Church of Scientology Flips the Switch on 185,000-Square-Foot Facility

LOS ANGELES—Jan. 27, 2011—The new 185,000-square-foot Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center is a one-of-a-kind printing and production facility. It houses manufacturing, distribution and administration all under one roof and is manned entirely by Church staff members.

This new center generates materials for the more than 9,000 Scientology Churches, Missions and affiliated groups worldwide, enabling the organizations to meet the unprecedented demand for Scientology services and programs. Among other materials, it prints Church magazines in 15 languages, with a global circulation of millions.

The anchor of the printing plant is a custom-built, 121-ton web press. The press accommodates the organization’s diverse content needs with the capability to automatically switch print jobs from one language to another. It prints at a rate of 55,000 pages per hour. The facility additionally includes both sheetfed and digital presses to produce the hundreds of thousands of informational pieces Church organizations use to introduce their communities to the Scientology religion and its services.

The Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center also produces all educational materials for Church-sponsored humanitarian programs, including the world’s largest non-governmental human rights initiative and the world’s largest non-governmental drug awareness program. The organization provides these educational materials to schools, civic groups, government, law enforcement and institutions in the private sector free of charge. Inasmuch as all materials are now produced in-house, for the same cost previously required to produce 3.5 million drug education booklets, the Church can now produce 35 million and reach 10 times the number of at-risk youth.

The facility further includes a warehousing and distribution department. The mailing system is fully automated and is capable of addressing 150,000 pieces every eight hours. The entire shipping line is capable of shipping better than 500,000 boxes and individual items each week.

The center additionally includes facilities to manufacture signature uniforms for the growing number of volunteers within Church-supported programs, including shirts, caps, jackets and other insignia for United for Human Rights, Youth for Human Rights, Truth About Drugs as well as Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

Source: Press release.