Kodak: Transforming Eastman Business Park

Inside Building 35

Wind through some dimly lit hallways in Building 35 and you’d think this older building was entirely vacant.  But one after another you begin to see a paper sign here or there hanging on a wall.  Just below the word “Cerion” you see an arrow directing you up a staircase, down another hallway, and eventually to the manufacturing center for Cerion Enterprises.

The company doesn’t need much room, it’s as efficient an operation as you’ll find and in five years time Cerion is on the verge of another expansion. 

Doug Singer is Cerion’s Vice President of Manufacturing.

“When I first joined Kodak I thought that would be my career for my entire life," Singer explained while reflecting on his 17 years with Kodak, much of it spent in this very same building.

Look around the room and you’ll find a smiling cast of characters who’ve come to know each other well over their more than 134-years of combined work experience at Kodak.

Jim worked for Kodak for 35 years.  Thirty three for Carmen.  Katrin is from Germany and Kodak employed her and her PhD for a dozen years.  Then there’s Bernie who quietly tinkers with devices and machines much as he did for Kodak during his 37 years with the film giant.

Each of these workers remembers the day they got their pink slip or accepted their retirement package.

"Even though it's not Kodak, I'm not a Kodak employee anymore, I still feel very connected to Kodak even as we start our new journey with Cerion," Singer said.

He was Cerion’s first employee five years ago.  Now the company’s up to fifty workers and is planning an expansion.  Cerion’s product is chemicals.  One is a treatment that will improve the quality and life of athletic wear.  Another product could one day be used in a drug that combats Alzheimer’s.

At present the most advanced of the products is a fuel additive dubbed “GO-2” that reduces greenhouse emissions of large diesel engines while also improving their efficiency by 10 percent.

"Our Cerion GO-2 fuel additive can reduce the greenhouse gases coming out of trains, ships, and trucks which haul all of the materials that wind up at Home Depot or Lowes, and eventually wind up in your house,” Singer explained.  “Everything tends to move by those modes of transportation and we can reduce that fuel consumption by 10 percent with Cerion GO-2 and reduce the greenhouse gases; we can impact everyday life of everybody."

Cerion is just one example of how the old “Kodak Park” is transforming its identity as the Eastman Business Park.

Eastman Business Park’s Sustainable Future

"We think that with Kodak's digital future, we think they'll need about half of the park that leaves half of it for new tenants and new projects," Eastman Business Park Director Mike Alt said.  "Eastman Business Park is important to the company going forward as well as the other tenants."

A recent sustainability report showed that once again this business park drastically reduced its emissions.  From 2009 to 2010 they recorded a 5 percent reduction in energy use and a 6.3 percent reduction in water use.  And park leaders are quick to note that is a “true reduction” not one that is simply the product of less manufacturing at the site.

The park’s future as a “Clean Tech Facility” is one that hinges upon an environmentally friendly approach that realizes both economic benefits to the tenants (companies like Cerion) and social benefits to the community and neighborhoods surrounding the park.

"We want Kodak, and certainly Eastman Business Park and the people that occupy Eastman Business Park, to be sustainable companies,” Richard Szembrot, Kodak’s Director of Sustainability explained.  “We recognize that it all comes down to that triple-bottom-line; Economic, Environmental, and Social."

The Eastman Business Park was a key piece of this region’s Economic Development Council proposal and last month was awarded some funding from New York State to continue its transformation. 

Mike Alt explained that the facility has or is recruiting businesses from Europe and Asia and that offering a facility with its own power plant, fire department, and railroad lines makes it a unique and attractive opportunity.  Especially for many of the start-up companies that would often have to invest significant dollars upfront to begin operations at any other facility.