Kodak spinoff severs final ties with Rochester

Paul Riemerman//June 9, 2000//

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Eastman Chemical Co.-which traces its roots back to 1920, when George Eastman formed it to produce chemicals he needed at Eastman Kodak Co.-has cut its final links to Rochester.
Eastman Chemical last week completed phasing out operations at its Distillation Products Industries facility here, said Martha Lawson, a spokeswoman for the firm based in Kingsport, Tenn. The decision eliminated 93 jobs here.
Distillation Products Industries transferred from Kodak to the photo giant’s Eastman Chemicals Division in the late 1960s. That division became Eastman Chemical Co. in 1990. Four years later, the organization spun off as an independent publicly traded company.
DPI had manufactured food and pharmaceutical additives, as well as nutritional supplements.
Robert Morrow, vice president and general manager of the company’s fine chemicals division, said continuing the local facility did not fit Eastman Chemical’s long-term strategy.
“Eastman sold its food-emulsifier business in 1996, (and) growth for other products made at DPI is not projected to materialize as rapidly as we need in order to continue operating that facility,” Morrow said.
After deciding to close here last year, Eastman Chemical began negotiating with a potential buyer of DPI that might have ended up employing some of the local workers. The discussions fell through, Lawson said.
Eastman Chemical reported 1999 sales of $4.59 billion.
The company produces more than 400 chemicals, fibers and plastics. It is the world’s largest supplier of polyester plastics for packaging, and one of the top 10 global suppliers of custom-manufactured fine chemicals for pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and other markets.

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