Eastman Kodak - The company with 127 years of history

(Records.vn) Eastman Kodak Company, commonly known as Kodak, is an American technology company focused on imaging solutions and services for businesses. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, United States and incorporated in New Jersey. It was founded by George Eastman in 1888.  

Eastman Kodak Company, commonly known as Kodak, is an American technology company focused on imaging solutions and services for businesses. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, United States and incorporated in New Jersey. It was founded by George Eastman in 1888.  

Geogre Eastman (en.wikipedia)

The letter k was a favorite of Eastman's; he is quoted as saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter."

He and his mother devised the name Kodak with an anagram set. Eastman said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short, easy to pronounce, and not resemble any other name or be associated with anything else.

It has also been suggested that Kodak originated from the suggestion of David Houston, a fellow photographic inventor who held the patents to several roll film camera concepts that he later sold to Eastman. Houston, who started receiving patents in 1881, was said to have chosenNodak as a nickname of his home state, North Dakota (NoDak). This is contested by other historians, however, who note that Kodak was trademarked before Eastman bought Houston's patents.

Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Digital Printing & Enterprise and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films.

Kodak Retina Series Cameras were produced between 1949 until 1956. It also had the KodaChrome Technology(en.wikipedia)

Kodak is best known for photographic film products. During most of the 20th century Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film, and in 1976, had a 90% market share of photographic film sales in the United States. The company's ubiquity was such that its tagline "Kodak moment" entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that demanded to be recorded for posterity.

Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in transitioning to digital photography, despite having invented the core technology used in current digital cameras. 2007 was the most recent year in which the company made a profit. However, Kodak ended its most recent fiscal quarter reporting a $19M profit. As part of a turnaround strategy, Kodak focused on digital photography and digital printing and attempted to generate revenues through aggressive patent litigation. 

Kodak headquarters in Rochester, New York, United States (en.wikipedia)

From the company's founding by Geogre Eastman in 1888, Kodak followed the rador and blades stratergy of selling inexpensive cameras and making large margins from consumables — film, chemicals and paper. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the U.S., according to a 2005 case study for Harvard Business School.

Kodak has transformed itself into a technology company focused on imaging for business. Today's Kodak provides: World-class R&D, based on Kodak's unique strengths in the materials, imaging and deposition sciences Breakthrough products enabling customers to achieve transformational improvements in quality, productivity and sustainability A broad solution set across graphic communications, product goods packaging, functional printing enabling Software and professional services businesses use to redefine information flow and security.

Kodak has sharpened its focus to commercial markets as part of a two-year restructuring. The company streamlined a complex infrastructure, made large cost reductions and exited non-core businesses – including the spin off of its Consumer Imaging and Document Imaging businesses that now operate as Kodak Alaris under new ownership.

Today, Kodak is leaner, financially stronger and ready to grow – poised to take advantage of the digital transition under way in packaging markets; the growing demand for graphic communications around the world, especially in emerging markets; and dynamic growth in the market for printed electronics, sensors, fuel cells and other printed products with functions beyond visual communications.

Though Kodak has mostly been known for its historic role in photography, the company has served imaging needs of numerous industries since the early 1900s. Kodak's current portfolio is based on deep technological expertise developed over the years in materials science, deposition (e.g., precisely depositing thin coatings onto substrates or backings), and digital imaging science.

Using this expertise, the company that delivered the first roll film, the first electronic color separation scanner to prepare images for printing, the first cameras to go to the moon, and the first digital camera, is now delivering leading solutions for today's business customers. These include:

• Digital presses that can print a 260-page novel in 2.25 seconds
• Flexographic systems that make packaging more vibrant and eye-catching for shoppers
• Continuous manufacturing processes to mass-produce touch screen sensors
• Devices that image more than 30% of digital plates used for offset printing worldwide
• Printing plates that reduce environmental impact by eliminating use of chemistry and processing
• And many more...

Kodak also has more than 7,500 commercial imaging patents and patent applications – a depth of intellectual property that enables partnerships with other innovators to create new markets, and disrupt existing markets with new solutions.

Source: Kodak.com & en.wikipedia

Stanford to host 100-year study on artificial intelligence

Stanford University will lead a 100-year effort to study the long-term implications of artificial intelligence in all aspects of life.

Unilever - 85 years

Unilever (Euronext: UNA, LSE: ULVR) is an Anglo–Dutch multinational consumer goods company co-headquartered in London, England and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Its products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue, after Procter & Gamble and Nestlé. One of the oldest multinational companies, its products are available in around 190 countries.

Rolex - 109 years

Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, manufacture, distribute and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. Founded by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England in 1905 as Wilsdorf and Davis, Rolex moved its base of operations to Geneva, Switzerland in 1919.

Louis Vuitton - 160 years

Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton, or shortened to LV, is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. 

Lego - 65 years

Lego is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colourful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.

McDonald's - 74 years

McDonald's restaurants are found in 118 countries and territories around the world and serve 68 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 35,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.7 million people. The company also operates other restaurant brands, such as Piles Café.

St Bartholomew's Hospital - 891 years

St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known simply as Barts, or more formally as The Royal Hospital of St Bartholomew is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London.

Harvard University - 378 years

The Harvard University Library is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world.

MERCEDES - BENZ: "The best or nothing" - 141 years

 Mercedes-Benz is part of the "German Big 3" luxury automakers, along with Audi andBMW, which are the best selling luxury automakers in the world

Coca-Cola: "Open Happiness" - 138 years

Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

WALMART - The largest retailer in the world - 42 years

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and the largest retailer in the world

SAMSUNG Group - For over 70 years to contribute to a better world.

According to the founder of Samsung Group, the meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung (三星) is "tristar" or "three stars". The word "three" represents something "big, numerous and powerful"