CMC Magnetics Purchases Taiyo Yuden Technology

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Dear Valued Customer,

We are very happy to announce that late last summer CMC Magnetics purchased the technology and manufacturing license for Taiyo Yuden optical media products like CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, and BD-25 disc media.

This past June, JVC/Taiyo Yuden made the announcement that they will be stopping production of all optical disc media products at the end of 2015 and making a complete withdrawal from the market. JVC/TY’s withdrawal left a huge void in the professional media market and CMC quickly seized the opportunity to purchase the technology and fill that void. CMC Magnetics has committed to produce all current JVC SKUs and maintain the unmatched quality and consistency the professional market demands. With the help of the Taiyo Yuden engineers, CMC has built specialized, dedicated production lines using the exact same processes, raw materials and strict quality control measures to ensure the TY CD and DVD media quality is maintained.

Techware Distribution will be distributing the full line of new CMC made products. In an effort to make the conversion to the CMC products as seamless as possible, Techware has purchased a significant amount of the current JVC product (made in Japan) to ensure product is available well into 2016. We understand that there will be some skepticism in the market as to whether or not TY’s quality can be reproduced. Based on our testing and frequent updates from CMC Magnetics, we are extremely confident that the new media will perform to TY’s high standards.

The CMC made products will be branded as “CMC Pro” and all cartons will be labeled “Powered by TY Technology”. Part numbers for the CMC Pro products will be very similar to the existing JVC part numbers. All current JVC part numbers start with “J” and the new SKUs will be exactly the same except they will start with “T”.

Example:1b92567c-74d0-425c-9397-bffad81f7ab9
JVC SKU:             JCDR-ZZ-SB
CMC Pro SKU:   TCDR-ZZ-SB

This should make the transition much easier than a complete new part number strategy. Product labels will use the same format that is currently being used.

Packaging will also be very similar. CMC will use the same stretch-wrap as the current JVC products, however the cakeboxes used will be slightly different. Cartons will be double-walled corrugated cardboard and will be even more durable than the current JVC cartons.

Taiyo Yuden & CMC Join Forces!

Well that didn’t take long!

We recently received the following email communication:white cd joined copy

Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., a Japanese leading optical disc manufacturer, will license CMC Magnetics Corporation their technology knowhow, patents, Media IDs, and trademarks related with their high value-added products of CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R. On September 21st, 2015, the companies have signed the license agreement on this project for high-quality optical discs.

Taiyo Yuden , known as an inventor of CD-R ,is an advanced manufacturer focusing on the professional market with their high-quality and high-reliability products throughout the optical disc market.

CMC will enhance the technologies of their high-quality optical discs for professional use with Taiyo Yuden’s media IDs and the specialized technologies such as their manufacturing process and quality control knowhow, and improve the CMC’s high-quality disc products across the board featuring stable high-speed recording, high reliability, high compatibilities with optical recording drives and variety of high-quility printability . And CMC will seek the top status of the high-quality disc products with the aim of supplying high-performance and high-reliability products and the strategy in pursuit of high qualities instead of volumes.

This agreement, CMC comments, will help the company become a market leader. The CMC’s current plan is to launch the new product lines at the end of 2015. And will the strategy for the high value-added products, CMC intends to occupy the most advantageous position by further expanding the distances ahead of its competitors and winning the frontier markets.

Our understandings of the process so far:

  • CMC will be upgrading their production lines to TY specs
  • Discs will be Azo Dye and slightly thicker to accommodate TY specs
  • Production should not be affected
  • Distribution channels should not change.
  • Part Numbers may change
  • Product UID should stay the same
  • JVC branding is gone
  • Branding may include some sort of “powered by TY” type of slogan

This is great news to customers that expect the very best in  optical media.  Taiyo Yuden’s extensive knowledge of manufacturing high quality discs will be passed on to CMC in Taiwan.  Customer should experience only slight administrative pains dealing with changes in part numbers but production should be unaffected.

As always if you have any questions regarding optical media or need production help, don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

 

JVC Disc Production Rumors?

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JVC-spindleJVC / Taiyo Yuden announced back in June of this year that they would halt all CD and DVD disc manufacturing by the end of 2015. This was a shock to many users, but not a huge surprise to industry insiders.

Fast forward 3 months and what do we know? Not much other than JVC is set to deliver massive amounts of discs to North American warehouses with the intent of support existing customers well into 2016.

But what is going on behind the scenes?? We can only speculate on industry rumors. Here are some guesses:

  1. Is a competitor negotiating for the rights, patents, IP, formulas for the recoding layers and print surfaces? Could make sense for a manufacturer like CMC, Ritek, Verbatim or MBI.
  2. Does Microboards, largest stocking distributor in the world for JVC discs, have something up their sleeve that will keep the product line going past 2016?
  3. Will a large investor take over operations at the plant in Japan? How about the plant moved to more labor friendly country like China or Taiwan?
  4. Will enough of the last production run make it to the US to satisfy customers?

Your guess is as good as ours. Stay tuned as there will be some clarity soon.

Need help with any CD, DVD, Blu-ray USB thumb drive, SD card or Compact Flash duplication and printing? Let us know. Maybe your vendor has dropped the ball, maybe they are out of business. Either way we are here to help.

Good Demand, Increased Prices Make CD / DVD Recordable Discs a Sellers Market

Thanks to higher demand, profit margins for optical disc makers have increased so far in 2011. CD-R and DVD-r disc prices are expected to rise by 20% in the second half of this year, according to CMC Magnetics chairman Robert Wong, quoted in CENS.com

Ritek, another major optical disc maker in Taiwan, also says that disc prices have been rising this year due to rising material prices. CD-r and DVD-r disc prices are expected to rise further in the third quarter.

Wong said that many Chinese and Taiwanese optical disc makers have been withdrawing from the business, while some Japanese (JVC / Taiyo Yuden) disc makers also stopped production after the massive earthquake in March.

CMC has raised all its disc prices by an average 30% since March.

The supply shortage of CD-R discs has pushed up prices by about 40% since early this year, the first since 2009, Wong said, pointing out that the optical-disc sector has turned into a sellers’ market, a move that will benefit CMC’s future operation.

“Flooding orders are filling production lines throughout the year-end. Fourth quarter operations will turn profitable.”

This is big news for CD-r and DVD-r disc manufacturers like CMC which have posted losses the past couple of years.

Taiyo Yuden CD and DVD Production Update

Supplies of the only Japanese-made CD-r and DVD-r have been temporarily disrupted by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent high radiation levels in Japan.

JVC-Taiyo Yuden branded discs from Victor Advanced Media, a subsidiary of JVC and Taiyo Yuden, are manufactured in northern Japan. The plant sustained some damage in the events of March 11, 2011.

Taiyo Yuden

Some CD manufacturing has resumed, and DVD production will follow shortly. While news has been very positive generally, some supply irregularities are anticipated on certain products like Watershield CD-r and DVD-r media as well as white prism thermal CD-r.

While media production lines had been temporarily disabled as the precision facilities were recalibrated and power was restored, Taiyo Yuden / JVC is quickly returning to full production. Production at some of the lines has already been restarted, and JVC and Taiyo Yuden are working quickly to ensure a stable supply of the highly sought-after optical media is restored.

Logistical issues are still a major concern as many roads and bridges were severely damaged and the main shipping port in northern Japan is near the dangerous radiation leaking nuclear power plant.

Please contact techwaredist.com with any Taiyo Yuden CD-r and DVD-r questions you may have.