Philips And DuPont Optical. Operating under this name from October 1985 until 1996. Use this page only where the exact plant cannot be derived. For releases stating:
"Made in U.K. by PDO" please use PDO, UK.
"Made in Germany/West Germany by PDO" please use PDO, Germany
"Made in France by PDO" please use PDO, France.
"Made in USA by PDO" please use PDO, USA.
For (French) vinyl pressings with PDO in the runouts, please use PDO, France.
PolyGram transferred control of their West German pressing plant PRS, located in Hannover, to a joint venture between Philips and DuPont Optical that was formed in October 1985 to manufacture compact discs (effective January 1986). The French PRS plant, located in Louviers, followed in September 1986.
This company, Philips And DuPont Optical or "PDO," was used to press CDs and vinyl for a number of companies / labels.
By December 1986, PDO operated additional CD pressing plants in the U.S. (Kings Mountain, North Carolina) and in the U.K. (Blackburn, Lancashire).
PDO CDs pressed between 1988 and 1993 by the Blackburn plant have been widely reported as being affected by "disc bronzing" or "disc rot."
In 1991 the control of the German, French and UK pressing plants (US plant followed in June 1992) were transferred back to PolyGram, which became PolyGram Manufacturing & Distribution Centers (PMDC) in 1994 (UK in 1996). PMDC has since sold their German and U.S. plants to EDC, the French plant to Cinram and the UK plant to Disctronics.