Sony Disc Manufacturing plans to add 32 production lines by September, more than doubling its domestic capacity for digital versatile discs.
Sister unit Sony Disc Technologies has developed the G-Line integrated replication-sputtering-bonding system. In April, the firm will begin installing the G-Lines and mastering and packaging equipment at Terre Haute. The SDM facility began replicating compact discs in 1984 and DVDs in mid-1997. In 2000, the operation installed 25 DVD lines.
Soon, monthly domestic capacity will exceed 30 million DVDs, compared with the current 12.6 million. Sony also replicates DVDs in Shizuoka, Japan, and Anif, Austria.
In 2001, Sony was the top DVD producer, according to Understanding & Solutions Ltd. of Dunstable, England.