A Dutch CD manufacturing company has revealed the latest development in vinyl-making technology that they have been working on which will drastically lower production costs, improve sound quality, and reduce the environmental impact of vinyl manufacture.
Dutch CD manufacturing company Symcon has invented new technology that will make vinyl manufacturing faster, cheaper, better sounding and kinder to the environment.
Symcon has invented an injection moulding system that inserts plastic straight into the record’s grooves, which copies the grooves from the stamper more accurately. This differs from conventional vinyl manufacturing where the plastic is pushed on the grooves at an angle.
The new technique is slated to be far more efficient than the current manufacturing process. Energy consumption is reduced by up to 65% as the injection-moulding system doesn’t require steam to heat up the PVC puck before it’s pressed between two stampers, also the new system also applies no pressure to the stampers, which can currently only be used for up to 2000 records before they become worn out.
Symcon estimate that the turn-around for their injection-moulded records will be around 2 weeks, which is drastically shorter than the current 12-16 week timeline for vinyl production. Indie labels rejoice.
You can read about the new technology in more depth in this interview by Discogs, which also discusses some of it’s drawbacks too.
via Fact Mag
Read our piece on vinyl sales in Australia here.
