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It's goodbye Imation, hello Kodak White City plant gets new name By DAVID PRESZLER The sign hasn't come down just yet, but Imation Enterprises' White City plant is well on its way to becoming Eastman Kodak Health Imaging. Kodak's buyout of Imation's health imaging businesses in the United States was finalized at the beginning of this month, although the employees technically work for Imation until Jan. 1. To avoid benefits and Social Security hassles, Imation agreed to remain the employer until the year's end, leasing the employees back to Kodak, according to plant manager Brian Melchiori. "All 300 Imation employees will become Kodak employees and continue working in White City for the foreseeable future," Melchiori says. The deal has brought few changes to the plant thus far, Melchiori says. There has been some discussion of expansion, but no formal plans have been announced. Any expansion will hinge on the success of the White City plant's chief product -- DryView Laser Imaging Paper. The paper enables medical offices to process X-ray film without liquid chemicals. "It's continuing to grow and we need the people we have to support that growth," Melchiori says. "With (Kodak's) distribution system and marketing team, we expect that we are going to see some accelerated sales." International sales of the imagers that use the paper have topped 6,000 -- growth that should increase the demand for DryView paper, which is produced only at the White City plant. The medical imaging businesses are expected to bring $510 million in sales to Kodak's Health Imaging Division, the company says. Kodak paid $389 million in cash for Imation's medical imaging businesses in North America, Latin America and Asia. It will pay an additional $143 million over the next six months as it acquires most of Imation's European imaging businesses. Imation says it will use the cash to buy back company stock and pay down outstanding debt and lease obligations. The White City plant has 297 full-time employees and 25-30 temporary part-timers. Worldwide, 1,600 of Imation's 9,500 employees will transfer to Kodak. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA