A small Greene County town is poised to become the home of the largest producer of DVDs in the world. When Camarillo, Calif.-based Technicolor purchased Ruckersville-based Nimbus CD International in 1998 for $264 million, the West Coast company decided to make Virginia its headquarters for optical-disk production.

The Ruckersville plant now oversees other Technicolor production plants in Wales, Luxembourg and California and already has the capacity to produce 345,000 disks per day. By the end of this summer, Technicolor spokeswoman Terry Benshoff says the company hopes to have expanded its production capabilities by 20,000 disks per day, placing it at the forefront of the industry.

The plant replicates disks — as well as videocassettes — from major movie companies. For example, the DVD of the epic war movie "Saving Private Ryan" came from Ruckersville. Technicolor’s major clients include DreamWorks, the producer of "Private Ryan," and Disney.

Benshoff says the surge in demand for its production facilities stems from the enormous popularity of DVDs and DVD players. "DVDs are the best-accepted consumer electronic of all time," she says.

The plant also manufactures CD-ROM software for companies such as Microsoft and audio CDs for independent record labels. While Benshoff won’t reveal any financials, she says the Ruckersville facility plans to hire 100 to 150 employees each year for the next few years to meet production demand.