Compact Disc manufacturing

A pressing plant is an industrial plant for the mass production of optical media such as CDs or DVDs.

As output format for the pre-mastering this generally serve recordable optical media (CD -R, DVD ± R) or magnetic tape in the DLT format.

The production takes place here in the injection-compression molding ( an injection molding process ), wherein liquid polycarbonate is injected via a high pressure press into a form that uses the Stamper previously created as part of the mastering process as a template. Subsequently, the optical disks are coated with a layer of aluminum ( sputtered or plated ) and sealed with a lacquer layer, which is dried under UV light. The disks are then ready for printing and already playable.

The reproduction in a pressing plant falls under the concept of replication. In contrast, is meant by a lab to place the duplication of optical media with the help of burners.

While there are only a limited number of pressing plants, one meets the search for a suitable supplier mostly on so-called CD - agencies that act as brokers. Thanks to a relatively large annual order to get these actors of the press shops a discount, which accounts for their profit. For smaller quantities of up to a few thousand, it is for the consumer price usually cheaper to contact a broker than directly to a pressing plant.

• Manufacturing Technology