a trio of Amigos – Bill Kantymir, Les Jones, and Larry Boccioletti visit Kodak Canada
Toronto. In March of 1996 (same year as this site was launched), president Les Jones and two side-kicks, Bill Kantymir and Larry Boccioletti visited the facilities of Canadian Kodak. The photo at right is from the issue 22-1 enhanced by Topaz Photo AI and Affinity Photo.
Ev Roseborough recorded this event in issue 22-1 of our journal with the article, “PHSC Guests of Kodak Canada”, written by Larry Boccioletti. Larry’s article begins, “In March, President Les Jones, Bill Kantymir and myself were guests of Bonnie Chapman, Kodak Canada ‘s Director of Corporate Sponsorships.
“We were privileged to be given a short tour of the Kodak plant. Because of the need to prevent contamination, meticulous attention to cleanliness is evident, and we donned white coveralls and hair coverings. Every door we went through had sticky pads on the floor so that any dirt on our shoe soles would be removed.
“We watched rolls of support material (uncoated film base) being unwound into a coating machine by robotic vehicles running on magnetic tracks in the floor. After coating, the rolls, 39 inches wide and weighing hundreds of pounds, were sent to the next building, for either export to other Kodak facilities worldwide, or for slitting and spooling for the Canadian market.
“In the manufacturing area we entered an elevator, and as the doors closed, the lights went out and our escort produced a flashlight throwing very dim green illumination. The elevator too, had dim green lights along the baseboards but it was still impossible for me to distinguish any images. I‘ m sure it would take a long time for my eyes to become accustomed to the darkness.
“Our escort, Gord Morse, guided us into what seemed like a very large hall way which lead to the control room. It too, was lined with green dim lights along the baseboards. He call ed to a person sitting in the dark and they had a conversation. It was strange knowing that these persons spent the better part of a day in total darkness.”
Like all good things the film and phot paper industries were decimated by the influx of digital technology. Kodak’s mighty presence here and in Rochester was similarly decimated – building were destroyed, and her a remaining building was to become a subway station.
Members can always see the rest of Larry’s article in the pdf version of issue 22-1 on the free members-only DVD. Join now – the MEMBERSHIP menu above for paying by cheque or the PayPal paragraph at right to use a credit card or a PayPal account. Questions? See Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
