Kodak to invest $100 million in digital plant in China

Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., USA, announced it would invest up to $100 million to build a computer-to-plate plant at its Xiamen campus in China to serve the fast-growing commercial printing industry, China Daily reports. Kodak will register a company in Xiamen - Kodak Graphic Communications (China) Co. Ltd. - for operations related to design, development, processing, manufacture, integration, sale, maintenance and servicing of computer-based digital graphic communications products, equipment, systems and materials. The construction of the new facility will begin immediately after project approvals are secured, with some operations starting in the middle of next year.

"The Xiamen campus will become a centre for digital media and related products as Kodak continues the rapid transformation to a digital company," said Daniel T. Meek, senior vice president of Kodak.

Other digital media currently produced at the campus include Kodak "dry view" films used for medical imaging and films used for the manufacture of printed circuit boards, Meek said. He added that the company recently moved to create a finishing operation for inkjet paper at the site and will continue to evaluate manufacturing expansion for future digital products.

Prior to completion of the new plant in Xiamen, Kodak will continue to supply customers from its Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) plant in Tianjin, which was acquired earlier this year, the article says. The new project will not interrupt product supply or delay KPG's timetable to locally supply the China digital plate market.