Many would be surprised to learn that North America's entertainment industry comes to a Canadian company to have their compact discs (CDs) made and reproduced. That's because Canadian engineering is second-to-none. In fact, 90% of all North American music, software and video is recorded onto compact discs made right here in Canada, at a company called Cinram.

With five state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities around the world, Cinram is the world's largest producer of audio CDs. They are also this continent's largest manufacturer of digital versatile discs (DVDs), developed by engineers as the next generation of CDs.

The technology of the compact disc is made possible by the work of many engineers. Engineers not only developed the original concept of burning music into glass for perfect sound, they also developed the materials and manufacturing process used to make CDs.

CDs are made of a number of different materials, including plastic, nickel and silver. Chemical engineers experiment with raw materials to make CDs more durable, cheaper and of higher quality. Mechanical engineers design, test and build the machinery that makes the discs and their cases. They also monitor the performance of these complex machines to ensure quality standards are high for each of the 100 million discs produced each year.

The process works like this.

First, a glass master disc is made. A thin layer of metal, called photoresist, is baked onto the glass. Once it has hardened, the data, or binary code, is burned into the metal using a powerful laser, designed by mechanical engineers.

A sodium hydroxide solution is then spooned over the disc. The sodium hydroxide solution removes the photoresist wherever the pulse of the laser beam touched it, leaving a tiny microscopic hole, or pit. Like other digital media (such as a computer's hard drive), information is stored on the compact disc using a binary code of zeros and ones. A flat spot on the disk corresponds to a 0, while a pit corresponds to a 1.

The next step is to create a stamper — a mirror image of the master disc, with all of its pits and flat spots. To do this, silver is applied to the surface of the master and the disc is then immersed in a nickel sulphamate solution. A chemical reaction causes the nickel to attach itself to the silver on the master disc. The newly formed layer of nickel is then peeled off. A perfect mirror image of the master disc is created, much like a waffle is a mirror image of the waffle iron on which it cooked. All of this is made possible by the work of chemical engineers who have developed these unique recipes of metals, plastics and chemicals. Chemical engineers also work-on site to ensure materials and chemicals are treated properly and mixed in just the right amounts and at the right temperatures.

Using a stamper to press the CDs we find on store shelves requires a considerable feat of mechanical engineering. The challenge is to produce machinery precise enough to perfectly copy billions of pits and flat spots, fast enough to manufacture 100 million units every year and powerful enough to apply several tons of pressure every time a new disk is pressed.

That machine uses injection molding technology and a high-strength liquid plastic called polycarbonate. This polycarbonate plastic makes CDs virtually indestructible - it's like the material used for bulletproof windows. Before moving to be packaged, the newly-formed disc is cooled with water and removed from the mold. The pitted side of the CD is then coated with aluminum and protected against scratches with a clear sealer. Mechanical engineers designed the complex machinery that makes CDs. They also constantly monitor the results, ensuring optimum quality, speed and cost controls.

At all stages in the manufacturing process, industrial engineers work to ensure employees are safe. They design the safest and most efficient floor layout for the manufacturing machinery. They ensure each machine is functioning properly, and they monitor the way the CDs are handled between the different stages of manufacturing.

Engineering and technological advancements, and subsequent improvements, have made way for newer, faster and higher quality music reproduction techniques. From the music industry's perspective, it is more cost-effective to mass-produce these small plastic discs. One master disc can produce many thousands of CDs in very little time.

For more information on Cinram and their innovative engineering technology, visit www.cinram.com.