my piggy bank and my long-lasting relationship with my wife...

... has anybody gotten back some info from US vendors re: how the ULF run is proceeeding?


Thanks!