Kodak announces sale of China plant

[Photo Engineer]

In the Rochester D&C today:

Kodak announed the sale of the plant in China. It was constructed in 1990 and was the newest coating facility built in about 30 years.

A small part of the plant will be retained by Kodak for manufacture of digital products including ink cartridges.

In another report, the NYS Assembly is debating making the sale of tungsten lights illegal.

PE

[Nick Zentena]

Who bought it? Do they intend to keep coating?

[Photo Engineer]

It was sold to a local Chinese development corporation. The entire article is probably on-line now Nick.

PE

[Monophoto]

In another report, the NYS Assembly is debating making the sale of tungsten lights illegal.

PE

Perhaps - but the NYS legislature is completely disfunctional and hasn't created any significant new policy for the state in decades. Don't hold your breath.

Interestingly, I have made a commitment to compact fluorescents in high-consumption applications in our home because it makes financial sense. I've replaced most of the commonly used incandescents, but have been unable to find CFL replacements for a couple of critical applications. There's no point in outlawing current technology until a replacement has been found.

Of course that challenges my own argument - it would be perfectly in keeping with their tradition of incompetence for the NYS legislature to create an impractical and unenforcable law.

[Rolleiflexible]

The tungsten light issue is an interesting one. It's intended to push people to use compact fluorescent bulbs. But they have mercury in them, that will cause problems in time as people throw them away. As usual, we reel from problem to problem.

[Lee L]

I use mostly fluorescents and have several local options for recycling, in which case the mercury is reclaimed and not put into landfill.

Lee

[Nick Zentena]

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com: 20070502:MTFH35695_2007-05-02_12-18-06_WEN7510&type=comktNews&rpc=44

From the sound of that it seems Kodak just got itself into a lease back type sale. They've sold it but are renting it back.

[Photo Engineer]

Nick;

They are just keeping a small portion of the plant.

PE

[HerrBremerhaven]

Sounds like a good change. Perhaps a small move away from offshoring labor. Does this affect the Lucky Film arrangement at all?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Rolleiflexible]

I use mostly fluorescents and have several local options for recycling, in which case the mercury is reclaimed and not put into landfill.

Lee

In NYC they go into the trash and onto barges for shipment to whatever states accept the city's waste for landfill. For every person who bothers to recycle, I am certain that a hundred more put them in the trash.

[jstraw]

In NYC they go into the trash and onto barges for shipment to whatever states accept the city's waste for landfill. For every person who bothers to recycle, I am certain that a hundred more put them in the trash.

The recycling of compact flourescents is a problem that is easily solved by attaching a deposit fee to every single one...or better yet, a lower price for a dead lamp's replacement when it's returned to the merchant for recycling. The cost of such a system could be underwritten by a consortium of manufacturers and major resellers in the name of acquiring market share and public relations.

[Rolleiflexible]

Michael, that's an interesting idea. Another solution is LED-based bulbs, which are still more energy-efficient and lack the disposal problems. But they are more expensive, and Sam Walton hasn't thrown his retail weight behind them, so who knows whether their potential will ever be realized.

[Scott Peters]

Good news for future of film, imo. Let someone with more efficiency (i.e. less overhead) run it for profit.

[jstraw]

Michael, that's an interesting idea. Another solution is LED-based bulbs, which are still more energy-efficient and lack the disposal problems. But they are more expensive, and Sam Walton hasn't thrown his retail weight behind them, so who knows whether their potential will ever be realized.

Walmart wants to own the CF market. They do a rebate for recycling program and it gets the lamps recycled AND helps them attain that goal.

Yes, they could do the same thing with LED's. I DESPISE Walmart but they can create any economy of scale they want. Such is their power.

[Wendel4]

There are many communities in America where recycling is seldom used, only used for certain products, or entirely unavailable. It's a lot of cost and organization for small, rural, or poor communities to undertake. NYC can do virtually anything it wants due to infinite resources, but what about Ville Platte Louisiana? Outlawing incandescent bulbs increases the poor's cost of living, and adding a recylcing fee to to the new bulbs makes it worse. It's absolutely true that they'll save electricity, but this is a subtle change that they won't notice as much as ponying up for a single $5-6 lightbulb. It's a complicated problem. My humble 2 cents.

[PHOTOTONE]

I would assume that Kodak sold the building, the real estate, but not the coating lines? Those would be scrapped?

[jstraw]

There are many communities in America where recycling is seldom used, only used for certain products, or entirely unavailable. It's a lot of cost and organization for small, rural, or poor communities to undertake. NYC can do virtually anything it wants due to infinite resources, but what about Ville Platte Louisiana? Outlawing incandescent bulbs increases the poor's cost of living, and adding a recylcing fee to to the new bulbs makes it worse. It's absolutely true that they'll save electricity, but this is a subtle change that they won't notice as much as ponying up for a single $5-6 lightbulb. It's a complicated problem. My humble 2 cents.

You can now by a pack of 6 lamps that replace 60 watt bulbs for about $10. The price will continue to drop. I would expect to see them below a buck a lamp before long.

Small town Amreica shops at Walmart. If Walmart/Home Depot/Ace Hardware/etc. sells replacement packs at a discounted rate when you bring in your old lamps, your concerns can be addressed.

[jstraw]

Sorry for the thread hijack. This should be in the lounge, not this thread.

[Brac]

After Kodak closed its French coating plant in around 2005, a lot of the consumer colour print film coming into the UK was made in Kodak's factory in China. But just recently the "free" Kodak films I received with some processed films and prints was labelled as made in USA and finished in Mexico. So I wonder where Kodak films for the Chinese market will come from. It seems rather stange if they are stopping film production in China because the labour costs there are probably cheaper than in any of the other places they have manufacturing facilties.

[PHOTOTONE]

I would theorize that Kodak needs to keep is primary coating plant operating at near capacity to maximize quality and profit, therefore dividing up film coating between plants in this age of dwindling film sales is unpractical. China will get film coated in USA and finished in Mexico.