With Christie massively ramping up production of digital projectors at its Canadian factory, after several years of false starts, 2006 is finally looking like the year where d-cinema truly reaches for the skies.
The company continues to significantly accelerate production of its popular line of CP2000 DLP 2k projectors, units that already feature in 60% of all digital installations in theatres worldwide. Since announcing its contract with US-based Carmike Cinemas for the installation of up to 2,300 projectors, Christie has increased manufacturing capacity to meet the demand, putting it on target to deliver up to 400 units per month by the end of 2006. This represents a 400% increase in production in one year, and the company plans additional expansions in the coming year too.
“More than any other company, Christie has anticipated, championed, and prepared for the Digital Cinema revolution,” remarked Jack Kline, president and COO, Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. “We have dramatically expanded our manufacturing facility and are increasing our production lines from two to six, and extensively restructuring our space and production methods to meet increased demand.”
Currently, nearly 4000 projectors are on the books for the North American market, while the company stated that European and Asian orders are in the ‘hundreds’. The steepness of the curve Christie is currently ascending can be measured nicely by the fact that in June, after years of effort, it announced its 1000th d-cinema installation. It confidently expects to have doubled that and gone past the 2000 installation barrier by the end of the year.
