Early days of Clark, Bill Rowe and Bill Towns

Bill Rowe joined Polychrome in 1970 and headed the resin group research.       When the Clark facility was obtained for the film manufacturing, he moved the resin research group to Clark facility which prior to Polychrome's take over was a resin research lab for the Celanese Corporation; he was promoted to Assistant Vice President in charge of the Clark facility.       His major contribution to the company was his knowledge and interest in urethane chemistry and introduced urethane oligomer type composition  in our negative plate formula.        His influence remains long after his 1982  retirement in various offset plate coating formulae.     He has produced a urethane oligomer based flexo plate called Flexomer.    However, we were not geared for the production so the technology was later sold to Rhone Poulanc.         Take a look at a Flexomer brochure HERE.             See
 his  retirement luncheon pictures.   (Thanks AJ for the pictures and thanks Saraya for Bill's work info)

Today he is 93 and lives in New Jersey.

Bill Towns built his photographic solution business, Townley Chemical,  in Long Island focused on liquid toner business.....  copiers using liquid toner was plentiful then.       But as the liquid toner business  started to decline due to the advent of inexpensive dry toner copiers, he saw a writing on the wall for his business and called us to see if we were interested in buying his business.         We evaluated his business but we did not see much future in the liquid tone business in addition  the Clark facility where we contemplated moving his mixing tanks and  the filling station was not explosion proof as required for the liquid toner business.          We offered to buy his hardwares and started liquid photographic chemistry business under his supervision.          This was fortunate for Polychrome as the Clark facility did not have other revenue during the construction of film manufacturing facility and we were able to consolidate high margin solution chemicals from Yonkers plant as well as add new volume product such as  litho developer and litho fixer.        Having established chemistry business for  Polychrome Bill left the  company after the arrival of Marv Lieberman as the general manager of the Clark facility.

Electrostatic paper master and " In God we trust...."

I joined Polychrome as an elctrostatic imaging expert.       There were two types of electrostatic imaging system competing then; one was with selenium drum and copying images on an ordinary paper....Xerox was the only one offering a big desk like copying machine and the other was with the zinc oxide coated paper.    The RCA Corporation licensed anyone who were interested in this latter technology so that there were numerous companies producing smaller copying machines with two different toners.     As an example Addressograph Multigraph used dry toner system and Savin used liquid toner system.        For a while these zinc oxide coated copying machine outnumbered the only one "ordinary paper" copying machine by Xerox.       In graphic arts industry AM copiers were used to make an inexpensive zinc oxide coated  paper master directly from original.     For a short run of up to 1000 copies this method was very useful as there is no need for a usual film making and plate making process costing  time and money.             Only one issue was the cost of the huge AM machine.      On the other side of technology, there were many electrophotographic copying machines with liquid toner.       Since the liquid toner mechanism was much simpler than dry toner system, copiers using liquid toner tended to be much simpler, lower cost and smaller in size.       And some copiers had just enough size margin to produce printing plate.             My project in 1966 was to evaluate resins made in our Cellomer subsidiary to see if any of the resin we produce could be marketed as the binding resin for the zinc oxide coating.           Having determined quickly that producing zinc oxide coated paper master is more attractive than merely offering the resin,  such a master was designed.         Since we did not have a manufacturing equipment for such a product, we had to have it made by an outside contractor.     We found one nearby in Mammaroneck, NY and started to produce zinc oxide coated paper master.
We simply called it an Electrostatic master and sold it as a part of then Polychrome paper products division.       Paul Nemoda was the one pushing this into the market place and I was running around to formulate, toll coat and finish within Polychrome.        Special etching solution was also formulated and probably made more money than the paper master itself.      In contrast to  vertically integrated company such as SD Warren who produced base paper, coated and finished, we had to buy the base paper, toll coat and then finish in small scale.        So I would imagine the profit margin must have been very small, although it may have filled the product gap and survived within Polychrome product lineup till early 80's.          During this period of toll coating I used to go to the Mamaroneck toll coater  and had lunch at a corner deli and there was a sign on the wall saying " In god we trust, all others bring cash!"
This gave me an idea of coming up with my own R&D motto and preached " In god we trust, all others bring samples!"           My approach was not to ask for a detailed report but ask to see a demo of a new product.            While we were at Polychrome R&D, this approach worked and worked well.   Too often large corporations placed too much emphasis on well written report.          We may not have had  lengthy detailed reports on negligibly small progress but we had many great product without lengthy reports.

Polyworld Vol.4 No.4. Winter '84-'85

Polyworld volume number jumped from Vol 2 to Vol. 4 in 1984.     Not sure whether there were any Vol. 3's around.     It appears Vol. 2 was used twice both in 1983 and 1984 so this must have been a catch up.    There are 24 pages full of information and pictures.     You can read the entire content HERE

OPC-D ... little brother of LaserScan OPC-B

As the Laser Scan video suggested the digital era was approaching in mid 1980's.       DIC's focus on the Organic Photo Conductor (OPC) shifted from those sensitive to visible light (for copying machines)   to those sensitive to up and coming laser light (laser printers).       By the end of the decade DIC produced OPC for the  laser diode and applied to printing plate use and called OPC-D (for laser diode sensitivity)       The plate was produced in Japan by a contract coater and was shipped to US together with DIC developed liquid toner for plate use.          We located a Minneapolis based company, Printware,  producing a laser printer with large format (11 x 14) suitable for printing plate application.
The machine was designed for a zinc oxide coated paper base printing plate for short runs.      We have persuaded them to modify the machine to take OPC-D plate as well as the a heat fix module to produce a metal plate.              The system was promoted as dual (short-paper, long-metal) digital platemaker.
In a way this was the digital answer to analog camera platemaker like the one popularized by Itek.
DIC followed up with an announcement of Synardica, a 30 X 40 large format laser platemaker using same principle and was shown at the Drupa 1990.
Our association with Printware was short lived as the plate made in Japan was too costly and the volume was not sufficient to produce in US locally (a typical start up dilemma!)          We managed to supply OPC-D for  a few years but eventually made decision to discontinue the product offering.   So the little brother did not survive long but this was our first tiptoeing into the world of digital platemaking.

Here is the DLPM promo video I salvaged from a trash can.

Recipe on paper napkin and CTX...dawn of the digital era at Polychrome

Polychrome headquarter had a nice cafeteria where everyone from different departments mingled and sat together for lunch and coffee.         Mike Adelman then in charge of marketing sat down with me one day and challenged me and said "why don't you come up with a real camera speed plate!"      To come up with a completely new system would have taken years of research so I replied almost jokingly that I had a ready answer and wrote a scheme on the back of paper napkin to show him the concept.      This was in early 1990's and the background of his asking this question was that we had a system division called Opticopy and Rachwal system both using photographic film and a camera speed plate was thought to expand the market significantly.         The system I proposed was a simple combination of plate and film emulsion.         Just prior to this period I was asked to direct R&D and was quite familiar with what we can do with the photographic emulsion.         Of course the combination of two known system is not an earthshaking innovation but there was no other camera speed system available. (and even to date such system does not exist)         It is like if  there are no other audio entertainment systems around,  we should pursue radio-casett combination!            Mike was immediately supportive of the concept; so a positive plate from Yonkers and a photographic emulsion from Clark was quickly combined to make first samples.      Bob Hallman coined the internal code name CTX to indicate cooperation of Yonkers, Clark and Osterode R&D; it eventually established as the trade name.      Big issue was production of such product.        Clearly a hard aluminum plate and a soft photographic emulsion do not mix well on ordinary production line.       Luckily at that time Dr. Harald Baumann who joined us  from Orwo in East Germany described Orwo's glass plate coating capability.        A special purpose dimensionally stable photographic glass plate was being made there.      Since Dr. Baumann used to be the R&D director, he was able to organize a successful trial coating there and a few initial production.           Again fortunately we also had by then the Quadrimetal production line in France where a large bi and tri metal plates were coated sheet by sheet.          Since this plant had enough idle capacity this new project was welcomed readily.          So we were extremely lucky to find a ready production line for such a demanding coating.         We were able to coat very large (60") plate and were used by customers using large plate printing books and posters.         By this time our attention was drawn to the emerging digital laser plate making system.          Kalle was pushing N-90 and Howson was offering their Silverlith plate.        We were just in time to claim the third and different approach.       Our selling point was that ours was the only camera speed plate with conventional plate performance on press.                
Our big break came with  the Linotype Hell laser platemaker whose internal test showed that ours outperformed others and they made our plate as their preferred plate.       At the 1995 Drupa, we had three major digital platemakers; Linotype Hell, Creo and Gerber.       An industry expert said at that time to go to Polychrome booth to see all the digital systems.          Another break was at the RR Donnelly Portland where the first CTX line with Creo platemaker performed well against N-90.
The CTX received the Intertech award in 1994.       HERE is the link to the CTX news/ CTXtra published internally and distributed to limited number of those involved in the project.       It shows trials and tribulations in detail but also shows the triumph brought by numbers of dedicated Polychromers.    Thanks all for helping Polychrome join the big league with real digital plate just in time.

This is the  only brochure I could find HERE is the rest.

Lunch with Mr. Gold

Mr. Bernard Gold worked for an accounting firm and handled Polychrome account in 1950's.      He was invited to Polychrome and joined the company in 1956 serving as CFO and a member of the executive management committee until his early retirement in 1979.      Those who are receiving old Polychrome pension are indebted to his pushing the pension scheme while Mr. Halpern, who was always focused on business expansion, stayed cool to the idea.       His increasingly independent thinking, sometimes against Mr. Halpern's wish, apparently accelerated his departure.    Many were then very much surprised  hearing the announcement as he appeared to be well qualified as the next president.     After his retirement he traded commodity and now enjoys a bit of day trading stocks.
Today at 89 with his brilliant silver hair, he looks as distinguished as ever.

Ken Shimazu and Mr. Bernard Gold in late 1970.

Polychrome International Today... The Berwick-upon -Tweed Opening '78

The 8 page flyer contains the following European news

Berwick opening
Polychrome "Down under"
Multinational New York Seminar
Netprint'78 Boosts Business in Britain
Imprint exhibition in Dusseldorf 1979
Meetings, Meetings, Everywhere
Big Winners in the Polychrome Family
GmbH show businessman
Simon Says
and more

Read all HERE

Mr. Terry Cummins our dealer from Ireland writes

I joined the Heidelberg Agents in Dublin 
in 1969. At that time there was a keen interest in a switch from Letterpress to Litho. So here was my new job re-training Compositors to make Film Negatives and Howson Algraphy Plates
and the Letterpress Printer how to run his new Heidelberg Offset. 
The problem as I saw it was why be sub agents for UK Suppliers when we should seek direct agencies. Our first opportunity came when Ilford the Irish Film Distributors were closing and offered my Boss the Irish Agency for Polychrome Plates. We gladly took the agency and met the MD Mr. Van Lynden and the Gentleman responsible for accounts Mr. Zimmerman and their export manager Mr. Garritsma. (excuse the name spelling as I work off old memories) Then I had the great pleasure of meeting Lutz Massic the Technician who was to train me at their plant in Osteride Germany. This was to begin an excellent period of my introduction and training in visible images after exposure to subtractive
Plates GAP , GAN and  also DSN double sided Negative Plates.

I wonder if our German friend Lutz is still in good health and enjoying life.


The Company I worked for got into Financial difficulties and that brought more into the Polychrome family as 
I was offered the agency so started my own company in 1974 and started to purchase my plates from Polychrome UK and this brings Tom Heckels, Bill Griffiths, Clive Easteal and Peter Cornfort into the new picture

Interesting to find out how they all are. I know Tom Heckles moved to Australia
many years ago

Regards

Terry Cummins


KS note.      Ilford was Polychrome's early partner and invested in Osterode factory.     So it is not surprising they were organizing sales channel.        Partnership was later dissolved as Ilford moved away from graphic arts business.        Thank you very much Terry for providing us with perspective from sales end.        Ken

Joe Piot was Polychrome's fourth president

Joe Piot was thought to be very close to the DIC's then president Shigekuni Kawamura and was appointed to be the president soon after the takeover in 1979.     His obituary appeared on the Tennesean HERE on April 6, 2012 shows he was 92 years old.

Polychrome on the way to top ....1992 Wolf report

Polychrome wanted to be No. 1 in the industry investing $200 million  within 2 years, more than the combination of all the competitors.... reported 1992 Wolf report.        It  said Polychrome was No. 4 in the world and No. 3 in Europe.          Broad range of products were mentioned, Synardica, Opticopy, Rachwal System, Vistar, PPN-9, etc. and the increase in projection plate making and digital platemaking was projected.         It was fun time to be involved in all these activities.

Read the full text in German HERE.      The google translation is HERE.

Polychrome History revisited

Alan Wilkes found a Polychrome History booklet.      Thanks Alan
(This is the same booklet Maria Sibio found earlier and was used to describe Polychrome history but Alan made PDF scan so that you can actually see the content.     Click Here

Dinner with Dr. Oe

By the time DIC made purchase of Polychrome,  Mr. Katsumi Kawamura was already "retired" and had the title of Advisor.            As the founder of the modern DIC, he flew to NYC one year after the end of WWII to get license from Reichold Chemical and Sun Chemical and changed his old printing ink company to one of the major chemical companies in the world.        He has maintained his interest in the printing industry, his bread and butter business, and expanded the offering to printing press as the distributor of Man Roland press, lithographic film and offset printing plate as the distributor of Fuji Photo Film.            He has tried and failed to become a PS plate producer when the negotiation with Kalle failed earlier.          The purchase of Polychrome, organized by his successor and then president of DIC, Shigeguni Kawamura, gave him one more opportunity to realize his dream of becoming a domestic producer.           But it was Dr. Kouji Oe who made his dream come true in getting things organized and pushing the large DIC organization to get quick approvals and support.           Dr. Oe was teaching Chemistry at the Kyushu University when he was invited to join DIC.         The "Advisor" was eager to support Polychrome to strengthen R&D and a team was assembled quickly.    It was clear that the licensee Fuji would be allowed to go outside of Japan after the long 28 years of licensing agreement ends in early 1980's to become a strong competitor to Polychrome world wide.     DIC's answer to the situation was to build a PS plate manufacturing plant in Japan.         The historic Gunma plant was chosen and under the strong direction of Dr. Oe, the modern manufacturing plant was constructed on time and on budget.              The dedication of Dr. Oe to the project was legendary.     He was always in the center and front of the construction, debugging and production.        Once he was pulled into the still moving decurler rollers which had only wide enough opening for his chest.      He came out under the rollers with his helmet crushed and bruise all over his body.          He came back to the plant within a few hours to show he is ok fearing otherwise could slow down the project.         He has recruited a strong team of chemists and engineers to develop products for Japan and SEA and directed expansion of Gunma plant.

He literally started Polychrome Gunma plant for DIC but he also played an important role for DIC to end relationship with Polychrome's successor; Kodak Polychrome.        By early 2000, he rose to the top of the DIC management and while he was the president of  DIC made the decision to end the joint venture with Kodak, essentially selling DIC's 50% shares to Kodak.      

During the dinner in Tokyo last week Dr. Oe said DIC was not keen to the idea of buying a hardware company  (CREO).            He was aware of the market saturation then and was concerned with the maintenance liability.           He is now fully retired from the chairman position and is enjoying meeting old friends.