On January 17, 1995 - Kodak and Live Picture, Inc, signed an agreement that covered a range of imaging applications to offer people the ability to manipulate digital images faster and with less computing power than with other software.
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On January 20, 1995 - Kodak announced the availability of KODAMOTION Pocket Fx Cards, which reproduce "morphing" scenes blending one image into another when you rotate the card. The special effect is produced by bonding multiple images with a special cover sheet that contains thousands of individual lenses.
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On February 6 ,1995 - Kodak introduced its Home Page to the World Wide Web on the Internet. The Kodak Home Page provides an opportunity for Internet users all over the world to learn more about Eastman Kodak Company's people, products, services, and hist
ory.
On February 6, 1995 - Kodak's mission of encouraging people to capture and share memories was enhanced by Delrina Corp's announcement of a new interactive multimedia consumer program, Echo Lake. The program's flexible format allows individuals to add voice, sound clips, photos, and video to stories they've written on their home computer.
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On February 8, 1995 - Kodak added the KODAK PROFESSIONAL EOS*DCS 5 Camera to their line of digital cameras. This model is based on the Canon EOS-1N camera and is compatible with all Canon EF lenses and EOS accessories. It will be of particular interest to applications such as desktop publishing, presentation development, low-end catalog publishing, copy-stand work, scientific research, and other "on-location" imaging needs.
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February 9, 1995 - Kodak announced its next-generation Photo CD imaging workstation, which allows commercial laboratories and photofinishers the ability to offer their customers copyright infringement protection for their digital images. Users can encrypt the three highest resolution levels of their professional Photo CD images, scrambling them until they are decoded with the correct key code. To make images viewable but unsuitable for commercial purposes, users can also add a watermark to the images.
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February 13, 1995 - Customers worldwide had internet access for the first time to a server supported by Kodak. In addition to the Kodak Home Page, the server included information on Kodak service and technical support, a customer forum, a Guest Book, search capabilities, and a range of sample Photo CD digital images with access information for worldwide Photo CD transfer sites.
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February 23, 1995 - Space Imaging, Inc and Kodak announced an alliance to develop and market imaging products and services for the commercial remote sensing markets, such as civil engineering and construction, land management, agriculture, mining, environmental monitoring, tax assessment, and infrastructure planning and management.
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March 15, 1995 - EquiTrend ranked Kodak number one in quality. CEO George Fisher tied this to the company's efforts at satisfying the customer and bolstering the Kodak brand name in the marketplace. "The Kodak name will continue to represent what it always has -- the ultimate in trust, quality, and reliability."
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March 28, 1995 - To help showcase Kodak's strengths in science and technology, Kodak unveiled the new KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE brand mark. The brand added blue to the well known, distinctive Kodak trade dress colors of yellow and red, and will be phased in on the company's offerings of digital imaging hardware, software, and services.
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March 28, 1995 - Kodak introduced a full-featured digital camera priced under $1000. The KODAK Digital Camera 40 was expected to be popular with business people for adding digital pictures to their reports, presentations, and other compound documents published on desktop computers.
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March 28, 1995 - Kodak announced agreements with four other companies, which will make their digital imaging products more accessible to customers.
- Kinko's installed document imaging software and workstations, which will help customers add pictures to their documents from PHOTO CD Discs.
- Microsoft collaborated with Kodak on walk-up imaging kiosks for producing photographs and PHOTO CD Discs. The two companies also agreed to co-brand software to make it more obvious which Microsoft consumer applications support digital images.
- IBM joined Kodak in announcing agreements in digital imaging, including one on an internet-based network image exchange.
- Hewlett-Packard small- and large-format color inkjet printers will be used in Kodak's complete imaging solutions.
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April 10, 1995 - Kodak's Commercial and Government Systems organization released a family of capture software to speed image capture and processing in almost any production document imaging application. These software products will help overcome the image capture bottlenecks that exist in many organizations.
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May 4, 1995 - Kodak unveiled four high-volume copiers and printers that use a fine-grain toner to achieve higher density and more accurate edge definition on text and graphics. They also introduced a mid-volume copier, the KODAK IMAGESOURCE 50 Copier, which is easy to use especially for the occasional user.
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May 8, 1995 - Kodak announced they will begin servicing certain Xerox copiers. This will allow many customers the convenience of dealing with a single service provider. All Kodak service people will complete an extensive training program before taking calls to service Xerox equipment.
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May 18, 1995 - Kodak confirmed that it has filed a petition with the U.S. Government under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, asking the government to investigate and remedy anti-competitive trade practices in the Japanese market for consumer photographic film and paper. These alleged practices include: rebate schemes, resale price maintenance, and horizontal price-fixing to prevent key distributors and retailers from selling U.S.-made products.
Japan is the second largest market for consumer photographic products in the world, yet Kodak's share of the film market there is less than 10%. This is in contrast to Kodak's sharply higher position in other industrialized nations, including other Asian nations. Kodak's own market research shows that Japanese consumers are well aware of the Kodak brand, but cite "lack of availability" as the top reason they have not tried Kodak products.
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May 31, 1995 - Kodak released a 300-page filing detailing their claim that Fuji Photo Ltd practiced exclusionary tactics in the Japanese marketplace, such as:
- price fixing in trade associations
- cash payments to financially strapped wholesalers and retailers to facilitate control, maintain retail prices, and exclude outsiders
- distributor group boycotts
The filing supported the petition Kodak filed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
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June 12, 1995 - Delegates to the 1995 National Small Business Showcase saw demonstrations of how they could use the DC40 Digital Camera to add pictures easily and inexpensively to documents, such as presentations, real estate listings, insurance reports, security ID cards, and desktop graphic or catalog applications. Downloading to either a Macintosh or Windows computer for editing, output, or transmission is almost instantaneous.
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July 19, 1995 - Kodak recycled its 50-millionth one-time-use camera. On average, 86% by weight of the cameras is recycled or reused. Most of the remaining weight of flash models is the battery, which is donated to charity or reused by the photofinisher.
- The outer covers of KODAK FUN SAVER Cameras are recycled.
- The chassis, basic camera mechanisms, and electronic flash systems are tested and reused.
- The parts of the cameras that don't pass inspection are ground up and fed into the raw material stream for molding into new cameras.
- Used lenses are ground up and sold to outside companies as raw material for other products.
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July 27, 1995 - Carl Gustin was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. His responsibilities will include working with the core businesses to develop world-class marketing and brand management strategies, global corporate advertising, and sponsorship and alliance management.
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August 1, 1995 - Kodak, one of the oldest sponsors of the Modern Olympics, outlined its planned presence at the Centennial Games in Atlanta GA. Highlights include:
- The Kodak Imaging Center there will process more than 175,000 rolls of film for photojournalists and let them convert the photographs into digital images and transmit them to newsrooms around the world.
- The KODAK EKTASCAN IMAGELINK System will convert medical images to digital images and transmit them via phone lines to local hospitals.
- Edicon equipment will instantly produce identification passes for officials, athletes, and volunteers.
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August 8, 1995 - Kodak announced that software would soon be available to make it easier to add images from PHOTO CD Discs. Users can use the KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE Photo Insert Software to click on thumbnails of the images and paste them into the templates supplied (or into ones of their own creation).
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August 24, 1995 - KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE Products helped to demonstrate at Microsoft's launch of Windows 95 how easy it is to use pictures in desktop systems. The KODAK Color Management System is used to set color standards in 80% of the desktop imaging software market to ensure that color rendition is true to the original scanned image and that the color remains consistent systemwide.
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September 5, 1995 - In a move to strengthen the next generation of Kodak's senior management team, CEO George Fisher announced the formation of a Chief Operating Office (COO) consisting of three key posts:
- Himself as Chief Operating Officer, in addition to his role as Chairman, President and CEO
- Daniel A. Carp as Executive Vice President and Assistant Chief Operating Officer
- Carl Kohrt as Executive Vice President and Assistant Chief Operating Officer
Although each will be responsible collectively for all the operating functions of the company, each will also have particular areas of emphasis for which they will be the primary contact point and spokesperson.
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September 6, 1995 - Kodak announced an agreement with Danka Business Systems PLC for them to sell and service Kodak high-volume copiers throughout the U.S. and Canada, with opportunities for global expansion. All Kodak products sold by Danka will carry the Kodak brand. Key factors that contributed to Kodak's choice of Danka included their deep commitment to service, the extensive training they provide their sales and service personnel, and their sharp focus on customer needs.
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September 14, 1995 - Kodak selected Ogilvy & Mather to manage and produce its worldwide, corporate brand advertising and marketing campaign. The advertising, which will be in all forms of media, will strive to make customers aware of the phenomenal possibilities that digital technology brings to enjoying and using photography.
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October 2, 1995 - In continuing efforts to strengthen the leadership and the team structure of the company, Kodak made the general managers of its primary worldwide businesses' presidents:
- Candy M. Obourn, Business Imaging Systems
- T. Christopher Fitzsimmons, Commercial and Government Systems
- David P. Biehn, Consumer Imaging
- Leonard E. Redon, Customer Equipment Services Division
- Carl E. Gustin, Digital & Applied Imaging
- Susan A. McLaughlin, Kodak Imaging Services
- Martin M. Coyne III, Health Sciences Division
- Joerg D. Agin, Motion Picture & Television Imaging
- Kenneth O. Hoffman, Office Imaging
- Richard G. Pignataro, Professional & Printing Imaging
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October 26, 1995 - Kodak announced that it will make some of its professional film emulsions available to support the Advanced Photo System. Making these films in the new format will meet the needs of specific groups of professional photographers in different regions of the world. For example, newspaper photographers could find the self-contained cassettes and the image reproduction quality attractive.
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October 30, 1995 - Kodak's Office Imaging group signed a five-year contract to be the sole supplier to IBM facilities worldwide of copiers and copier-printers that produce from 30 to 100 copies per minutes.
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November 1, 1995 - Kodak announced four new high-volume copier-printers, which will bring improved quality and will speed the flow of information in customers' organizations. Kodak also unveiled new trade dress and model identification for its copier and printer products.
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December 11, 1995 - The National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Kodak unveiled new technology designed to let people zoom in and examine small details in particular images transmitted over the Internet. For example, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Web site, airplane buffs will be able to zoom in and read tail numbers of historic planes featured on the Web, students can explore the surface of Mars, and researchers will be able to examine minute details of Native-American artifacts. The technology provides a significant leap in quality over the traditional GIF and JPEG graphic formats.
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December 21, 1995 - The U.S. EPA recognized Kodak with an "Environmental Champion" award for voluntary efforts to reduce air emissions of 17 targeted chemicals.
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January 10, 1996 - Kodak ranked 9th for U.S. patent awards (772) received in 1995. The annual listing is published by IFI/Plenum Data Company. Two other U.S. companies, IBM and Motorola, were among the top ten.
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January 18, 1996 - Kodak reported higher sales and earnings than a year ago for both the fourth quarter and for the full year of 1995. Sales in 1995 were $14.980 billion, an increase of 10%. Net earnings were $1.252 billion, an increase of 125%, or $3.67 per share. These figures reflect lower interest expense, higher interest income, and a lower effective tax rate.
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February 1, 1996 - Kodak unveiled the ADVANTIX brand, which will mark all the company's Advanced Photo System film, cameras, film cassette storage devices, photofinishing services, and related materials. The new brand consists of a multi-colored M triangle, the ADVANTIX logotype, and a black identifier stripe.
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February 21, 1996 - The Government of Japan refused to discuss the market access case Kodak filed with the U.S. Government last May. George Fisher, Kodak CEO, made these observations:
- Japan is testing the resolve of the U.S. Government to deal effectively with market access issues. If successful, Japan will redefine the nature of the bilateral relationship between the two nations.
- Kodak's case has been termed the "best documented" market access case ever. If it is not satisfactorily resolved, no other U.S. industry can hope to be successful in removing trade barriers in Japan.
- If the U.S. fails to negotiate a successful conclusion, it raises doubts about the viability of Section 301 as a part of U.S. Trade Law.
- Mr. Fisher pointed to the recent industry-wide launch of the new advanced photographic system as an illustration of successful collaboration between four leading Japanese photographic companies and U.S. industry.
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March 19, 1996 - U.S. consumers once again picked the Kodak brand as the most widely recognized and respected brands in the world, in the EquiTrend brand equity survey conducted by Total Research Corporation.
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April 23, 1996 - Kodak announced that it surpassed two recycling milestones:
- More than 70 million single-use cameras have been recycled or reused.
- Metal and plastic materials from one billion rolls of film have been recycled.
Kodak accepts 35 mm film materials from all manufacturers, and recycles or reuses the materials, including the polystyrene spool and the steel on either end of the spool, the steel cartridge itself, and the polyethylene container and lid. Polystyrene spools are used to make page lifters for binders. Part of the plastic from the film canisters is used to make flexible notebook covers. The steel is sent to steel mills and eventually used to make wire for fencing. New Kodak film container bottoms comprise about 25% recycled material.
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April 26, 1996 - Kodak unveiled the first of its television commercials with the theme "Take Pictures. Further." The campaign is designed to broaden the appeal of the Kodak brand to a wider cross section of consumers and business decision makers.
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May 9, 1996 - Kodak announced plans to construct a $200 million polyester film-base machine at Kodak Park in Rochester, NY, to make film support for movie print film. (Nearly 90% of all movies are shot on Kodak film.) Kodak considered sites around the world, but New York Governor George Pataki's tax, spending, and regulatory policies tipped the scales in favor of staying in New York State.
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June 3, 1996 - Kodak announced the availability of a Kodak developer applet to allow people to view images in the KODAK PHOTO CD IMAGE PAC File Format. Users of any computer platform that employs browser software that supports the JAVA programming language, such as Netscape, can access the technology through the Kodak Web site.
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June 3, 1996 - Kodak emphasized at COMDEX the advantages their FLASHPIX technology brings to computer users. Developed collaboratively by Kodak, Hewlett-Packard Company, Live Picture Inc, and Microsoft Corp, it incorporates many features from existing architectures or image formats and adds new capabilities to make digital imaging fun, easy, and intuitive.
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June 13, 1996 - After a year of investigation, a U.S. Trade Representative confirmed the existence of pervasive barriers to imports in the distribution and sale of photographic film and paper in Japan. The announcement called upon Japan to come to the table to address U.S. concerns under the supervision of the World Trade Organization.
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July 19, 1996 - Kodak literally "drove" imaging innovation at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA, with a fleet of 27 buses used to transport Kodak customers and guests to and from the various Olympic venues. Five designs representing Kodak's five areas of business were printed onto vinyl sheathing, which wrapped each bus from top to bottom. The destination box in each bus's front window listed "Further".
The Health Imaging bus appeared as an x-ray image of 12 "passengers" engaged in a variety of bus-riding activities ranging from working on a laptop computer to knitting.
The ADVANTIX bus included three different sized prints across the side of the bus, indicating the three sizes of pictures consumers can take with a KODAK ADVANTIX Camera.
The wrap for the Professional bus featured strips of photo contact sheets, which when seen at a distance, added up to the full image of the KODAK GOLD bus.
The Printer bus looked like a very large photo printer on wheels spewing out crystal clear color prints.
The Digital Bus wrap included a wave to give a hint of the endless possibilities Kodak imaging technology offers professionals and consumers alike.
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August 14, 1996 - Kodak's work on the Advanced Photo System and other consumer products earned the company the Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award for 1996 from the Product Development & Management Association. A thin layer of invisible magnetic particles is coated over the full surface of Advanced Photo System film, enabling the exchange of electronic information. This IX technology can record data from the camera digitally on the film, such as lighting conditions, subject distance, time and date of exposure, plus personal notes or titles.
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August 30, 1996 - Kodak celebrated the shipment of its 10,000 medical laser printer, making Kodak the world leader in medical laser imaging. The KODAK EKTASCAN 2180 Laser Printer went to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. The first laser printer shipped was a KODAK EKTASCAN Laser Printer, Model 100, in 1987.
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December 5, 1996 - Kodak appointed Daniel A. Carp as President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. Operating units now reporting to George Fisher will report to Carp, including Digital and Applied Imaging, Business Imaging Systems, Equipment Manufacturing, and the Greater China Region. For more than half of his 25-year career with Kodak, Carp was responsible for business and operational activities outside of the U.S. He will now have primary responsibility for operating matters including financial performance.
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