It was 25 years ago that Sony DADC started up its CD production facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. The plant which occupied 60,000 sq. feet of space in 1984 now occupies 1.3 million sq feet. In 1984, CD output was 300,000 CDs per day. While today’s outputs are constantly changing, last year, the equipment base was in place to make 500,000 CDs per day. UMD capacity was about 250,000 a day, and DVD capacity was 1.3 million per day. Blu-ray capacity last year was 700,000, and that number will reach about 1 million a day this year.
Even as the optical disc industry continues to face challenges, Mitchell says there are plant employees who have worked for the company 24 years, and Sony DADC has been lucky enough not to have had to lay off any one, so far, during this recession. Read more introspective towards the plant, people who run things at Terre Haute, and the optical scene in general at emedialive.com.
