TOKYO (June 13, 2008) - Indiana Secretary of Commerce Nate Feltman met with senior Sony Corporation executives here Thursday to ink a deal with the technology giant to expand its Blu-ray Disc manufacturing operations in Indiana.
The announcement, made during the state's five-day Japanese trade mission, is expected to create up to 85 new jobs in the western Indiana city of Terre Haute as the company invests more than $113 million to expand its one million plus square-foot manufacturing operations.
"Sony's decision to expand its operations in Indiana is more hard evidence that our international roadwork is a good investment and is a solid step toward creating more jobs for Hoosiers," said Feltman.
Sony DADC, which currently employs approximately 1,180 associates at its U.S. manufacturing and distribution center in Terre Haute, will hire professional staff, engineers, technicians and operators in connection with the expansion plans. The facility is Sony DADC's only Blu-ray Disc manufacturing facility in the United States and currently produces 425,000 Blu-ray Discs per day in addition to compact discs, DVDs and UMDs. Blu-ray Discs are high-definition, high-capacity optical media discs.
"The rapid adoption of the new Blu-ray Disc format by consumers allows us to quickly expand Blu-ray Disc capacity in the United States. Based on the past experience with manufacturing in Terre Haute, the selection of this facility for the expansion was logical. We are thrilled with the support of the State of Indiana," said Dieter Daum, Executive Chairman of Sony DADC Global.
As part of the multi-million dollar project, the company will expand its Blu-ray Disc mastering and replication operations at the Terre Haute, Indiana facility and expand its packaging and distribution center to handle the increased production volume, Daum said.
Since Blu-ray Disc manufacturing began in Terre Haute in May 2006, the company has produced more than 100 million Blu-ray Discs in its manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Austria and Japan. By October, the three facilities combined will have more than doubled its Blu-ray Disc manufacturing capacity of 21 million discs per month to 47 million discs per month.
