14 DAY TRIAL // You probably consider Plextor to be the most respectable CD and DVD optical drives maker on today's market. What few people actually now is that Plextor is the electronic and printing equipment division of the Shinano Kenshi company, which has recently reported that it intends to exit the market of optical disk drives (ODDs) in order to concentrate on other more profitable product lines.
According to an article on the Shinmai.co.jp Japanese web-site, Shinano Kenshi is currently planning a serious reorganization of its domestic business, including eventual layoffs. This reorganization implies that the production of optical disk drives (ODDs) will be reduced to a mere "10% of the peak production levels." This enables the company to concentrate more on its business and industrial equipment deals, including here the Plextalk digital sound recording playback equipment for blind.
Although Plextor is renowned for its very high quality optical disk drives, including CD, DVD and Blu-ray recorders for consumers, as well as some unique products like PlexEraser, all these quality products cost two to three times more compared to similar products by competitors in Europe and Asia. This particular financial aspect has caused a gradual decline of sales of the company. For Plextor, higher high-quality components are a must and this also translates into higher production costs. Shinano Kenshi realized that end-users and original equipment manufacturers are more into value and cost effective components rather than into exceptional quality.
Plextor also initiated line-ups including external hard disk drives, wireless adapters for projectors and digital video converters, which saw an unclear public reception due to their still high prices.
It seems that product diversification doesn't spell right for Plextor, while it is obvious that the brand is still known for its quality optical disk drives. Shinano Kenshi understood that diversification would lead to a gradual fade-away of the Plextor brand-name and it is now acting accordingly.