GZ celebrates its 60th birthday
On 2nd May this year our company celebrated the 60th anniversary of the production of its first vinyl records.
Some history:
In 1951 the technology for gramophone record production was introduced to this factory.
The history of the building, to which the production of analogue records was transferred, dates back to the 19th Century when, on the Loděnice stream (a.k.a. Kačák), a linen laundry, textile mill and wool-dying factory was founded. Between WWI and WWII the building was used for the production of soap. During WWII the factory was confiscated from its Jewish owners and the building was used for engineering production for the arms industry.
After WWII the building was first used for the production of gramophones, acquiring the name of Gramophone Works. The Loděnice business was incorporated into the nationalised Supraphon company, the only music publisher at that time.
In 1964 Gramophone Works underwent extensive structural and technological reconstruction. Records were now produced exclusively from mixtures of copolymer vinylchloride-vinylacetate and other materials.
The greatest technical innovation of 1985 was the successful introduction of new technology for the production of DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) machine presses. The modernisation which Gramophone Works underwent was not confined to the production of machine presses.
In the early 1980s automatic presses were brought into the production process and record production reached 13.5 million records per year. By this time, however, work was already under way on another important innovative step, the production of a new type of carrier, the compact disc.
In 1989 production of CDs was introduced without any great problem and very soon we reached the planned annual production of 4.5 million discs. With the political changes of November 1989 there was a significant widening of options for Gramophone Works. The company (still State-owned) could export directly, it was not necessary to go through a foreign trade company. Another important factor was that new technology attracted a whole range of qualified personnel who also had language skills. We thus became a successful exporter of CDs.
As the production of CDs developed successfully in the early 1990, so the production of analogue records gradually declined. Overall annual production fell to 340,000 records.
In 1994 Gramophone Works became a Public Limited Company and was privatised in the 2nd wave of privatisation. In the year 2000 the name of the company was changed to GZ Digital Media, a.s.
The year 2001 saw the start of DVD production.
Since 2004 the company has greatly developed polygraphic production, which now accounts for more than 50% of sales.
The present:
This year saw the start of construction work on a new building, which will serve as a completion, storage and distribution centre for the company. With a working area of 12,000m2 it will be put into full use by the end of July this year.
During its 60 year history the company has gone through significant development and can now boast the distinction of being the only company of its kind, offering customers a complex solution in the fields of printed materials, analogue and digital carriers along with the possibility of packaging, storage and distribution of products – and all under one roof.
With a staff of approx. 1300 the company is also a very important employer in the region, offering much-needed steady jobs. This year’s turnover will be around 2 billion CZK, which again represents an increase on figures for 2010.