# What Companies Have Been Successful In One Line, Totally Changed Products And Succeeded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806 "2012-01-08T06:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/61 "2012-01-09T12:56:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It happened a lot in the early days, say late 19th century and pre-WWII 20th. It’s almost impossible to do today. > > The difference is that companies back then were manufacturers. If you owned a manufacturing plant and had lots of skilled workers, you could shift from manufacturing one thing to another in a hurry. For evidence, look at WWII, during which plants essentially shut down civilian consumer product manufacturing, went over to military parts, and reconverted all within four years. That is, interestingly, exactly what happened to Yamaha. They repurposed their weapons manufacturing from WWII to make motorcycles - as **JoelUpchurch** already pointed out, apparently making steel frames for pianos and motorcycles isn’t all that different, so tanks and other weapons are probably also similar… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/62 "2012-01-09T13:11:38Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > They are entirely within the same ballpark. They are both used to produce images. Given that Kodak’s customer base is (presumably) made up mostly of photographers, it makes sense for them to produce a line of printers that photographers can use to print photos now that many have switched to digital cameras for various reason. They are trying to capitalize on the brand-recognition from that market. > > I mean, just look at Canon. Another camera company that produces scanners, copiers, printers, etc., yet nobody looks askance at them for selling printers. I’m not saying it’s an absurd change in direction to go from making film to making printers, i’m saying the engineering and manufacturing process is totally, 100% different and almost CERTAINLY didn’t have any overlap. it’s not like you can re-calibrate the good ol’ film machine to start making usb computer printers. it’s also not like a person trained on the chemical layering of 35mm celluloid film just knows how printer ink should be made. A and B are both letters, but they sure are not the same thing. again, gold and money were at least once related–that doesn’t mean the gold miner knows how to make coins. when industries diversify or expand, it’s usually under the umbrella of things that makes sense, sure. but it’s a giant corporate restructuring, too. think about going from making film cameras to digital cameras. it’s not like they just reconfigured their existing machines. it’s not like the know-how of film engineers was enough to just start making digital cameras. it was a major undertaking…requiring new engineers (or at least extensive training for old ones), new processes, new training for factory employees, and so on and so forth. my dad used to be in charge of facilities at Macklenburg Duncan (M-D building supplies). they did alminum extruding and decided to expand into anodizing. they had to build a new facility, hire a whole new segment of employees with specific know-how and had new engineers come up with new methods and machines–all of which came from out of state. basically it was the same as if they, say, decided they wanted to lathe baseball bats–aluminum ingots can be whatever, right?? same ballpark…? as the product line goes, it falls under the umbrella of aluminum products, but required 100% different set of \. it could have been a new factory making virtually anything for as much restructuring as was required. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/63 "2012-01-09T13:33:09Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Kodak didn’t develop film though, they made it. They made the ink that went onto the film. They printed the ink onto the film. Granted, they probably didn’t use ink jet printers, but that just requires changing viscosity and surface tension, and presumably they had chemists on hand experienced in developing ink, since that what hey did. In the Box Brownie days, Kodak _definitely_ developed film. Their procedure was that you bought their camera loaded with film, shot off the lot, and shipped camera with exposed film back to them. They developed the film and printed out the pix and returned them to you with fresh film in the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/64 "2012-01-09T13:35:41Z")
it’s worth stating that digital photography was born outside photography companies (texas instruments was the first to patent a digital camera, followed by advancements made by Sony–who was there-before 100% not involved in photography at all). Kodak was on the leading edge of utilizing and furthering this technology, but my point is just because a film camera and a dSLR both look the same and are both called “cameras” doesn’t mean they are, from a manufacturing, engineering or business standpoint, the “same thing.” while it’s logical a camera company would proceed as technology advanced, it took advancements made by specifically non-photography related electronics companies to bring said advancements to fruit. i guarantee the first engineers and technicians Kodak hired to begin research into digital photograph were cherry picked from companies like Sony or TI or other electronics firms… i wouldn’t really consider them the ‘same ballpark.’ it’s more like a gap that’s been bridged… ---
**Author:** ![Dioptre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/65 "2012-01-09T15:21:23Z")
A good example of a single-line company changing is Ball Corporation, which started out making tin cans. Turns out that tin cans and orbital launch vehicles share similar design features! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/66 "2012-01-09T15:38:47Z")
As I said, the parallels (Kodak with Polaroid ) are chilling: -both firms had a dying business -both firms blew billions in unrelated businesses (in which they had no competence (Polaroid blew $2.5 billion on a medical imaging system-didn’t sell one; Kodak tried to compete in inkjet printers-with substantial losses) -both firms hired CEOs from outside their industry-who put them in dire straits) -both could have used their enormous cash reserves to SIMPLY buy an existing business (Polaroid could have bought their main competitor in the ID business for $51 million, Kodak could have bought HP printer division Why don’t these genius CEOs read their own MBA course materials? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/67 "2012-01-09T15:42:38Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > IBM successfully moved from mechanical tabulators to electronic computers. And from there to consulting services. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/68 "2012-01-09T16:56:05Z")
Coleco of early video-game fame was initially the Connecticut Leather Company. [Wikipedia entry.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/69 "2012-01-09T17:05:08Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > it’s worth stating that digital photography was born outside photography companies (texas instruments was the first to patent a digital camera, followed by advancements made by Sony–who was there-before 100% not involved in photography at all). TI might have the first patents, but [Steven Sasson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sasson), a Kodak engineer and RPI graduate, built the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/70 "2012-01-09T17:06:56Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > -both could have used their enormous cash reserves to SIMPLY buy an existing business (Polaroid could have bought their main competitor in the ID business for $51 million, Kodak could have bought HP printer division > Why don’t these genius CEOs read their own MBA course materials? When do you imagine that Kodak could have bought the HP printer business? It’s been an enormous cash cow for them for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/71 "2012-01-09T17:08:39Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > As I said, the parallels (Kodak with Polaroid ) are chilling: > -both firms had a dying business > -both firms blew billions in unrelated businesses (in which they had no competence (Polaroid blew $2.5 billion on a medical imaging system-didn’t sell one; Kodak tried to compete in inkjet printers-with substantial losses) > -both firms hired CEOs from outside their industry-who put them in dire straits) > -both could have used their enormous cash reserves to SIMPLY buy an existing business (Polaroid could have bought their main competitor in the ID business for $51 million, Kodak could have bought HP printer division > Why don’t these genius CEOs read their own MBA course materials? Because if you buy someone else’s business you get nothing. The point was to get use out of the sunk costs of the tens of millions of square feet of manufacturing facilities and the tens of thousands of employees. That required developing businesses of your own. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/72 "2012-01-09T18:07:35Z")
BASF. They have had a habit of moving in and out of all sorts of products. They have their origins in dyes, moved into chemicals, then on to recording media such as film and tape, then into digital storage media and are now currently working with Monsanto in the biotech industry. Ingersoll-Rand, they have not so much switched products as much as taken on huge acquisitions which have then been expanded even further. Its easier to say what they are not involved with, which is not very much at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/73 "2012-01-10T04:51:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > TI might have the first patents, but [Steven Sasson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sasson), a Kodak engineer and RPI graduate, built the first one. Sasson \*CONSTRUCTED \*the first digital camera, [using the already-patented Fairchild Imaging CCD](http://http://www.digicamhistory.com/1970s.html), which was a further development of the 1971 patented T.I. electronic photography system. He did not develop the technology, he simply integrated it. I’m not in any way diminishing his contribution, I’m merely pointing out the fact it was hardly done with existing Kodak Photography know-how, manufacturing process or engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/74 "2012-01-10T12:40:57Z")
The best example I can think of is Wrigleys (the chewing gum company). They started out selling soap then started including baking powder with the soap as a promotion. People became more interested in the baking powder so they stopped making soap and focussed on baking powder. Later, they started including chewing gum with their baking powder as a promotion. Again, people became more interested in the chewing gum so they stopped selling baking powder and focussed on the chewing gum. > **[Wrigley Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Company)** > > The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. > Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, Incorporated, and, along with Mars chocolate bars and other candy products, makes up Mars Wrigley Confectionery. It is the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world. > The company currently sells its products in over 180 countries and districts, operates... ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/75 "2012-01-10T13:01:43Z")
I heard of a company called New England Wire and Cable that was on the point of shutting down before they started making airbags for the Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/76 "2012-01-10T13:21:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Because if you buy someone else’s business you get nothing. The point was to get use out of the sunk costs of the tens of millions of square feet of manufacturing facilities and the tens of thousands of employees. That required developing businesses of your own. Well, in the case of Polaroid, they essentially owned the ID badge business till about 1985. Then a small Texas firm came out with a digital picture system. Polaroid contined on with its film-based system-and their market share went to zero. Had they purchased that small Texas firm, they would have had the market share they had lost. I actually worked for a small firm that supplied components to Polaroid- arond about 1998, we were invited to bid on a component for them-I met with some of their engineers. They were attempting to increase the range (of their flash illumination) by increasing the power. Looked around at all the empty offices and conference rooms, and thought “we had better sell on a COD basis only!”.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/77 "2012-01-10T16:35:15Z")
[Lines Brothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lines_Bros) were one of the world’s biggest toy makers. During WWII, they diversified into making machine guns. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/78 "2012-01-10T16:50:55Z")
That’s not at all unusual. Many manufacturing companies in the UK and the US (and perhaps in Germany and Japan as well) switched to making armaments during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/79 "2012-01-10T18:24:59Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > The Wright Bicycle Company switched in 1903 to making airplanes. And Studebaker from wagons to horseless carriages. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806/80 "2012-01-11T14:52:20Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Kodak didn’t develop film though, they made it. They made the ink that went onto the film. They printed the ink onto the film… Umm… no. Making photographic film takes a whole lot of chemistry (you really don’t want me to bore everyone with details… but yes, you could ask me about the Magenta Dye-Coupling Layer…that had its own unique set of problems). And it’s nothing like “printing colors onto film”. Maybe more like laminating Jell-O and different plastics together without screwing up their light-sensitivity. Ink-jet printing is easy-peasy by comparison. And totally different. MAKING ink-jet printers even more so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-have-been-successful-in-one-line-totally-changed-products-and-succeeded/608806.md?page=5)