Japanese chemicals fiant Kao Corp will start CD-ROM production from its Clondalkin, Dublin, Ireland software plant in January 1994. The factory currently makes floppy disks and provides duplication and distribution services to the likes of Apple Computer Corp, IBM Corp and Microsoft Corp. The plant size will be doubled with a further 20,000 square feet with capacity for over 20m CD-ROM platters a year. Colin Poole, managing director of Kao Infosystems UK Plc, said the decision to start manufacturing CD-ROMs arose from customer needs. Our customers are all moving to CD-ROMs so we needed to offer them a bridge, he said. Kao bought in its compact disk expertise by acquiring American Helix Corp, now Kao Infosystems Optical Products Division, Lancaster, Pennsylvania in March (CI No 2,130).
