Kodak has struck up a deal that will see up to 70 jobs created in Rochester. The company has entered a deal to manufacture and supply touch sensors for Texas-based company UniPixel.
The agreement will see Kodak and UniPixel open a new manufacturing facility in Eastman Business Park later this year, with $24 million set aside to improve and equip the 100,000 square foot facility.
Kodak spokesperson Chris Veronda says it makes sense for Kodak to enter into the touch screen industry.
“This agreement is a major advance for Kodak’s functional printing initiative. Functional printing is a key growth area for commercial printing, and commercial printing is Kodak’s future.
Kodak will be manufacturing touch sensors based on UniPixel’s UniBoss multi-touch sensor film.
In a statement, UniPixel’s president and CEO Reed Killion said the partnership with Kodak would play a vital role in the high-capacity scale-up of UniBoss touch sensor production.
“Kodak’s unparalleled expertise and core competencies in materials science, deposition technologies and large-scale commercialization and manufacturing allow us to vertically integrate the use of base materials that are utilized in the manufacturing process, thus offering the most synergistic and aligned infrastructure in the world as it relates to our flexible printed electronics,” Killion says.
Kodak’s Chris Veronda says it is a smart move for Kodak to move into the touch sensor market.
“This is a rapidly growing market at $16 billion today and expected over the next few years to double to over $32 billion.”
Kodak hopes to have the manufacturing facility open by fall of 2013.
