We as a team, went to visit Sun Compact Disc Pvt. Ltd., a CD manufacturer. We were lead around by Mr. Vijayakumar. The main purpose of this visit was to clear up our doubts about the manufacturing process, and also to find out if any steps were being taken by the company itself to recycle any of the waste that they generate.
These were the questions our team members raised:
Who is your biggest customer?
Pebbles, and a few companies from the music industry, lots of them are devotional music
Where do you get the polycarbonate plastic that you use for the discs from?
We import the plastic in the form of small crystals and we mold the plastic into the desired shape right here.
What kind of lacquer do you use?
The lacquer we use is also called 'Paint Thinner', which is used by common painters to dilute the paint used to paint walls of buildings.
Are there any known long term health problems that have affected any of your workers due to the fumes released here in the factory?
There haven't been any all these years. (The factory has been functioning from 2006.
Where do you get the ink you use to print the labels on the CDs from?
The ink too is imported. There is no way we can find out who makes the ink as the traders we purchase the ink from may tamper with the manufacturing labels before they sell it to us.
Have you had any leaks or accidents before?
No, we haven't.
As soon as we entered the premises, we were hit with a strong stench that enveloped the whole building. We later learned that this was due to the plastic cup recycling plant that shared the same building with the CD manufacturing unit.Once inside the building, we were seated in an waiting room near their office. The waiting room had a display of all the companies they have done jobs for neatly displayed on a notice board.
After a short wait, Mr. Vijayakumar, Senior Executive Business Development lead us through the entire plant, describing the CD manufacturing process in detail.
The Glassmaster is then taken into a second chamber where it is used to make any number of copies of the information on the Glassmaster onto the CDs. The CDs are made in a machine that melts pure polycarbonate crystals into a semi-solid form which is then pressed into the shape of a CD in a mold. The information is then immediately written on the disc. The entire process takes around 4 seconds per CD. The CD then emerges from the mold transparent. This CD cannot be used as it cannot be read by a laser merely due to its transparency. Below is a picture of the CD straight out of its mold, it contains information, but cannot yet be used.
These were the questions our team members raised:
Who is your biggest customer?
Pebbles, and a few companies from the music industry, lots of them are devotional music
Where do you get the polycarbonate plastic that you use for the discs from?
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Raw untouched polycarbonate crystals.
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We import the plastic in the form of small crystals and we mold the plastic into the desired shape right here.
What kind of lacquer do you use?
The lacquer we use is also called 'Paint Thinner', which is used by common painters to dilute the paint used to paint walls of buildings.
Are there any known long term health problems that have affected any of your workers due to the fumes released here in the factory?
There haven't been any all these years. (The factory has been functioning from 2006.
Where do you get the ink you use to print the labels on the CDs from?
The ink too is imported. There is no way we can find out who makes the ink as the traders we purchase the ink from may tamper with the manufacturing labels before they sell it to us.
Have you had any leaks or accidents before?
No, we haven't.
This is a description of our entire trip around the plant:
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Some of the companies who have employed
Solar Compact Disc Pvt. Ltd.
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After a short wait, Mr. Vijayakumar, Senior Executive Business Development lead us through the entire plant, describing the CD manufacturing process in detail.
There were three main chambers that were involved in the manufacturing of the CD. The first step is called 'Glass mastering' (further details about this process can be found in our post titled 'CD Manufacturing Process).
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| The Glassmaster |
The Glassmaster is then taken into a second chamber where it is used to make any number of copies of the information on the Glassmaster onto the CDs. The CDs are made in a machine that melts pure polycarbonate crystals into a semi-solid form which is then pressed into the shape of a CD in a mold. The information is then immediately written on the disc. The entire process takes around 4 seconds per CD. The CD then emerges from the mold transparent. This CD cannot be used as it cannot be read by a laser merely due to its transparency. Below is a picture of the CD straight out of its mold, it contains information, but cannot yet be used.
This disc is then picked out of the mold by a robotic arm which transports it to another part of the same machine where a layer Aluminium is sprayed on the disc using Nitrogen Gas cans. This is to block off the transparency of the disc and therefore ensuring proper reading of the disc. After these discs are done with the process, the discs are then moved into the final chamber where the the label of the disc is printed onto the disc using a five colored printing system. This room reeked of the ink that was being used, it took us a while to adapt to the smell alone. After the discs have their respective labels on them, the discs are then stacked and packaged using normal plastic packaging material and kept ready to be transported.
Further details:
Address of the Plant:
SOLAR COMPACT DISC PVT. LTD.
6C, Phase-3, First Floor,
T.V.K. Industrial Estate, Ekkattuthangal,
Chennai-600 032. INDIA.
Website: www.solarcd.com
Email: factory@solarcd.com
