Questions about diskettes and what happened to them

[6885P5H]

Hello. I'm just wondering what happened to the factories where disks were made and why did the workers seemingly vanish. I think even Canada made disks at one point. What happened to the factory? And I think the last disk factory in the world was in Japan. What did they do to it? Did they scrap all of the equipment? And how come nobody has ever met someone that worked at a disk factory? I'm guessing either they hated their job or they think no one is interested in hearing about it. You can be sure that if I had the honor to have worked at such a factory I would tell everything I know on this forum.

I would also like to know how these things were made.

 

[mbbrutman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc4kJKOGnHY

That looks like a highly automated factory to me, so there were probably not a lot of people employed there. I doubt that working there was glamorous.

 

[lowen]

Many of these manufacturers changed and adapted as floppies went out; one such company is near me, actually, and started out making the plastic cases for 3.5 inch floppies. As that market dried up, they applied their considerable precision injection molding expertise to other products. As far as employees are concerned, injection molding one precision piece of plastic is just like injection molding another, just with a different mold. See https://www.jabil.com/contact/locations/asheville.html

 

[krebizfan]

The Canadian factory run by Didak (disks labeled as Axiom) and later by Kao has a number of reports written on it. Total Creative Revolution: Innovation and Governance at KAO Infosystems Canada is one that I found covering the end of Kao's disk business in Canada and states that 120 Ottawa regional jobs were lost in process.

That factory produced 10 million floppy disks a month.

 

[6885P5H]

Yes I've seen that video, it's the only thing on the subject I was able to find. I wonder what the source is. But what I'd like to see even more is how the parts that make the diskette were created, especially the magnetic coating itself.

 

[krebizfan]

I know videos were made of the process of creating a roll for VHS tape. The process for floppy disk media should be a double sided version of that. I'm not sure watching rusty paint poured over mylar, smoothed into a thin flat coat, and then dried before being rolled up for shipment to the plant that will cut the strips or cookies for placement in the shells would be exciting.