Kodak dismatling an unused film coating building

Mike Wilde · Apr 10, 2013

Yes, Kodak Canada's facility in Mt Dennis in Toronto is flattened.

The town I grew up in has the factory my dad used to manage sitting as an idle facility, holding a few spare parts as a warehouse to service the old line of gear they once made there.

The foundry facility next door, where my uncle sold castings for was demolished last year.

The engineering office still stands, and is staffed. Parts fabrication is outsourced around the world about 16 years ago.

Sorry that this is the face of progress. I guess it is while oil is still relatively cheap, so where soemthing is made, like a mine car, or sewage treatment sedimetation aeratorr, or pulp and paper process filter, is immaterial, let alone consumer devices like ipods.

noacronym · Apr 10, 2013

Mike Wilde said:
Yes, Kodak Canada's facility in Mt Dennis in Toronto is flattened.

The town I grew up in has the factory my dad used to manage sitting as an idle facility, holding a few spare parts as a warehouse to service the old line of gear they once made there.

The foundry facility next door, where my uncle sold castings for was demolished last year.

The engineering office still stands, and is staffed. Parts fabrication is outsourced around the world about 16 years ago.

Sorry that this is the face of progress. I guess it is while oil is still relatively cheap, so where soemthing is made, like a mine car, or sewage treatment sedimetation aeratorr, or pulp and paper process filter, is immaterial, let alone consumer devices like ipods.

Whenever I see that name Mississauga, I think of Techniweld, labels I used to print. My sum total knowledge of Mississauga, or much any other about Canada. Nice people, cold place. Regards.

removed account4 · Apr 10, 2013

Brian C. Miller said:
Outside of the office building where I'm working, a building was recently demolished. It was called the King Cat, and it was struggling to survive. One screen, showing an assortment of old and odd films. And then progress came.

Progress comes for many things, including Kodak. Unfortunately, Kodak never was on the ball when it comes to reacting to change.

Here's something that Kodak could do: long term data archival services. Using what material? Film, of course. Kodak, back in the 1960s, built a write-once digital data storage machine for the CIA. (Wired magazine might have the article, I don't remember.) There's all kinds of Government regulations that mandate that corporate data must be accessible for X decades. Kodak could run a long-term storage service, where that data would be written to film and be put in cold storage. That would be an absolute cash cow.

But instead Kodak always has this Alfred E. Neuman-esque "What, me worry?" attitude. Oh, well.

couldn't agree with you more !

Andre Noble · Apr 10, 2013

Does any one know if Kodak is Salvaging any of their coating machines? (unlike Polaroid) After-all, we know why they dismantle unused buildings - to avoid paying property taxes. That's fair.

railwayman3 · Apr 10, 2013

Andre Noble said:
Does any one know if Kodak is Salvaging any of their coating machines? (unlike Polaroid) After-all, we know why they dismantle unused buildings - to avoid paying property taxes. That's fair.

Having read Robert Shanebrook's book "Making Kodak Film" (available on here, and a recommended read ), it seems that Kodak's main machinery is/was very large, and almost "built-in" to the buildings and foundations for stability. Can't see that anything of any size could be salvaged, or kept in good condition for future re-use.

Photo Engineer · Apr 10, 2013

The last big building demolition led to a big surplus going to local surplus dealers here in Rochester. They used to sell to the public but no longer do that. I got some good stuff there not to long back. Not now!

PE

noacronym · Apr 10, 2013

railwayman3 said:
Having read Robert Shanebrook's book "Making Kodak Film" (available on here, and a recommended read ), it seems that Kodak's main machinery is/was very large, and almost "built-in" to the buildings and foundations for stability. Can't see that anything of any size could be salvaged, or kept in good condition for future re-use.

I'd say most likely the building WAS the machine. I've seen some big printing presses in my day, but I'll bet that Kodak machinery made them look like sunday-school bulletin duplicators. To have them stilled for all eternity because of the computer is a disgrace. Someday, if not today, the computer will take over everything so much, people will long for something ELSE to do.

Photo Engineer · Apr 10, 2013

Actually, the building was not the machine. The building was there for isolating the machine from vibration and from changes in temperature and humidity. The building was an anchor.

Long dimly lit corridors nearly a mile long with 3 stories of machine next to you. Air rushing through vents making a constant soft hiss of air. Outside that room, rows of tanks with jackets, and lots of pipers and pumps running to the coating machine in the next room.

Guys in white suits and special shoes stalking up and down these corridors. Ladders to the tops of the tanks, with metal platforms around them.

Lots of fun doing these things, knowing that we were making something that was liked by you guys.

PE

noacronym · Apr 10, 2013

Thanks PE. You're a better man than me. At 56 I long for the day I'll never have to stand within 5 miles of a printing press.

Photo Engineer · Apr 10, 2013

Coating machines are surprisingly quiet except for the rush of air and film (or paper). There is also the background pump noise from the other room and the rumble of some odds and ends running as well.

If you were in the bombardment room you would hear the electrostatic discharge as a high pitched hiss and you would smell ozone and see the bright bluish UV (if the hood is off).

Not noisy at all IMHO.

And there are a lot of people on this earth far better than I am.

PE

Sirius Glass · Apr 10, 2013

<<sigh>>

Sal Santamaura · Apr 10, 2013

Mike Wilde said:
...this is the face of progress...

Definitely not, despite common usage of that word in this context. Change, yes. Progress, no.

Mike Wilde said:
...where soemthing is made...is immaterial...

Again, definitely not. Leaving aside matters of employment, transportation, environmental impact, etc., one of the most material things place of manufacture influences is materials.

The vast preponderance of "stuff" we buy today, at least in North America, comes from China. A large portion of that, despite any specifications purchasers may impose, is made of materials that are at best unknown and at worst toxic. Try to find Chinese textiles that don't reek. Try to find plastics sourced there without similar issues. Examples include camera bellows and Toyo film holders.

noacronym · Apr 10, 2013

America is stuck with a ruling party of tax addicts on steroids.Until people see that, there's nothing that can be done. See the other thread explaining the difference between malicious intent and just plain stupid.

noacronym · Apr 10, 2013

Photo Engineer said:
Coating machines are surprisingly quiet except for the rush of air and film (or paper). There is also the background pump noise from the other room and the rumble of some odds and ends running as well.

If you were in the bombardment room you would hear the electrostatic discharge as a high pitched hiss and you would smell ozone and see the bright bluish UV (if the hood is off).

Not noisy at all IMHO.

And there are a lot of people on this earth far better than I am.

PE

That quiet machinery you hear is machinery built to tolerances of a germ's molecule. I can picture it--everything set in poured concrete with pilings under that. All bearings oil-fed. Probably can't tell if a polished cylinder is running 5000rpm from standing still, just by looking at it. Some serious machinery. In the printing business the best machinery is German. I bet that EK machinery is probably all custom built.

Photo Engineer · Apr 10, 2013

It was all custom built from SS or Titanium. Tolerances were adjusted by laser.

PE

noacronym · Apr 11, 2013

It's been a day on the printing press for me. When doing that, a large part is just letting the machine run while your mind wanders. Aside from pulling out sheets to keep an eye on register and turning this knob or that; the mind can wander. At least for me. That said to preface the statement that it occurs to me that all my enlarging lenses are Ektars. Probably 50's or so. Nice condition I got off ebay some time back for dirt. Those Ektars are no slouch. There might be better glass nowadays and probably is. But those old Ektars are so well made in those sturdy barrels, and sharp as a tack. I suppose it was the Japanese invasion of goods in the early 60s that made Kodak give up competing, and turn their efforts in other directions. In 1964 the iphone of cameras came out--the Instamatics. I suppose from there, Kodak was strictly consumer-grade marketing and just kept on making world-class film. I was only a young kid so I can only surmise. I have an idea I'm somewhere near right.
At the same time the press was running I just looked out the french doors in this cabin in the woods and noticed how Spring is happening, pretty quick. Doesn't last long. Time to get out there and shoot some film.

semi-ambivalent · Apr 11, 2013

noacronym said:
To me, Kodak and Kodak Park, Rochester, New York are nearly wondrous places in some way; some manner of regard. I've never been up there, never will be most likely, and wouldn't want to go in another way. I'm not from up there. Some people belong where they came from and live, so here is where I stay. All that said in the spirit of well-wishing for the company's future. I know it's a horribly cold place to live a life, but you folks sure know how to set a production standard. I hope you don't turn into some sort of software company, or some worthless digital sh-- like that. You do what you do. I highly suggest advertising on the benefits of Kodak Film for permanence. Permanence is the whole point of any photography. A Kodak B&W print properly washed can last a thousand years. Who knows which one of us might be somebody recorded in history for some deed? A Kodak B&W will still bear the testament of perfect recording in several thousand years. That's a great thing. Pretty wild, when you think about it. Somebody needs to get busy. That's about enough of my free job worrying about it. Nowhere herein has been my intent to pursue or force a political view. Somebody up there needs to do something.

Because I believe in the lasting quality of analog images on paper I have begun to photograph lots of mundane sights. Perhaps someday they'll be digitized and available on shorpy.com or someplace like that. I know, I know, one can always keep backing up their digital images to the latest and greatest but do they do it? How many phones are lost with 'everything' nowhere but on that phone?

When asked I tell people (because they always expect an answer) I use film not because my images are important to my kid but because they'll be important to my great grand-kids. All I get in return is a blank expression.

s-a

noacronym · Apr 11, 2013

That blank expression is the default condition of Americans these days. I wonder why. The wrong buildings are being torn down. Buildings in a small town in Maryland spring to mind. You just keep right on. As long as you shoot film, your spirit will never be condemned on account of sloth. The electronic visual recordings will all be thrown away-- from iphone 12 to ipnone 65; or 5 years, whichever comes first. A picture on double-weight paper FB paper, washed a reasonable amount will outlast the ages. That's just what I think. Mathew Brady's stuff was 150 years ago. I dare say that if somebody had taken a picture of Jesus and sent it off to Kodak, Ilford, or Ansco, we'd know what the guy looked like today.

mike-o · Apr 14, 2013

Will they cry when the huge data centers of Google and Amazon are eventually dismantled?

wblynch · Apr 14, 2013

No one cried when the Whirlpool washing machine factory in Iowa was destroyed.

OzJohn · Apr 14, 2013

Brian C. Miller said:
I got the south Pacific ocean, between New Zealand and Chile. Did they go that far underwater?

Sorry, haven't checked back here for a while but the coords are correct. Try typing it exactly like this: 37 43 45.85 S 144 58 54.65 E Cheers OzJohn

Andrew K · Apr 15, 2013

OzJohn said:
If you want to see what's left of a once thriving Kodak plant

This used to be Kodak Australasia in Melbourne and the attached image is an aerial of it in it's heyday. No doubt Toronto and other cities have a similar story and it happened in these places some years ago. OzJohnView attachment 67028

How old is that photo?

Kodak is long gone in Melbourne. So is Agfa, who's warehouse/factory was nearly as big in Nunawading...

Ilfords factory has gone too - although the one I knew in Notting Hill was only a fraction of the size of the above 2 sites...

It's called progress....some companies have kept things going for too long without modernizing. And Kodak was one of them.

I remember going out to the Kodak factory in Coburg in the 80's to use one of their machines because our Kodak machine (I think it was out "new" printer) had broken down, and I was given a quick tour around the place. So many of the machines were literally held together with gaffer tape, wire, and no doubt some prayers.....I'm not kidding - they told me the film processing machine for Kodachrome hadn't been shut down for years, because they were worried if they did they would never get it back up and running again.

15 years later I spoke with a guy I knew who was doing some electrical work for Kodak in Coburg, and from what he told me things hadn't changed......

Who knows - if these companies had moved their manufacturing plants into newer, smaller premesis with more efficient production machinery then maybe they wouldn't have been effected so much by the downturn in film sales & processing.

AndreasT · Apr 15, 2013

It is sad indeed. I haven't been down there in a long time. The last time I saw the groungs where agfa was established there was wild grown piece of earth with a inconspicuous sign saying Agfa used to be there. It seems nobody really cares.
There are also a lot of abandoned buildings where there used to be a lot of industry and people working. To tell the truth I am glad I don't need to work in one of these old factories.
Lets wait another 50 years or more and you start seeing empty factories in China, google, apple etc may be a memory. With the next production sights poping up in Africa or on the moon.
Another 50 years they will start poping up in Europe and ( the new old world ) America.

Brian C. Miller · Apr 15, 2013

OzJohn said:
Sorry, haven't checked back here for a while but the coords are correct. Try typing it exactly like this: 37 43 45.85 S 144 58 54.65 E Cheers OzJohn

That did the trick! Thanks!

... EEK! :eek: EEK! ...

Nice street names, but absolutely no redevelopment!

Oh, as for data centers, those get changed out regularly. It's been the fad for a while to simply shove a bunch of boxes in a shipping container with jacks on the outside, and then throw everything into a big warehouse. Cable it up, use it for a while, change it out. I have no idea what happens to all of those "obsolete" computers.

Gerald C Koch · Apr 15, 2013

I fail to see that this event is meaningful. Kodak moved its still film coating to a NEW MODERN FACILITY. This is a much more meaningful event.

Kodak dismatling an unused film coating building

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