“It’s simply not possible to continue with business Acutrack DVD production as usual and not take into consideration how business practices are affecting our environment,” said Asheesh Barman, executive vice president of Livermore, California-based Acutrack, Inc. “For companies who are in the business of putting out a CD or DVD-based product, there are even more issues that must be addressed compared to that of a service-only business.” Barman recently focused the company’s latest podcast series topic on The Three Principles of an Eco-Friendly CD/DVD Manufacturing Environment.

Acutrack focuses on consulting with its clients in detail at the beginning of a project to seek the best possible eco-friendly solutions. Goals are discussed along with the products involved, target audiences, time constraints and even the final destination of the products -- all of which have an impact on going green. Acutrack also assists companies by looking for redundancies in order to eliminate environmentally and fiscally inefficient steps.

Acutrack focuses on the three R's: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. Optical media is very conducive to reduction. The company recently helped a client who ships parts manuals to 780 dealers. These nearly 1,000 page catalogs of parts were bulky, heavy and expensive to ship. Acutrack came up with a DVD ROM concept where the catalogs were scanned and then produced into a DVD ROM with a searchable index. The cost went from $136.00 to $3.00 each, and the production time was much faster -- 9 days versus 14 days. Shipping used to cost $11.00 each for shipment with UPS Ground and that went to $0.58 each with the U.S. postal service.

Barman said, "We helped the client save a lot of trees and energy. Overall the DVD ROM left a much smaller carbon footprint, and the dealers were thrilled with the searchable index because it took them less time to find the parts."

As for the second R, recycle, Acutrack as a company itself has long been forging eco-friendly business practices, recycling all waste CDs and DVDs, paper, plastic, metal and cardboard materials. Even lighting was recently changed in the company's warehouses to more eco-friendly fluorescent bulbs which cut energy usage by 25 percent. Offset and silkscreen press set ups for similar color scheme jobs are ganged together for less idle time on the presses, which conserves electricity.

Third, Acutrack reuses all printing screens by stretching and re-emulsifying them. These screens have a photo emulsion layer that is water soluble, so they can be re-emulsified and reused without any degradation in the printing quality they yield. The company also reuses everything from office paper, cardboard boxes to plastic disc spindles to store media.

Acutrack specializes in high volume CD replication, DVD replication, and eco-friendly retail packaging and fulfillment services. One of their large software manufacturing clients wanted to develop new eco-friendly packaging to launch more than 100,000 products into major retail stores nationwide. Rather than placing the disc and manual in a box with a standard corrugated insert, which would increase the cost, take longer to assemble and cause more wastage, Acutrack designed a tray to hold the box components that is 100 percent environmentally friendly and recyclable, made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE). The company produced 600 pieces versus 200 pieces per hour using corrugated inserts, so the product was re-useable and lighter; therefore shipping was less expensive. Acutrack shipped the products sooner via freight train, a better fuel economy than dedicated trucks.

Last, Acutrack's On Demand Production model gives customers the ability to produce and ship custom packaged CDs or DVDs one at a time. With zero inventory of products, there is no obsolescence. Ideal for customer's who are selling downloadable content, the On Demand Production model allows manufacturing of CDs and DVDs on an as needed basis, eliminates the up-front costs of producing multiple titles normally associated with CD/DVD production, and takes care of inventory, packaging and fulfillment.

About Acutrack, Inc.
Acutrack can help you publish & distribute your content worldwide on Digital/Offset Print, CD/DVD/Blu-ray or USB. We pride ourselves on working with our clients to create custom and scalable solutions that meet their current needs and can grow with their future needs. We enjoy a leadership position in the industry by combining state-of-the-art technology with the talents of experienced professionals whose priorities are quality, customer service and innovation.