Dear All,
We really do value all the product ideas on this and other threads SO DO'NT STOP ASKING and in all cases the requests are passed to marketing and are actively discussed. I have given replies to most of the requests already in the past but perhaps its a good time to go back around some of the issues we ( and other manufacturers ) face:
220 : Would love to do it but cannot at a viable price, you are not going to pay 3 X what 2 120's would cost.
Readyloads : Sales of sheet film are declining, hence no doubt KODAK's recent announcement, to pay for a readyload line would be in the region of $ 750,000 to $ 1,000,000 : We could never get a return within a suitable period without raising the cost of the product to unacceptable levels, our ethos is always to keep our prices for all our products as low as possible. We have tried purchasing second hand finishing equipment in the past, it goes for scrap almost everytime. We have also asked if other manufacturers would finish for us, they have refused, and that is understandable, they have bought the equipment why give up market share, if you have colour and mono its viable, but if you only have mono you can see our issue.
Different SKU's eg different film sizes of existing emulsions, or different base tones :
ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology have the widest range of any monochrome manufacturer by a huge degree, we have in excess of 3,500 SKU's if you take into account the KENTMERE range as well.
Since the management took over the business in February 2005 HARMAN have invested hugely in stock, returned products to the range and stopped making very, very few. When our distributors around the world order we ship over 98.00% of products from stock, if its make to order its normally done in 5 working days: Our TOTAL philosophy is to make available the widest range of monochrome products in the world and to adopt a total customer usege concept, what does this mean ? if you stop making something however insignificant the sales you alienate a customer or a group of customers who have a special need, this drives people to look other suppliers or solutions, perhaps digital... thats why we think long and very hard.
But the absolute fundamental is that we must run a profitable and sustainable business, and no where in this equation can our quality regime be compromised, so we must look at sales / stock / time to customer calculations and these are very challenging for some products or ideas for products, all our film products are dated, we have strict time limits on finishing paper from mill reels, if these products cannot be sold through in the time they are destroyed for quality reasons, and whilst the silver is recovered it is only one component of the full manufacturing cost.
A good example of this is our ULF film run that we do once per year, custom finishing against advance orders, we do this, we are happy to do this and we will continue to do this, why? because its probably the ultimate expression of quality photography, we have to support it, we have to encourage others to aspire to the images produced...do we make money, well it would be wrong to say we do not make a profit, on paper we do, what we do not count in is the administration time, last year over £ 10,000 in time alone, the extra waste 10% to 15% higher than normal cut sheet.. also the time that our ULF reseller partners dedicate to it, or indeed the admin our distributor does free of charge to assemble all the orders, if it was just a 'business' we would'nt do it ( and do'nt forget KODAK do it as well, good on them ).
Finally, everything we make has to be sold via resellers, monochrome is only part of their business, they have to stock other products, we have to compete for purchase dollars, selling small runners within a niche business is not like selling umbrellas when its raining...and you must have empathy with all your customers, distributors, resellers and end users so its a balance.
People mention buy direct from the factory, not as easy as it sounds, its heavy ( usually ) how do you pay the import duties ? ( to the USA ) how do you package it ?, how do you ship it in prime condition ?. All possible.. but at a cost to the end user that would be higher than the current system.
I hope this is not seen as negative, its not, we are optomistic about the future, we are dedicated to mono, we want to help everyone of our customers get the most out of our products and the products they want, sometimes it is just not possible..and you deserve to know why.
So thanks to all who buy, use and value ILFORD Photo products, we welcome ALL your suggestions and ideas.
Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :
I love the WT paper just as it is. Hard to please all, isn't it, Simon?
