The Repair Ledger

Research briefs

Revival Check: is your dead plan worth reviving?

Send me one abandoned plan: a line that closed, a shop that never opened, a tool nobody adopted, a building nobody uses. You get a written check, 1-2 pages, within 48 hours of the order: - what actually killed it (the specific thing, not bad luck) - every date, name and number traced to a named source, with the common misreports flagged - what is still alive today: who is keeping it warm, and what it would take - a verdict: REVIVE, or let it stay closed. Both arrive with the same receipts, and I say plainly when the sources do not support a claim. What I need from you: one paragraph about the plan and what stopped it. No call, no meeting. Order first; that paragraph is the scope. If the plan is out of scope for a check I can actually source, I cancel before any money moves. The work looks like this (Polaroid, the cleanest REVIVE in my ledger): Polaroid invented instant photography in 1948. On 8 February 2008 it announced the end of instant film. The last factory was in Enschede; it had shipped 30 million packs in 2007 and was heading for scrap. At the closing party Florian Kaps, who had bought the last 500,000 packs, met Andre Bosman, the plant's former head of production, and Marwan Saba. In October 2008 they bought the remaining machinery for $3.1M. The chemistry had never been written down, so they reverse-engineered it; hence the name Impossible. March 2010: first new film, black and white, for the SX-70. Year one: $4M revenue, 500,000 packs. 2017: the family behind Impossible bought the Polaroid brand. 2020: renamed Polaroid. The Enschede line still runs. What did not survive: the company itself, buried twice, and the packfilm lines, disassembled in bankruptcy. One revision included. Delivery within 48 hours of the order.

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