Kodak Files for Chapter 11
It might not seem like big news in our Laboratory Informatics world, today, but there was once a time when chemical and oil companies were our bread and butter. So, yesterday, when the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York, USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it brought back some LIMS memories.
Some of you might not know or remember, but the initial LIMS systems were more oriented toward analytical labs and mainly for companies in industries such as Chemical and Oil. There were no stability modules, we didn’t care about Pharma, and if you’ve ever thought LIMS consulting was a wlid west full of cowboys and cowgirls shooting from the hip, it’s nothing compared to those olden times.
I learned the Sample Manager LIMS while at Kokak. Even some of the names in LIMS and ELN come from Kodak. Wayne Bates, a lead developer at LabWare came from Kodak, and gave me my Advanced VGL training while I was at Kodak. Many other names worked on those Kodak projects such as Pat Babbitt of Fisons then LabWare and Jo Webber of Fisons then LabWare, now at an energy delivery company. I think I remember Ben Yellin from my days at Nalco Chemical with the Beckman LIMS, then Eastman Kodak with the Sample Manager LIMS, then working for him at Fisons Instruments (and these days with Accelrys).
And John Trigg, ELN expert and founder of TheIntegratedLab.com (http://theintegratedlab.com/) is yet another ex-Kodaker. He and I worked on LIMS together, there — sort of — by telephone, I mean.
No-one thinks much of these companies any more, since Pharma and Biopharma has all the money, but these types of companies were once the cornerstones and the most important customers of our industry. Times have certainly changed.
To read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/news/companies/kodak_bankruptcy/
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
