Sony DADC announced that it is consolidating its optical disc manufacturing and packaging operations in Europe.
According to the statement, the company will shift DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) production from its facility in Anif (Austria) up the road to its plant in Thalgau (Austria). Additionally, disc packaging activities in Anif will be shut down and transferred to Sony DADC locations in Thalgau, Southwater (UK) and Pilsen (Czech Republic). These moves will result in the loss of 158 jobs (76 permanent, 82 temporary employees).
“We started from scratch in Salzburg 25 years ago,” says Dieter Daum, President and CEO of Sony DADC. “During this time we have created approximately 1500 jobs on our locations in Anif and Thalgau. Now the market is forcing us to make redundancies for operational reasons also here in Salzburg. This decision was difficult yet necessary in order to remain successful in the future.”
While disc production remains the largest segment of Sony DADC’s business, the company notes that the market for optical media is declining at a rate of 10% per year so “if we want to remain successful, we need to streamline our organization by consolidating production processes on fewer locations which we are currently carrying out at our four European production locations in parallel,” says Daum.
Reaffirming the company’s commitment to the Salzburg region and optimistic about the future, Daum emphasizes Sony DADC’s expansion into new areas, which include BioSciences (life sciences, in-vitro diagnostics) and New Media Solutions (digital services). “These new markets are still too small to compensate the decrease of CD and DVD production. Yet we see a big future in these new business areas, above all, for the locations in Salzburg and anticipate a yearly doubling of our sales in BioSciences and New Media Solutions in the coming years. This – and the unfortunately necessary restructuring in our present core market of optical storage media – will secure our locations in Anif and Thalgau.”
Sony DADC Plant and Production Figures
| Anif | Thalgau | |
| Site Surface | 56,000 m2 | 51,000 m2 |
| Floor Space | 56,000 m2 | 31,000 m2 |
| CD capacity (per day) | 500,000 | 150,000 |
| Blu-ray Disc capacity (per day) | 300,000 | 850,000 |
| DVD capacity (per day) | 250,000 | 800,000 |
Source: Sony DADC Austria AG
For more information visit: www.sonydadc.com