Monday, January 31, 2022

Berwick on Tweed factory, photos from Mr. Kawaguchi

Mr. Kawaguchi sent in his collectin of Berwick photos, very rare in this blog as I had no photos to upload before. Thank you Mr. Kawaguchi. Here is his comment and the pictures. K.S.................................................................................................. These are pictures of the Berwick factory. It was located in an industrial complex on the outskirts of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, 50 miles from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Tweed River runs nearby. The road from Edinburgh runs through typical Scottish countryside. The Polychrome factory was closed, but the building is still in use by other businesses. When I visited there, the factory was carrying out a PUMA project to improve productivity, and the statue of a puma was displayed. The office was decorated with pictures painted by local elementary school pupils.

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Yonkers facility around 1988 from Mr. Kawaguchi

I received a note from Mr.Takeshi Kawaguchi with photos of Yonkers facility around 1988. Thank you very much Mr. Kawaguchi for sharing these memories. Dear Mr. Shimazu My name is Takeshi Kawaguchi. I was dispatched to Yonkers by DIC in 1988 to prepare for the construction of a printing plate factory in Gunma. I'm about 70 years old now, and retired. I sometimes file and sort photos I took before and upload to Google maps. While I was looking around Yonkers, New York on the Internet, I found your Polychrome archive. Thank you very much for creating such a precious record. Here are some pictures of the Yonkers factory while I was there. I would like to express my deepest thanks to all the Polychrome people. I remember you often kindly invited us for lunch. I also thank Mr. Simon Chu, whose business and leadership attitude greatly impressed me. If you know Jen-chi Huang's email address, please let me know, for I would like to convey my gratitude. I am not sure if your computer has a Japanese language environment, so I am writing this in English. Corona's outlook is completely unknown, and anxiety and confusion continue. I hope you are paying attention and staying healthy. Sincerely yours, Takeshi Kawaguchi

Photos of old Osterode factory ....from Mr. Kawaguchi

Mr. Kawaguchi of DIC, now retired, is sharing his collection of the photos he took while he was working in Yonkers. This photos of old Osetrode factory brings me memories. The factory was torn down after the launch of larger, modern and hight productivity factory in nearby Katzenstein. Now a local shopping center stands at the location.

More Robinsville photo from Mr. Kawaguchi

Dear Mr. Shimazu I send you additional photos of Robbinsville plant. I remember it was a long drive from Yonkers. As a workshop for cutting and packaging products, it was a very large and orderly plant. I think this archive is a precious place for people to be proud of and remember the time they have worked at Polychrome, so I am trying to choose the proper photos for it. Thank you very much Mr. Kawaguchi for sharing the memories of Robinsville facility which I never visited but I recognize some supervisor/staff apparently sent from Yonkers facility at that time. Ken

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Robinsville in 1988

Mr.Takeshi Kawaguchi, an engineer from DIC who was sent to US in preparation for the new Gunma plant, now retired, shared with me his collection of photos he took during his stay with us. This is the Robinsville plant we operated briefly during the time we were seeking site for a new production plant. The Yonkers faciily was land locked by two streets, railroad truck and the Yonkers jail and had no potentiacl for providing enugh space for an expansion. We investigate many locations including Robinsville and Yardsville NJ before settling on the Columbus GA location. I belive we mad a right decision in settling on the Columbus, I understand that this is the only active plate production plant in entire USA currently as many others including original Kodak, Enco, Fuji plants had been closed. Thank you Kawaguchi-san for providing these pictures.