ANAHEIM, CALIF. - Concord Disc Manufacturing Corp. has added functions, equipment and workers, and has consolidated operations from three Southern California sites.
John Lee, president and chief executive officer, directed the effort to vertically integrate and streamline within the highly competitive market for optical media.
Lee established the replication business in 1998.
Concord leased a 175,000-square-foot Anaheim facility and, in February, began installing materials-handling systems and other improvements. During May and June, the firm moved 16 Krauss-Maffei marathon-brand molding machines from Brea; packaging and six silk-screen printers from Fullerton; and warehousing from another Anaheim location.
Concord also has acquired a Nimbus Technology & Engineering Ltd. Pi mastering system that was shipped directly from a Los Angeles trade show in February. The Pi mastering system can make stampers for both compact discs and digital versatile discs.
Concord purchased five additional fully automated Krauss-Maffei presses, a Gima SpA automatic sleeving machine for bulk shipments, two more silk-screen printers and a complete graphics system for outputting screen-printing film.
Four presses mold DVDs, and the remainder replicate CDs. End markets include Internet-service-provider promotions, software games and entertainment.
Concord has ordered another five Krauss-Maffei units but is delaying delivery.
``We will wait to see what the fall brings before we act on those,'' James Lance, vice president of operations, said in an office interview.
``We have the space. All we have to do is drop the utilities in place.''
Lance joined Concord in May. He had been general manager of Cinram International Ltd.'s Anaheim plant, which ceased operations May 6.
About a dozen people from Cinram joined Concord in quality, process-engineering and graphics positions.
``John's plan was to go out and hire the right personnel to fill in the gaps'' and broaden capabilities from authoring through packaging, Lance said.
Concord employs about 90 and as many as 150 temporary workers as needed.