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This Story appeared in The Daily Herald on Sunday,
January 7, 2001 12:00:00 AM and was printed on page C1
(This article is not an endorsement from the Daily Herald)

Orem CD manufacturer raising standards

01/07/2001

By DAVE ANDERTON

The Daily Herald

OREM -- Take an average compact disc, bend it in half, and you better take cover.

Most CDs shatter.

But an Orem company is setting a new standard in the CD manufacturing business.

"Our discs aren't brittle, they aren't fragile" said Lonny Taylor, production manager for Digital Impression and Stamper Company (DISC). "We use better plastic. It doesn't scratch as easily."

In fact, this 14-month-old company developed its own standard in the manufacturing of CDs, a higher standard than that used by Microsoft, according to Larry Edwards, vice president.

DISC was formed after its two founders, Robert Baxter, of Sandy, and Bart Howell, of Alpine, became dissatisfied with what the CD replication industry offered.

Turn-times weren't being met. Quality was sporadic. And the printing of the discs' labels was less than perfect, sometimes missing colors.

That's when Baxter and Howell, both in the video business, figured they could do a better job.

"We felt like for our customers' sakes we had to do something," Baxter said. "So we teamed up and started DISC."

The first year of business was phenomenal, Baxter said. Sales reached $10 million and the demand triggered the company to purchase five additional replication machines, bringing the total to six.

With the expansion, the company experienced a 600 percent increase in production, replicating 120,000 CDs on a daily basis.

"In five years we expect $100 million a year in sales," Baxter said. "This year we will reach $20 million."

The replication of a CD is an automated process that begins with the creation of what is called a "stamper," a metal plate that is used as a prototype in replicating discs.

A stamper is formed from a piece of glass that is exposed to an electroforming solution. The process results in a nickel plating on top of the glass.

From there, the stamper is taken to a replication machine where polycarbonate crystals are heated to more than 600 degrees F.

The melted crystals, now in a toothpaste-like consistency, are injected against the stamper, impressing a series of microscopic bumps -- called "pits" and "lands" -- to the newly formed disc.

"We have made our discs thicker than is required in the industry," Baxter said. "Our discs will read better than most. The quality of the print is better.

" And discs are cheap to make, costing less than 50 cents each to produce and capable of holding 77 minutes of information.

"We would love to get 50 cents," Edwards said. "We would be thrilled."

In addition to its CDs and CD-ROMs, the company produces CD business cards, small and rectangular in shape and able to be read by a disc drive.

"We are the only ones around that can do the CD cards," Taylor said.

Not only does the company exact a high standard when it comes to manufacturing, it refuses to replicate CDs that contain parental advisories, suggestive lyrics, or racy labels.

"We even returned an order for 5,000 CDs that had a swear word in Spanish. Our quality control people caught it," Baxter said. "It ends up costing us. We usually catch that at the front end."

DISC has produced CDs and CD-ROMs for several corporations and organizations including the LDS Church, Southern Ministries, Video West, Kurt Bestor, Michael Ballam and Spiegel.

"We have done a lot of Frank Sinatra," Edwards said.

Individual orders range anywhere from 1,000 copies to three million.

The company announced last month its purchase of a Nimbus Pi mastering system, a million dollar machine capable of producing stampers for CDs and DVDs.

"No company in the five-states area has the Nimbus Pi system," Baxter said. "Bigger clients are requiring that replicators have inhouse mastering."

That gives DISC the edge over other replicators, who have to send their work out in order to obtain their stampers.

With the new Nimbus system, the company hopes to begin DVD production later this year.

"One of the things that keeps people away from mastering is the technical knowledge," Baxter said, adding that the company had to open a worldwide search to find someone with the expertise to run the Nimbus system.

They found Russell O'Brien, of Freemont, Calif.

"All of the industry leaders -- Sony, Nimbus, Digital Matrix -- recommended Russell O'Brien," Baxter said. "Not only was he the best in U.S., but the best in the world."

Russell, formerly an employee of Zomax, was hired by DISC as vice president of mastering. He will take control of all aspects of the mastering operation including training, hiring and quality control.

DISC's commitment to high standards is paying off. The company doesn't do any advertising, marketing or cold calling. Business comes from word-of-mouth and repeat customers. "We have decided to set our standards to the highest," Baxter said.

Dave Anderton can be reached at 344-2562 or at danderton@heraldextra.com. ----------------------

This Story appeared in The Daily Herald on Sunday, January 7, 2001 12:00:00 AM and was printed on page C1
Last Updated Saturday, January 6, 2001 2:30:09 AM