Welcome, Guest Sign Up | Login | Try Premium

“The Indian market is no different than others” — Gustavo Oviedo

November 02, 2009

Gustavo Oviedo is General Manager, Worldwide Sales and Customer Operations, Consumer Digital Imaging and Graphic Communications Groups and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company and is now based in Rochester, New York. For several years he lead the company in the Asia Pacific region and from March 2007 to December 2008 he was Asia Pacific Region Managing Director, Eastman Kodak Company in addition to leading the Graphic Communications Group in the region. In his current role, Oviedo oversees worldwide sales and customer support for the company's Consumer Digital Imaging and Graphic Communications Groups in the United States and Canada, European, African and Middle Eastern, and Asia Pacific Regions.

Gustavo Oviedo, Kodak, in Delhi October 09

Gustavo Oviedo frequently comes to India and we met him once again in early October. He made it clear that the Asian market is a very big part of Kodak's plans also close to his own heart since he played an important part in the company's growth in the Asia Pacific region prior to his current assignment. We had an opportunity to have a wide ranging discussion with him in Delhi of which we reproduce excerpts below. We got a sense that the key to Kodak's and Oviedo's thinking at this time is the huge transition that the graphics industry is making to digital processes and workflows and ultimately to digital printing.

Gustavo Oviedo's recent visit was a part of visits to more than 30 countries to evaluate these market's with a view to future strategies. Oviedo told us, “India is for us a very relevant market from the strategic point of view. Among other things, the current trip is to have a look at the merger of the Kodak consumer and commercial business. We have a strong position in both the consumer and graphics businesses in the country. Of course I also like to see the team since I worked in this region for three and a half years.”

About the impact of the worldwide financial breakdown of the past year, he commented that every country including India has been touched by it, though in varying degrees. As far as Kodak's current performance he added, “I expect the second part of the year to be better. We had a good third quarter in India and expect a good closing for the year. For all the businesses we start to see some positive signs. This is in line with the rest of the world where we are starting to see some positive signs.”

He added that, “In a company like Kodak we do 40 per cent of the business in November and December although we invest in the first semester. This is the seasonality of Kodak. In 2008, in the graphic business in India we did most of the drupa installations in the last quarter despite the financial crisis.”

We asked Oviedo about Kodak's progress in the Indian CTP and consumable markets.
“The way I see it, we are number one in the world in digital plates. We have the top capacity available in the world and I think we will continue to be number one in the world. India is a key market and we have been progressing in market share in the last 3 years. Although there are some particular conditions, we have plans to cover the entire portfolio with all the relevant products. We are pleased with the progress in the newspaper market in India. We continue to do what is necessary to gain market share in India and we plan to be in the top position. If you look at 2007 we did not have any market share in newspapers and if you look today, I can say we are pleased.”

“Kodak has been accelerating the conversion to digital around the world. Now we are moving into newspapers and packaging. We are launching perhaps as many as 20 new plate products starting in May 2010. We are renewing the portfolio.”

In India apart from the consumer business we want prepress to grow. We want to do a big jump in the scanner business and have a serious intention to be more relevant in the Indian market. In inkjet also we want to be more relevant in the Indian market. The last baby is packaging — we will be much more aggressive in packaging in the coming time.”

Are there any breakthroughs in digital printing in India in areas other than transaction printing?
Oviedo replied, “We are number one in the world in transaction and inkjet. The Indian market is not different. Some markets are faster than others. We see that earlier we were exclusively doing mailing and now there are applications other than mailing. The Indian market is transitioning to digital at its own pace. The Indian market is no different than others.

“We also have the workflow to transition to all the technologies including that for helping newspapers. We are offering to newspapers including in India the transition to digital. The conversation today of plates is interesting but the conversation in five years could be about digital. Kodak is the only brand that has the investment in digital — we are very intense and I predict that we will have the strongest products exiting the crisis.

“We have we have 20 Prosper beta sites around the world that are working beautifully. By the way Asia is leading the world. Prosper is a success, and Stream will also be a fantastic success. Two years ago, the market was not as aware of digital. The graphic industry is undergoing a tremendous transformation. We have applications in books, in transactional and transpromo, and in newspapers. We have all the technologies and we have a value proposition that includes unified workflow.”