The Wright Bicycle Company switched in 1903 to making airplanes.
With forays into home video games and casinos along the way.
In fairness, they sold off 4 million square feet at the Elmgrove plant, and they’ve leased out a sizable chunk of their unused buildings at Kodak Park. And I’m not sure if they still own the Hawkeye complex or sold it as part of the ITT deal. Kodak doesn’t have a lot of real estate left.
Despite its name and reputation as a manufacturer, GE is as much financial services company than anything else.
3M started as a stone mining company, and now mostly makes adhesives and adhesive based products.
Stroh’s Beer became an Ice Cream company. Not sure if they have the same owners or are the same company anymore, but in Michigan, you can get both the ice cream and the beer.
I’m curious how many of these aren’t continuing concerns, but just old nameplates bought out for whatever goodwill might remain in them.
Packard Bell comes to mind. Starting in the '20s as a maker of radios - sold strictly west of the Rockies - they eventually were bought out of existence and the name purchased for a maker of PC-clone computers - by an Israeli venture team!
Another manufacturer, Brunswick Corp., started out making pool tables and billiard equipment, branched out after 1920 into phonographs and radios, then went back into the sporting business - eventually limiting their focus to bowling, boating, and fitness.
I’d say they’re not doing too badly, having been a going concern since 1845!
Same deal with their facility here in Colorado. They sold off 1,400 acres in 2005 and just this week they sold another 300+ acres with 500,000 of building floorspace, 2 miles of rail lines, and possibly most importantly the associated water rights for the property. I think that largely clears out the property. Not much if any value left there.
Kodak Park is freaking enormous. Elmgrove was a blip by comparison. I don’t believe they’ve leased out 10% of the Park. Maybe not 1%. There’s 3 million sq. ft. for lease right now.
Mitsubishi is a huge conglomerate, but Mitsubishi Pencil is not part of it, and never has been.
A recent Planet Money podcast explained how Proctor & Gamble originally made candles and soap. With the advent of electric lighting, the candle business was drying up, and they were also stuck with a supply chain of cottonseed oil. So they found another use for it: hydrogenated vegetable oil, which they sold as Crisco.
I’m curious why you think this is so different. They are already printing to make film. Different inks and different print heads, but the same rules apply. They already have expertise in color.
MTV started out showing music.
as i noted, firestone makes missiles under various defense contracts.
what’s the connection between making tires and war…?
this is like saying a painter should be good at graphic design. related, not the same.
having developed my own film AND working on printers, i assure you they are not in the same ballpark any more than mining for gold is akin to running currency mint.
With the return of Beavis and Butthead, they still do.
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.
OK you win the prize for best answer 
But seriously thanks for the replies, this is really interesting, I didn’t know 90% of them.
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.