Fuji film: Analysis and strategy

Abstract

Fujifilm I & I (Imaging & Information) is an international Japanese company, established in 1934, which manufactures films and cameras. In a recent survey published in a Japanese business daily, the company was ranked the first in Japan.
The group has leading technology, which enables it to meet the expectations of its customers fully.

The group has 25,000 employees, and boasts of seventeen plants and six research laboratories around the world.

In 1934, a Japanese manufacturer created FujiFilm, and launched the first factory at the foot of mount Fujiyama. Established 54 years after Kodak, Fuji has taken more than half a century to go from being a challenger to being the new emperor of its sector.

In 1936, the first Fujichromes were marketed in Japan, and the first camera brand Fujica Six was launched in 1948, 10 years after the Fujicolor film (prints) came into the market.

Eleven years after entering the US market, Fuji launched its first subsidiary in the US which became a formidable challenge for Kodak. The group set up a plant in Europe in Dusseldorf in 1966, and opened its first plant abroad (Brazil) in 1974 . This was accompanied with the creation of Fujifilm Laboratories.

Encouraged by the reception of ‘Fujichrome film amateur Single 8' in France, and the ‘Fujifilm Fuji Photo Film' in Europe, it decided to create a joint venture, to handle the production of movie and photo reels of film quality standards. Jacqueline Develay together with a small team of technicians, two specialists, Jacques Estassy and Masakasu Kokubu, bought a former margarine factory at Bois d'Arcy for the establishment of a new brand- Fujifilm Laboratories.

On 2 February 1975, the laboratory of Bois d'Arcy made its first film; a film of Fujichrome color slides. The team of twenty people worked in a traditional way- manually. The turnover was split between black and white, color photo paper, film single 8, and the P1 and P100 cameras which were small, efficient and cheap, and therefore popular. The volume was modest; around 900 films per day.

In 1978, there was a radical change in film processing at Bois d'Arcy (BDA). Spurred by Jacqueline Develay, the laboratory of Bois d'Arcy was automated. It developed the NFFC 600, and 7000 printers, and automatic PAF's for the first scanners, to increase the production rate to 5000 prints per hour. The team worked in the comfort of the open space which now covered about 800 square meters. By leaving the laboratory, they took another big step forward. The first billing computers replaced pencils and notebooks. Customers and products began being identified by bar codes. The company began to play an increasingly significant role.

On 7 July 1981, Fujifilm opened its second laboratory. Located in Vitol's, this laboratory was to the south of France, while Bois d'Arcy is to the north, and produced at a rate that already exceeded 400 000 films a year. Vitrolles, a copy of Bois d'Arcy, operated through a network of vans that made round trips to points of sale. It collected and developed films, and delivered photos in the same trip.

An achievement for Fuji in 1982 was receiving an Academy Award for the quality of its film Fujicolor A250.The same year it became the official sponsor of World Cup football, and became the official partner of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984.

Tags: Fujicolor A250,Fujifilm Laboratories,Fuji film Analysis