Technicolor SA, formerly Thomson SARL (1893–1914) and Thomson Multimedia (1910–2010), is a multi-faceted manufacturing, communication, media and entertainment industries company, which has owned and operated optical disc manufacturing in various countries. In 2010, it re-branded its entire businesses after its American subsidiary (Technicolor Film) to become Technicolor.
Technicolor Video Services, a video cassette manufacturer active since at least 1981, moved its manufacturing operations to Camarillo, CA, USA in October 1993. CD and CD-ROM manufacturing equipment was added to this facility under the company Technicolor Optical Media Services the next year, having its official start in April of 1994.
In 1998, Nimbus CD International Inc., which ran manufacturing plants in Wales, Luxembourg, and the USA (Ruckersville, VA and Provo, UT), was taken over by Carlton Communications PLC, then-parent company of Technicolor.
In 1999, the disc manufacturing plant in Provo, UT, USA inherited from Nimbus was closed.
In 2002, Technicolor purchased Panasonic Disc Services Corp. (PDSC) from Japanese parent company Matsushita Electric Ind. Co., Ltd. PDSC interests included Matsushita Universal Media Services, an optical disc manufacturing plant located in Pinckneyville, IL, USA, which was renamed Technicolor Universal Media Services, as well as Matsushita Manufacturing LLC of America, a former joint venture with Eastman Kodak Co. which included manufacturing plants in Guadalajara, Mexico and Youghal, Cork, Ireland.
In the same year, a facility was purchased in Piaseczno, Poland, and was converted to a DVD manufacturing plant that began production in or after September 2002. Then in 2003, Technicolor announced the acquisition and opening of a second DVD manufacturing plant, also in Piaseczno.
It was announced in late 2002 that Technicolor’s former Nimbus CD/DVD manufacturing plant Ruckersville, VA, USA would be closed by June 2003. Equipment from this plant was to be relocated to Memphis, TN, and Guadalajara, Mexico. In early 2003 the further closure of the manufacturing plant in Youghal, Ireland was announced; operations and equipment were to be transferred to Cwmbran, Wales, and Piaseczno.
In 2007, Technicolor announced the closure of the former Nimbus plants in Wales and Luxembourg, and the Pinckneyville plant. CD and DVD replication for Europe was to continue at Technicolor’s facility in Piaseczno, Poland. At the same time, manufacturing at the plant in Camarillo, CA began to wind down as Technicolor intended to centralise North American manufacturing operations at the plant in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In November 2015, Technicolor announced that they had purchased the optical disc manufacturing and distribution assets of Cinram Group, Inc.. This included a manufacturing plant in Olyphant, PA, which Technicolor closed on May 1, 2018, and a plant in Huntsville, AL.
As of January 2018, Technicolor continued to run manufacturing facilities in Huntsville, AL, USA; Guadalajara, Mexico; Piaseczno, Poland; and Melbourne, Australia.
Sublabels:
Novodisc O.D. Group S.A., Technicolor Universal Media Services, Technicolor, Australia
