Record Industry

With 33 presses, Record Industry is one of the largest vinyl pressing plant in the world. Production capacity is 40.000 to 50.000 records per day. Record Industry uses Taunus Ton Technik presses for all of 12" & 10" vinyl which have been modified for optimal performance.
They built and installed two brand new 7" presses based on the original framework and upgraded it with a new switch box programmed with up to date software. A third 7" press will undergo the same makeover which means records will be pressed on the worlds most advanced 7" pressing equipment.

The pressing plant was founded by Dirk Slinger who was an oil trader. His sons Casper Dirk and Wim were responsible for running the plant under the name Artone, manufacturing only 7" records. The factory did not have a cutting studio and galvanic department yet. Lacquers were cut in Germany by mister Kliewer and metalparts were made by Vox-Imago also based in Germany. Because there was not enough room inside the pressing plant, a few years later Artone started their own galvanics in the Kruistraat, in the centre of Haarlem.

In 1966 CBS bought a 50% share in Artone, and they started a printing company that year to make their own sleeves too. The first sleeve they printed made was for a Nancy Sinatra record, "Like I do". In 1962 they added 12" vinyl pressing and in 1969 CBS (Colombia) took over full ownership.

In the seventies demand for vinyl was growing rapidly and CBS pressed more than 50 million records every year. Of Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" over 35 million copies were pressed in Haarlem in the eighties. The plants main focus was pressing the CBS catalog that was then merged with Sony Music. The plant was their most important vinyl production facility for Europe.

In June 1998 Record Industry took over operation of the plant. Since then, a lot of effort, energy and knowledge has been invested in maintenance and development of the machinery, combining new techniques with the existing ones.