Close to the impressive headquarters of Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ) next to Dubai International Airport is a unique manufacturing company that could almost be considered a prototype enterprise for establishment in this high technology free zone.
Representing a start-up capital investment of $20 million and a highly skilled workforce of technicians, Planet Optical Disc is an ambitious world-class venture applying state-of-the-art fully integrated digital media technology for mastering and manufacturing compact discs (CD) and digital video discs (DVD).
Strategically located at DAFZ, the high technology company started operations last May and already has a staff of 55. Planet Optical is already exporting manufactured CDs and DVDs to the Indian sub-continent, Asia, Pacific Rim, South Africa, the Arab world and Eastern Europe.
From November, the company will operate three shifts a day, seven days a week to meet increasing world demand. Such is the efficiency of the operation that substantial savings are being made in the lead times for bringing discs to market. Thus, the regional market need not suffer any time lag in marketing new CDs or DVDs. With attendant economies of scale through its advanced manufacturing processes, rigorous quality control standards and the scaleability of the plant, Planet Optical is fast making a name for itself in the region.
The optical disc manufacturing technology is part of a technical agreement with a world leader in advanced technology. Planet Optical is only the fifth facility of its kind in the world. The establishment of Planet Optical in Dubai is part of a global strategy for local rendering of totally integrated services for leading music and film corporations.
According to a spokesman for the company, the technology of the plant is ahead of some of its competitors in Europe and North America.
The company offers total digital media services drawing data and images from any source material for mastering to CD and DVD. As well as mastering, the company also has its own diagnostic centre and replication, printing and packaging, fulfillment and logistics departments.
Planet Optical also has a creative department that includes authoring, encoding, digital post production (D1), 3D computer video graphics and animation, multi-layering, electronic video paint and multilingual subtitling.
The company has already concluded licensing agreements with several international film production companies in Hollywood, Bollywood and Europe. In addition, the company is targeting CD and DVD replicators worldwide.
The growing client list includes multimedia companies, film and television post-production companies, television stations, publishers, international music labels, software companies and corporate clients from the private and government sectors.
