Eastman Kodak's efforts to restructure its management team continue with the appointment of Barry Lathan as the new CEO of its Encad subsidiary. Lathan replaces Brad Kruchten, who will manage Kodak's Wholesale and Online Services group in the Consumer and Professional Imaging Business.
In the wide-format arena, Lathan was founder and CEO of Xerox ColorgrafX Systems, Inc. Xerox ColorgrafX helped jump start the market for wide-format color graphics in the early 1990s with the ColorgrafX 8900 series of electrostatic printers. Xerox ColorgrafX entered the large-format inkjet market in 1996 with the 36-in., 300-dpi VivagrafX XL thermal aqueous inkjet and introduced the VivagrafX Xpress piezo inkjet that used oil-based inks in 1997.
As CEO of Encad, Lathan will lead the company as it joins Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Nexpress, and Digital Asset Management in forming Kodak's new Commercial Printing Division.
Kodak's Commercial Printing Division is led by president Jim Langley, who notes that “Digitally driven commercial printing is a large and growing market, and a core part of our long-term vision to drive revenue and earnings growth.” He says Kodak's portfolio of intellectual property of printing technologies, the Encad subsidiary, and the NexPress and Kodak Polychrome joint ventures will be the foundation of Kodak's on-demand color printing and network-publishing efforts: “With this reorganization, Encad becomes even more relevant to Kodak's future.” (Encad: www.encad.com)