Unlike the Ilford + enhancements, It appears that the changes to the Kodak films recently announced are “driven” by manufacturing efficiencies, rather than improvements in film from a customer perspective. I think that Kodak may have been scrounging for "improvements" to tout when they came up with something about reduction in static electricity. Having worked in marketing for a major corporation, I can sympathize with someone trying to justify why the changes were made.(posted 8147 days ago)The exact wording regarding this improvement is "The modern processes in use also improve the film negative so it is cleaner and much less susceptible to attracting dust" is not clear to me whether it is an improvement that only affects the "modern processes" (as in manufacturing processes) or whether it will have any noticeable affect on the consumer. Even if did affect the consumer, does it apply to undeveloped film only, or does it continue after the film has been exposed to multiple chemical processes? Note that Kodak says, "The only difference photographers are likely to encounter is a slight adjustment in development times."
Even if photographers did encounter reduced static electricity, I doubt that any change related to static electricity is responsible for the change in development times. I suspect (but admit that I do not know) that there is some other change they are making that affects development times. I am a bit curious as to what the other changes are (if any).
Nevertheless, if these changes make it more economical for Kodak to produce these films, it does make it more likely that the continued availability of these films is assured well into the digital age. That part is the good news.