Kodak plant in Weatherford, OK

[martyryan]

I just drove through Weatherford, OK, and the film plant there has a big Kodak sign out front, they still have a sign up leading to the loading dock with the Ferrania name on it .

Just wonder if anybody knows anything about this.

I put this in color because the plant is known to make color film.

Marty

 

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak never had a film coating or packaging plant in OK, AFAIK. There is one in Colorado and one in Mexico at the present time. Kodak has/had a chemical plant in Texas.

PE

 

[fotch]

Seems they acquired a company in 2002 (approx.)

From the local Chamber of Commerce:

Eastman Kodak Company
2720 East Frontage Road
Weatherford, OK 73096
Map
(580) 772-5502

Imation Enterprises
2700 East Frontage Road
Weatherford, OK 73096
www.imation.com

 

[Photo Engineer]

How wonderful. I'm glad to hear it. Must be a new regional center as well, but please note that this is primarily a digital conversion and storage company (Imation).

PE

 

[martyryan]

the address for ferrinia
Ferrania USA, Inc.
2740 South Frontage Road
Weatherford, OK 73096

just driving by, it looks like the Ferrinia plant is located in kodak's building.

 

[Kino]

Ferannia DID make color film in that plant; I know for a fact.

What Kodak is doing with it, I have no clue...

 

[fotch]

Anyone live there? Maybe someone local would know if they are involved in the film business at this location.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I know for a fact that EK had no relationship with Ferrania. It was a division of 3M. It is headquartered in Italy.

PE

 

[Jerry Thirsty]

Scotchchrome was made by Ferrania for 3M. Imation is also a 3M spin-off. So that would sort of explain a possible connection between Imation and Ferrania. Where Kodak fits in IDK.

 

[fotch]

I know for a fact that EK had no relationship with Ferrania. It was a division of 3M. It is headquartered in Italy.

PE

Had? Maybe its changed. The news report said EK acquired a company in 2002, I think it was Imation or maybe a division.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak has/had no relationship with Ferrania or 3M. They were competitors in many fields such as film and magnetic tape. Ferrania was sold or spun off by 3M several years ago. It may be an independant company or it may be part of another company, but its film making capability is not part of Kodak. This I know. Ferrania continues in Italy with government support as they were close to bankruptcy a few years ago (or the Italian equivalent). They continue to make color film for relabeling, but none for Kodak and they don't get any Kodak products.

Imation may be a purchase of Kodak as noted above, but the products shown are all digital.

PE

 

[DannL]

Found some more tid bits . . .

Kodak Polychrome Graphics LLC
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=854441

Manufacturing Plant- Finance Manager Job - Kodak
http://www.job.com/my.job/sup/appTo=28071989/p=1/jsOn=1
http://www.simplyhired.com/job-id/hivehbj6uj/manufacturing-plant-jobs/

Wikipedia has an input for both Imation and Kodak mfg plants . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherford,_Oklahoma

Kodak Polychrome Graphics
2720 E Frontage Rd
Weatherford, OK 73096
Phone : (580) 772-5502
Listed at ASKYP.com as Lithographic Negatives & Plates (Manufacturers)
Platemaking & Related Services

http://www.kpgraphics.com/company/kpg_stats.html
list KPG Weatherford Plant (USA) ISO 9002

 

[Photo Engineer]

The 2004 data in the last URL you cite list plants that are closed or no longer operating for a full range of products, merely more or less distribution centers. The overall text describes a company division that makes digital products for the most part. It was once a division of 3M apparently and spun off to stand alone only to be bought by EK. It produces digital printers and etc. Read the data there.

The film used, is probably produced in the plants at Colorado, Rochester or Chalon France. That is, if the Chalon plant is still in operation. The plant at Colorado was sold as part of the Kodak Health Sciences division to Onyx of Toronto Canada to form a new division to make X-Ray and other similar products. They still coat color paper under contract to Kodak.

So, whether this company in OK produces film themselves or not is murky to say the least. It certainly does have its roots in digital printers and in digital storage devices.

See here: http://www.nema.org/media/ind/20050405b.cfm ,
here: http://graphics.kodak.com/US/consumables/Film/default.htm
and here: http://graphics.kodak.com/US/HomePage/default.htm

to see that the bulk of the products are digital and there is a small film component there sandwiched in between. It was purchased by EK in 2005. The Imation web site is so heavily digital, it is not until you search the Kodak graphics subdivision that I was able to find film products (2 of them).

PE

 

[Kino]

Imation Corp - IMN Annual Report (exerpt);

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...+ok&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=firefox-a


"Table of Contents

expectations, there could be an immediate impact on the Company's stock price. The stock price may also be affected by broader market trends and world events unrelated to the Company's performance.

Sale of Medical Imaging Systems Business - As discussed in Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, on November 30, 1998, the Company sold substantially all of its worldwide Medical Imaging Systems business to Kodak. Excluded from this sale was the Ferrania Facility, at which certain x-ray and wet laser medical imaging products and photographic film were manufactured. As also discussed in Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, on August 2, 1999, the Company closed on the sale of its worldwide Photo Color Systems business, including the Ferrania Facility, to Ferrania Lux. The Kodak Asset Purchase Agreement obligated Kodak to pay to the Company up to $25 million under certain conditions upon the sale of the Ferrania Facility. Kodak has challenged the Company's claim for the full $25 million as well as claims for other amounts which the Company believes are due from Kodak in connection with the sale of the Medical Imaging Systems business. While the Company believes that the applicable contractual terms support its position, it cannot predict with certainty the outcome of these disputes."

Interesting...

 

[gr82bart]

When large multi-national corporations acquire other companies, they acquire assets that may have significantly different legal versus operational uses. So, they often publish a list of their property assets that they wish the public (and most of their employees) to see and that they utilize often. Then they have property assets that mostly their internal engineering or real estate management departments know about. Add to that the difference between the legal entities versus the operational entities, it doesn't surprise me there these assets with Kodak signage that no one, especially those writing in wiki, knows about or has any information about.

I know this because: I use to lead such a engineering / real estate department, I also did a project where I needed to perform the due diligence on property assets before a merger, I was part of a department that managed all the properties and had first hand knowledge that most employees did not, and now I implement technology solutions in companies to track and manage all their property assets in a single application - again to their engineering / RE departments. Every large corporation has an outlying or unusual property especially if they acquired other companies.

In most cases, where these properties don't fit their published organizational or operational model, they are usually in the process of selling them, leasing them, or are in a lease/tenant situation they cannot back out of - due to contracts already in place prior to the merger or acquisition. Example: Company A acquires Company B. Company B already had a lease/tenant agreement in place with Company C that is a competitor of Company A. Company A is obligated to honour the contract with Company C. Therefore you might have a situation where one company is the landlord and a competitor is their tenant. It happens more often than not.

Anyway, I'm not sure what people are trying to 'see' in this property. It's most likely a Kodak outlier.

Regards, Art.

 

[AgX]

Ferrania was aquired by 3M in 1964, then went further into the 3M spinoff Imation in 1996 and finally is on its own again since 1999. With premises in Weatherford up until today.

In 2001 Kodak Polychrome Grophics aquired from Imation their “full portfolio of color proofing, film, plate, and color software offerings, as well as Imation's Color Technologies manufacturing facility in Weatherford, Oklahoma.”

 

[Photo Engineer]

AgX has the correct quote which is in one of the references I gave above. Indeed, 3M itself has exited the graphics art and medical imaging using analog products. Their two plants in Monroe county NY have closed and been gutted. Kodak did sell its medical imaging in its entirety to Onyx of Canada. So, IDK what you want to see in this either. That is why I have tried to stress the point that this is primarily a digital plant for graphics art materials.

PE

 

[AgX]

PE,

Thus as there has been a multilayer coating facility in Weatherford which I deduce from "Color Technologies manufacturing" and which has been confirmed by Kino, this has gone to scrap metal meanwhile?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Well, I have a question that must be answered first. How dry is Weatherford?

You see, coating takes a lot of water and is not feasible in a dry environment, and so Kodak is near lakes or at least a LOT of water for each of its plants. So, if Weatherford is too dry, I doubt if much color was made there due to lack of water. OTOH, the premelts may have been brought in and coated there or the precoated film may have been slit, chopped and packed there.

Companies are very reluctant to give details. AFAIK, from friends in 3M, and this goes back over 10 years, the only color was done at 3M in Minn. and in Italy. B&W was done in Monroe county NY and Minn. That is all they admitted to. Building a new coating plant in the waning days of graphic arts would have been rather foolhardy IMHO. It was built when the Rochester 3M and Dupont graphic arts plants were closing. So, existing facilities could have taken the load and that is what friends with 3M told me at the time. Saving labor costs on film coating is also rather difficult as it takes highly trained people and not many of them, just a few. Same with emulsions.

So, the "economics" of the whole thing does not feel right coupled with what I know and what I have been told. I could be wrong, but I doubt if a modern color facility is now coating graphics arts materials at a largely digital facility.

PE

 

[Photo Engineer]

I would also like to add that I have not read Kino's reference. My security software advised me that the site tried to breach the security on my computer when I clicked on it, and I was blocked from viewing it. I advise others to be cautious. The URL reference in Kino's post is listed as a "dangerous" site by McAfee.

PE

 

[Ray Rogers]

I would also like to add that I have not read Kino's reference. My security software advised me that the site tried to breach the security on my computer when I clicked on it, and I was blocked from viewing it. I advise others to be cautious. The URL reference in Kino's post is listed as a "dangerous" site by McAfee.

PE

For the brave, the info, which I got as cache, is...
"...an excerpt from a 10-K SEC Filing, filed by IMATION CORP on 3/14/2003."

The material already posted by Kino, is pretty much all I found there...
very wordy leaglese and not very informative.:

"the Ferrania Facility, at which certain x-ray and wet laser medical imaging products and photographic film were manufactured."

"on August 2, 1999,
the Company closed on the sale of its worldwide Photo Color Systems business, including the Ferrania Facility, to Ferrania Lux.

The Kodak Asset Purchase Agreement obligated Kodak to pay to the Company up to $25 million under certain conditions upon the sale of the Ferrania Facility. Kodak has challenged the Company's claim for the full $25 million as well as claims for other amounts which the Company believes are due from Kodak in connection with the sale of the Medical Imaging Systems business"

So what is the relationship of Ferrania, Kodak and Imation to Ferrania Lux?

 

[Photo Engineer]

No relation between Kodak and Ferrania AFAIK.

Here is more: Imation and Sun Microsystems have formed a joint venture not to be confused by a joint venture between Kodak and Sun Chemical to purchase elements of Imation.

See quote below:

"1997 - Kodak sold the sales, marketing, and equipment service operations of its Office Imaging business and its facilities management business (formerly known as Kodak Imaging Services) to Danka Business Systems PLC. ♦ The company introduced four new GOLD Films (400, 200, and 100 speeds and Max 800 speed) that employed COLORSHARP Technology. ♦ By February, the company had recycled more than 100 million one-time-use cameras since the program began in 1990. ♦ The KODAK PICTURE NETWORK was announced, enabling people to view their photos, order reprints, and share their pictures with friends and family around the world via the Internet. ♦ In April, the company unveiled the KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE DC120 Zoom Digital Camera, the first point-and-shoot megapixel quality digital camera under $1,000. ♦ Kodak and Sun Chemical Corporation agreed to form a joint venture, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, to supply the graphic arts market with sensitized products as well as computer-to-plate and other digital solutions. ♦ An advanced Kodak image sensor allowed NASA's Mars Rover to "see" as it moved about to explore that planet's surface"

Note the last portion just above here.... found here.... http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/kodakHistory/1990_1999.shtml

The whole thing is very complex and wrapped in company secrecy as is the case in many of these things.

Yes, Ferrania had a facility in OK, but I repeat that the extent of use was limited to productivity of the product line and the ability to get good help and lots of water.

An average employee costs any company 2x their base pay and the company has to recover at least 3x base pay of all employees + raw materials just to break even in many cases, and the plant has to run for about 2000 hours / year minimum to produce a profit.

Just some economics to consider.

PE

 

[Ray Rogers]

Wet behind the ears...

How dry is Weatherford?

You see, coating takes a lot of water and is not feasible in a dry environment, and so Kodak is near lakes or at least a LOT of water for each of its plants... I repeat that the extent of use was limited to... the ability to get... lots of water.
PE

Ron,

Could you expand upon this?

Are you talking about RH, or lakes and rivers?

How is the water being used?

Is it actually being used in the COATING process or in other related steps, such as the emulsion itself, or air filtration, controlled drying etc.

???

TIA

 

[Ray Rogers]

No relation between Kodak and Ferrania AFAIK.PE

If so, can you think of any reason Kodak would be obligated to pay for the sale of the Ferrania Facility. ?

"The Kodak Asset Purchase Agreement obligated Kodak to pay to the Company up to $25 million under certain conditions upon the sale of the Ferrania Facility."

Ray

 

[Photo Engineer]

Lakes and rivers and humidity Ray, the whole thing.

Water is used making emulsions, making coatings and the humidity is important to static electricity problems and therefore to air conditioning which relies on more water.

To make 1000 L of emulsion, you need 1000 L of water (about) plus jacket water for the kettle and about 10,000 L of water for washing the emulsion and cleanup of equipment. You need tempering for all of this water as it has to be at least 40C for the hot and 4C for the cold.

To coat it, you need a huge chilling and heating system for chill set and dry, and a big humidity control system. This uses loads of water.

You also need a water driven decontamination system to remove chemicals from the effluent of the coating and making operation and from the dryer exhaust.

As I've said before, making and coating is not a simple operation.

PE