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| Annual Report 1996 | ||
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| Annual Report 1996 | ||
In 1996, Polaroid reduced losses and achieved focused growth in its new or less-developed businesses, including graphics imaging, medical imaging, holography, and polarizers and sunglasses.
Graphics imaging
The "Dry Prepress by Polaroid" product family provides high-quality results, reduces costs and labor, and eliminates many environmental concerns for commercial printers and the graphic arts professionals who prepare materials for printing. Graphics imaging showed moderate sales gains in 1996, and development work is under way for additional products to be launched in 1997 and 1998.
Michael LeBlanc was recently appointed vice president, new ventures group, responsible for expanding Polaroid's new imaging businesses through alliances, partnerships and acquisitions that offer increased leverage for products and technologies. Previously, Le Blanc was vice president for Asia Pacific. He graduated from Duke University in 1971 and received an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. He joined Polaroid in 1972.
The first Dry Prepress product has enjoyed a sustained positive reception in the marketplace. Dry Tech Imagesetting Film is a high-quality digital color separation film that does not require chemical processing.
Polaroid's Dry Tech Imagesetting Film won two industry awards in 1996 - the Consumable of the Year Award from the European publication Printweek, and the Impact Award for innovation in the field of electronic publishing from Publish magazine, a North American publication.
In 1996, graphics imaging negotiated relationships with several of the industry's leading suppliers: Scangraphic PrePress Technology and Gerber Systems Corporation among others. As these relationships develop, Polaroid expects to broaden market accessibility for its imagesetting film and other dry prepress products for computer-to-plate and halftone direct digital color proofing applications.
Polaroid and Polychrome Corporation are joining forces for volume production and distribution of Polaroid's instant lithographic plate technology for sheet-fed offset printing. Both companies are marketing and selling the plates worldwide under their own brand names. Sold by Polaroid as Dry Tech ExPRESS Instant Litho Plate, this new technology eliminates all traditional development chemicals from the platemaking process.
Polaroid's newest graphics imaging product, the Polaroid DryJet Digital Color Proofing System, entered beta testing at 10 sites in the United States and Europe during 1996. It is scheduled for introduction in 1997.
Polaroid's Dry Tech
Imagesetting Film won
two industry awards
in 1996.Medical imaging
In October, Polaroid and Sterling Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., announced agreements that dramatically change Polaroid's approach to its medical diagnostic imaging business. Under these agreements, Polaroid will supply Sterling with media and continue to develop new imaging technologies and products for Helios Laser Imaging systems, a Polaroid product line purchased by Sterling. Polaroid also acquired a minority interest in Sterling's parent company, SDI Holding.
Sterling acquired the medical diagnostic imaging division of DuPont in April 1996, and is the established U.S. market leader in medical diagnostic imaging. Sterling's large sales force and worldwide distribution capability are expected to accelerate sales of the Helios system.
Helios, introduced by Polaroid in 1993, has become the "diamond standard" among high-quality hard-copy diagnostic imaging systems. It is used in a majority of the top teaching hospitals in the United States as well as in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and Japan.Holography
During 1996, Motorola's Envoy 150 Wireless Communicator became the first commercial product to incorporate the Polaroid Imagix holographic reflector. With this and other commercial applications, Polaroid doubled its holography sales volumes while significantly reducing related costs.
As seen in this simulated split-screen model of the Motorola OlymPager, the Polaroid Imagix holographic reflector creates a backlit effect in the liquid crystal display screen, significantly increasing illumination.
Polaroid Imagix reflectors are the result of a three-year joint development effort between Polaroid and Motorola. They create a backlit effect in liquid crystal display screens, significantly increasing illumination without using power from the battery. Imagix reflectors now brighten LCD displays in several pagers and personal digital assistants made by Motorola and Hewlett-Packard and in watch faces made by Timex, Casio and Seiko.Polarizer
Synthetic sheet polarizers control and manage light in a variety of applications, including sunglass lenses, LCD displays and computer anti-glare filters. In 1996, manufacturing costs for polarizers decreased while yields improved.
Polaroid made a significant investment in manufacturing equipment for a thinner, lighter, more durable polarizer for use in rugged environments, such as LCD displays for military equipment.
The 1996 addition of two new sizes for large-format monitors and two new models, the CP-90 Contour and the CP-80 Contour, extended Polaroid's popular line of circular polarizing computer filters to meet growing demand for custom contour-fit filters.
Sunglasses
Optical-quality, polarized XOOR sunglasses proved successful in 1996 pilot markets and will be launched throughout Europe in 1997.
Polarized sunglasses are one of the fastest-developing segments of the high-growth worldwide sunglasses market. In 1996, Polaroid was the market leader in polarized sunglasses in Europe. This success was fueled by the 1996 expansion of Polaroid's Inkognito line which offers 100-percent protection from ultraviolet rays. European sales of Inkognito grew steadily in 1996, boosted by the !Protect Yourself! advertising campaign aimed at trend-setting, young-adult consumers.
Building on this success, Polaroid's XOOR sunglass line, which features the highest-quality polarized lens, completed a very successful pilot year in selected markets. XOOR will be launched throughout Europe in 1997. Further, Polaroid will be expanding the successful sunglasses business into nine new markets in 1997, including Brazil, Taiwan and South Korea.
Bob Murray is vice president and general manager, polarizer and holographic products divisions, in the new business group. He joined Polaroid in 1996 from General Electric Company, where he was general manager of worldwide purchasing. He holds a B.A. in economics, cum laude, from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. High-Definition Television
At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) meeting in April, Polaroid unveiled a new, digital high-definition television (HDTV) camera. It is the first such camera to incorporate the progressive-scan technology recently approved as an HDTV standard by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Unlike current cameras using interlaced scanning, the PTC-9000 HDTV camera delivers sharper, wider pictures without artifacts and flicker.
NAB editors selected the PTC-9000 camera as Editor's Pick of the Show, and TV Technology magazine listed the new camera among the top 10 products exhibited at the NAB gathering. Later in the year, the PTC-9000 provided live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with a feed to the networks and cable companies.
Developed in less than one year, the PTC-9000 capitalizes on proprietary sensor technology developed for use in Polaroid's digital imaging products. While the HDTV industry in the U.S. is still nascent, Polaroid expects this technology will have applicability in future imaging products. Partners with Polaroid in the camera's development were Philips Broadcast Television Systems of Breda, The Netherlands, the U.S. Government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which also is the first customer for this industry- leading product.
The PTC-9000, a high-definition television (HDTV) broadcast camera, features progressive scan imaging, using Polaroid-designed image sensors. The technology has potential application for broadcasting, multimedia, computer imaging and Internet applications.
