Kodak to lay off 400 workers

[Poisson Du Jour]

Shares taking another pounding today, -5.5%.

That is most likely in response to the newest tranche of lay-offs and the negative outlook in the forward estimates. All spin and whip with nothing to show after all this time.

 

[alanrockwood]

...If other posters are correct, Kodak's fall will take the rest of the industry with it. Surely thats not the case?

If Kodak falls I doubt Kodak will take the rest of the industry with it. However, it might be a severe blow to some segments of the industry

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

If Kodak falls I doubt Kodak will take the rest of the industry with it. However, it might be a severe blow to some segments of the industry

My thinking is that it will be Fujifilm that exits before Kodak.

 

[skorpiius]

I dont see how you can say that. There was a nearly 30 million dollar swing to the negative for Kodak's Consumer and Film division.

I would love to know the details of this. Surely motion picture and still film purchasing hasn't changed that much in a year.

"Kodak’s most consumer-facing division, with responsibility for consumer inkjet solutions, motion picture and commercial films, synthetic chemicals, and consumer products. This division is responsible for the exploration of other potential initiatives in the consumer space."

https://www.kodak.com/corp/executive_profile/steven_overman/default.htm

 

[skorpiius]

More info from http://investor.kodak.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1564590-17-3570&CIK=31235
(2016)


Consumer and Film

The Consumer and Film segment is comprised of three lines of business: Motion Picture, Industrial Films and Chemicals; Consumer Inkjet Solutions; and Consumer Products. Consumer and Film products are distributed directly by Kodak and indirectly through dealers. Two Industrial Films and Chemicals customers represent approximately 30 percent of total Consumer and Film segment revenues.

•Motion Picture, Industrial Films and Chemicals:

•Includes the motion picture film business serving the entertainment and advertising industries. Motion picture
products are sold directly to studios, laboratories and independent filmmakers.
•Offers industrial films, including films used by the electronics industry to produce printed circuit boards. Primary competitors are Fuji and Agfa.
•The business also includes related component businesses: Polyester Film; Solvent Recovery; and Specialty

Chemicals, Inks and Dispersions.

•Net sales for Motion Picture, Industrial Chemicals and Films accounted for 11%, of total net revenue for each of the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014.

•Consumer Inkjet Solutions:

•Involves the sale of ink to an existing installed base of consumer inkjet printers.

•Consumer Products:

•Includes licensing of Kodak brands to third parties and consumer products such as the Super 8 camera. Kodak currently licenses its brand for use with a range of consumer products including batteries, cameras and camera accessories and recordable media. Kodak intends to continue efforts to grow its portfolio of consumer product licenses in order to generate both ongoing royalty streams and upfront payments.

Enterprise Inkjet Systems

The Enterprise Inkjet Systems segment contains a base of customers which use KODAK VERSAMARK printing systems, comprised of inkjet printing heads, inks, head refurbishment services as well as on-site maintenance service from Kodak. Applications of the VERSAMARK printing systems include publishing, transactional, commercial print and direct mail. Enterprise Inkjet Systems products are distributed directly by Kodak and indirectly through dealers. The markets that the Enterprise Inkjet Systems segment serves are highly competitive in variable printing applications like direct mail, newspapers and books. Key competitors are Canon, Ricoh, Domino and Screen.

Intellectual Property Solutions

The Intellectual Property Solutions segment contains the research laboratories and includes licensing as well as new business development activities related to Kodak’s patents and proprietary technology. Through this segment Kodak conducts research and files patent applications with fundamental inventions from the Kodak Research Laboratories, located in the Eastman Business Park in Rochester, New York. Additionally, Kodak continues to file significant numbers of new patent applications in areas aligned with its core businesses. Via these core business patent applications along with the research inventions, Kodak maintains a large worldwide portfolio of pending applications and issued patents. Kodak actively seeks opportunities to leverage its patents and associated technology in licensing and/or cross-licensing deals to support both revenue growth and its ongoing businesses. While revenues from these licensing activities tend to be unpredictable in nature, this segment still carries potential for material revenue generation. The Intellectual Property Solutions segment also actively pursues additional revenues via new business development through commercialization partnerships and grants or external investment in commercialization of new technologies and products.

Eastman Business Park

The Eastman Business Park segment includes the operations of the Eastman Business Park, a more than 1,200 acre technology center and industrial complex in Rochester, New York and the leasing activities related to that space. A large portion of this facility is used in Kodak’s own manufacturing and other operations, while the remaining portion is occupied by external tenants or available for rent to external tenants. Three tenants represent over 60 percent of total Eastman Business Park segment revenues

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

Discontinued operations of Kodak include the PROSPER Enterprise Inkjet business and the Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses (“PI/DI Business”). Refer to Note 26, “Discontinued Operations” in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information.

 

[skorpiius]

This of course doesn't bode well:

Earnings..........Consumer & Film..........Inkjet
2014.................66.................................35
2015.................52.................................20
2016.................16.................................19

 

[Ai Print]

AgX said 'Print Film'. Your agenda seems incapable of understanding that perhaps Kodak is very well aware of the major decline in the distribution of cinema films as physical prints from the hundreds of thousands or more per annum to perhaps a couple of hundred for special/ early releases. It's likely that 2383/ 3383 are now being made in smaller batches perhaps a couple of times a year. Maybe, just maybe they had planned for this scaled reduction & executed it and that this is a large part of the shrinkage you seem obsessed with.

It’s best to not even read these threads as you can be sure of breathing aerosolized rodent droppings a plenty.

All I can do is my part like getting young people I mentor to use film & help move the web-social movement of it in a viral direction. I have to keep a good attitude and make the best use of what now has to be close to a quarter of a million dollar investment in equipment, film, paper, chemistry and real estate to live out the rest of my life as a fine art printer and eventually hold workshops that keep it moving forward.

I hope Kodak films can stick around, but in all honesty, as long as Ilford can stay strong and keep the entire B&W process intact, I’m sure I will do ok.

 

[kuparikettu]

The podcast is now online!
Dead Link Removed

 

[BrianShaw]

The podcast is now online!
Dead Link Removed

Cool. Listening to it right now. So far (12 minutes in) it's good background and interesting basic chatter on photography in general. Typical podcast for the nontechnical and relatively inexperienced audience. Well produced for what it is. I sure hope it gets into some of the technical details and challenges... and schedule... and expected pricing... and

About 21 minutes in they start talking about the challenges... in a rather vague way but at least they are talking about it.

 

[twelvetone12]

If Ektachrome comes back, it is a suicide move, so the sky is falling. If it does not come back, it means Kodak is at the end, so the sky is falling. It seems there is no escape from the doom.

 

[kuparikettu]

If Ektachrome comes back, it is a suicide move, so the sky is falling. If it does not come back, it means Kodak is at the end, so the sky is falling. It seems there is no escape from the doom.

On this forum what ever move Kodak makes, it is the wrong move.
On APUG/Photrio Industry News :
2012: "Kodak should market film! They are only rearranging deck chairs on Titanic! Inkjet cartridges and Kodak branded batteries, what a joke. Why don't they bring back Kodachrome?"
2017: "Kodak should not make and market film! Kodak doesn't know a thing about business, why are they bringing back Ektachrome? They should concentrate on printing press and inkjet!"

 

[lantau]

If you can't be asked to listen to the half hour programe, here are the keypoints (to me):

- They've done coatings only on the pilot coater. A run on the big one is scheduled for the end of the year, ie. in a few weeks.
- The coatings so far look ok
- They are having product specs (density curves) that they are trying to match. I'd be thinking they didn't come up with new specs, but they are actually recreating the old film as it has been. Just don't bet the house on it
- It took time to source all of the more than 80 copounds that go into the emulsion.
- They stopped making Ektachrome because they didn't go through the process of downscaling. Specifically mention was the emulsion kettle. Usually in discussions people talk about the coater, but you also have to make emulsion batches and my interpretation is that even with the current coater the emulsion batches were just to large for the sales volume.
- They specifically mention that some equipment isn't available anymore and on the current equipment sometimes things have to be 'relearned'. All things that we have heard before.

I'm looking forward to trying it, provided it all works out. Of course I'd be more interested in a Chrome that is more saturated than Velvia, which is a little tame when not used in bright sunlight.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If Kodak falls I doubt Kodak will take the rest of the industry with it. However, it might be a severe blow to some segments of the industry

I agree and it would not be nice.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My thinking is that it will be Fujifilm that exits before Kodak.

I agree.

 

[pentaxuser]

Whenever we talk about Kodak, usually in terms of gloom and doom, someone or indeed several parties talk of its inability to downsize and thus its difficulties to cut costs vis a vis the lower demand. The best example of this is the argument promulgated to justify the cost of its bulk rolls v its cassette film. Put simply, I believe the argument says it is the way it produces bulk rolls that prevents it from lowering cost enough to make it possible to compete in price with its same films in the form of cassettes.

I wonder at what point Kodak will either have to decide to try and downsize close to or closer to the size of Ilford to survive or decide that the cost of downsizing outweighs the revenue from that lower demand and therefore stop film production.

pentaxuser

 

[Sirius Glass]

Preparing bulk film rolls probably disrupts the production flow enough to drive the cost of bulk film up. It is all about reducing production costs.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Whenever we talk about Kodak, usually in terms of gloom and doom, someone or indeed several parties talk of its inability to downsize and thus its difficulties to cut costs vis a vis the lower demand. The best example of this is the argument promulgated to justify the cost of its bulk rolls v its cassette film. Put simply, I believe the argument says it is the way it produces bulk rolls that prevents it from lowering cost enough to make it possible to compete in price with its same films in the form of cassettes.

I wonder at what point Kodak will either have to decide to try and downsize close to or closer to the size of Ilford to survive or decide that the cost of downsizing outweighs the revenue from that lower demand and therefore stop film production.

pentaxuser

If you go and listen to the Kodakery podcast about the Ektachrome, it goes into considerable detail about minimum coating quantities etc - 48" by 6000ft minimum master roll (essentially the same as Ilford, but a bit narrower in width - I think Ilford coat film at 50" & paper at 60", but could be wrong). They say that depending on the popularity of products, they coat different numbers of master rolls - "10-15" for a "top-line cinema film" was stated. The emulsions they currently make have been scaled to the B-38 machine & it would seem likely that previous withdrawals had to do with scaling/ redesigning being too expensive or that demand had dropped below a minimum of one master roll per 18-24 months or whatever length of time Kodak feel is OK before fogging becomes sensitometrically unacceptable.

 

[lantau]

it would seem likely that previous withdrawals had to do with scaling/ redesigning being too expensive or that demand had dropped below a minimum of one master roll per 18-24 months or whatever length of time Kodak feel is OK before fogging becomes sensitometrically unacceptable.

While they have to sell off the film before it goes out of spec, which might come into play, I understood from the podcast that it is the capital outlay that is too high when it takes too long to sell the complete (too large) batch.