Rebase costs on USD/THB; add timelines and first market data

Currency
- Base currency moves from EUR to USD and THB throughout. Rates at
  5 Aug 2026: 1 USD = 33 THB, 1 EUR = 1.155 USD, 1 GBP = 1.35 USD.
  EUR/THB lands at ~38, so existing THB research needed no change.
- Vendor quotes keep their original currency with a USD/THB equivalent
  alongside, so they stay checkable against the source PDFs.
- Full vision ~4.7-8.9M USD; phased entry ~1.7-2.9M USD.

New documents
- production-timeline.md: order turnaround stage by stage. Launch
  8-14 weeks, mature 5-10, repress 2-3. Quantifies the in-house
  galvanics turnaround claim the repo had asserted without a number,
  and flags artwork as an unmodelled fourth approval gate.
- project-timeline.md: calendar to first paying release, ~Q4 2028.
  Critical path is BOI certificate to press order to build to
  commissioning. Two findings: Newbilt build time is absent from the
  repo yet carries ~40% of the schedule, and the BOI rule may be
  over-serialised since duty exemption attaches at importation rather
  than at contract signature.

First market data (ResurRec, Bangkok)
- Invoice-derived prices, a factory tour, and a confirmed fleet of one
  Newbilt Classic 12" automatic plus one semi-automatic.
- Price ladder recorded at 300/500/1000-3000/3000+ units. Decomposes
  to roughly 34-50k THB fixed per title and 535-780 THB variable per
  unit, which is 4-7x the price this model assumes.
- The incumbent presses 230-350k records/yr but buys every stamper as
  an import. That single constraint plausibly explains their 150-unit
  floor, their flat discount ladder and their large-run lead time, and
  it is what an in-house galvanics line attacks. Logged as an open
  question on whether galvanics should move from phase 5 to phase 1.
- Inferences are marked as inferences; the whole set is one buyer and
  one plant, and the model is deliberately left unrebased until a
  second data point exists.

Corrections
- Gross margin arithmetic did not follow from its own inputs. Restated
  as ~1.95 USD at the midpoint with the 0.75-3.15 spread shown; the
  previous "40 to 55%" was not supported.
- Direct cost low total 1.50 to 1.45 USD; contingency THB high 40M
  to 38M.
- README indexes the construction RFQ, which was missing.

README.md

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ and budgets for the other steps are open planning items.
 - Alexander and Simona will soon travel to
   [Making Vinyl](https://makingvinyl.com/) in Haarlem, Netherlands, to gather
   further insights from the pressing industry.
-- A collaboration with [Resurrec](https://www.resurrec.com/) is under
+- A collaboration with [ResurRec](https://www.resurrec.com/) is under
   discussion.
 
 ## Planning Documents
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ The detail lives in dedicated documents:
   quotes, commitment, build, launch, and expansion
 - [Pressing line equipment plan](docs/equipment/pressing-line.md): the
   50/50 automated/semi-automatic fleet strategy, the Newbilt system under
-  evaluation (≈ €200,500 quoted scope), and site requirements
+  evaluation (~USD 232k quoted scope), and site requirements
 - [Vendor landscape](docs/suppliers/vendor-landscape.md): researched
   candidates for mastering and cutting (Agnew Analog), galvanics equipment
   (Plating Power / Digital Matrix), stamper preparation (Sibert), bridge
@@ -92,14 +92,23 @@ The detail lives in dedicated documents:
 - [Process flow](docs/process-flow.md): the whole chain from audio file to
   delivered record as a chart and stage table, with every check and the
   three artist approval gates (printable diagram alongside)
+- [Production timeline](docs/production-timeline.md): how long an order
+  takes stage by stage, launch vs mature configuration, the repress fast
+  path, and what lead time can honestly be quoted to a customer
+- [Project timeline](docs/project-timeline.md): the calendar from today to
+  first paying release, the BOI-to-machinery critical path, and where the
+  float actually sits
 - [Project scale](docs/scale.md): rough numbers for everything on one page:
   output capacity, building area, land, electrical demand, solar and
   storage, steam and fuel, headcount, and money cross-references
 - [Total investment](docs/finance/total-investment.md): the full-vision
-  roll-up (~4M to 7.7M EUR) and the ~1.5M to 2.5M EUR phased entry, with
+  roll-up (~4.7M to 8.9M USD) and the ~1.7M to 2.9M USD phased entry, with
   the basis of every block
+- [Phase 1 construction RFQ](docs/finance/phase1-construction-rfq.md):
+  the spec sheet for asking a contractor to price the phase 1 buildings
+  and site works, with quantities taken from the parametric BIM model
 - [Revenue model](docs/finance/revenue-model.md): rough full-capacity
-  revenue (~3.2M to 5.9M EUR/yr), direct cost and margin per record, and
+  revenue (~3.7M to 6.8M USD/yr), direct cost and margin per record, and
   the levers and caveats behind the numbers
 
 ## Repository Layout
@@ -111,12 +120,15 @@ docs/
 │   ├── newbilt/           Offers, site requirements, process schematic,
 │   │                      service rates (vendor PDFs)
 │   └── pressing-line.md   Press fleet strategy and equipment plan
-├── finance/               Project cost overviews
+├── finance/               Project cost overviews, revenue model,
+│                          construction RFQ
 ├── suppliers/             Supplier contacts, vendor landscape, supplier map
 ├── biomass.md             Biomass fuel strategy and the 60 rai coppice idea
 ├── boi.md                 BOI promotion strategy and requirements
 ├── facility-security.md   Security, HVAC, fire and life safety, compliance
 ├── process-flow.md        Audio file to delivered record, with all checks
+├── production-timeline.md Order turnaround, stage by stage
+├── project-timeline.md    Calendar to first paying release, critical path
 ├── quality-automation.md  Stamper metrology and layered record QC
 ├── roadmap.md             Next steps in dependency order
 ├── scale.md               Rough project sizing on one page

docs/equipment/pressing-line.md

@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ The core semi-automatic machinery under evaluation comes from
   (scrap feeds back as the ~20% recycled share of the feedstock), 7" center
   label punch, buffer spindles and separator plates.
 
-The June 2024 Newbilt quotation totals **≈ €200,500** including freight from
+The June 2024 Newbilt quotation totals **EUR 200,500** (about **USD 232k
+/ 7.7M THB** at August 2026 rates), including freight from
 Alsdorf to Thailand and seaworthy packaging. Two major utility systems are
 deliberately excluded and will be **sourced and installed locally in
 Thailand**: a ~400 kg/h steam generator (with water treatment) and a ~250 kW

docs/finance/revenue-model.md

@@ -1,70 +1,397 @@
 # Revenue and Profit per Record: Rough Model
 
-A first-pass economic model at mature capacity. Every number here is an
+A first-pass economic model at mature capacity. Most numbers here are
-estimate from industry pricing norms and this repo's own cost research;
+estimates from industry pricing norms and this repo's own cost research.
-nothing is market-validated yet. The point is the shape of the economics
+**One set of real market prices now exists** — see the next section — and
-and which levers matter, not precision. FX: ~38 THB/EUR. Compiled July
+it does not agree with the model. The point is the shape of the economics
-2026.
+and which levers matter, not precision.
+
+**Currency: USD and THB.** FX at 5 August 2026: **1 USD = 33 THB**.
+Pricing benchmarks originally researched in EUR are converted at
+**1 EUR = 1.155 USD**. Compiled July 2026.
+
+## First market data point (August 2026)
+
+Buy-side prices gathered from actual invoices, not industry norms. The
+pressing and stamper figures come from comparing a **ResurRec** (Bangkok)
+full-service invoice against a pressing-only invoice. Mastering is a
+market range from multiple engineers.
+
+| Item | THB | USD | Note |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Audio mastering | 5,000 – 20,000 **per song** | 150 – 605 | Varies by engineer |
+| Father / mother / silvering (stamper set) | ~22,000 **per title** | ~665 | Derived from the full-service vs pressing-only differential |
+| All-in per 12" record | 650 – 950 | 19.70 – 28.80 | Includes mastering, stamper, packaging and pressing |
+
+**These are domestic Thai prices with no freight or import duty in them**,
+which makes them directly comparable to what CNX would charge. They are
+one customer's experience with one plant, so treat them as a strong signal
+rather than a survey. **The 650–950 THB figure is the price at 300 units**;
+the full volume ladder is in point 3.
+
+## What the ResurRec factory tour showed (August 2026)
+
+First-hand observation from a site visit, and it reframes the competitive
+picture more than the invoices do:
+
+- **The plant is essentially an apartment**, not an industrial building.
+  Floor area, floor loading and power are constrained accordingly.
+- **No proper HVAC or air filtration** on the pressing floor — no
+  temperature, humidity or PM control.
+- **Pressing only. They do not plate.** The stamper set behind the
+  22,000 THB differential is bought in and resold, not made in-house.
+- **Two presses, both Newbilt** (confirmed August 2026): a **Classic 12"
+  fully automatic** — 3-column hydraulic, built-in 15 kW extruder,
+  automatic patty and label handling, Siemens PLC, **28 s cycle** — plus
+  one **semi-automatic** 4-column book-mould press. This is a real capital
+  fleet, not a hobby setup; on the EUR 200,500 quoted for CNX's own
+  Single 2.1, the pair is plausibly USD 450–700k of press equipment.
+
+Four things follow, and one of them corrects the read in the previous
+section.
+
+**Nobody in Thailand appears to plate.** If the country's established
+plant buys its stampers in, then every Thai title currently makes an
+overseas round trip for silvering and electroforming. That makes in-house
+galvanics a genuine first rather than a cost saving, and it means the
+three-to-five-week turnaround advantage in
+[production-timeline.md](../production-timeline.md) is measured against a
+competitor who cannot close that gap without building the same line.
+
+**The 22,000 THB is a resale price, not a plating cost.** It embeds
+ResurRec's margin and inbound freight, so the underlying plating cost is
+lower. That does not weaken the business case: 22,000 THB is what a Thai
+buyer pays for a stamper set today, which is exactly the right basis for
+what CNX could charge or avoid paying. But it should not be read as the
+cost of running a galvanics line.
+
+**They out-press CNX's launch phase by two to three times.** The Classic
+12" runs a 28 s cycle — **129 records/hour** from the vendor's own figure,
+not an estimate — against 60–80/hour for the semi-automatic. The pair
+nameplates at **~190–210/hour**. On one shift, 250–300 days, at the 60–70%
+overall effectiveness this repo applies everywhere, that is **~230,000 to
+350,000 records a year**, and roughly double on two shifts. At Newbilt's
+claimed ≥95% uptime and yield it would be higher still.
+
+| | Records/yr |
+|---|---|
+| ResurRec today, one shift | ~230k – 350k |
+| **CNX launch** (1 semi-auto, 1 shift) | **90k – 135k** |
+| CNX Duplex (2 semi-auto, 1–2 shifts) | ~300k – 600k |
+| CNX mature (2 semi + 2 automated, 2 shifts) | 1.0M – 1.5M |
+
+CNX does not overtake them on volume until the Duplex expansion, and does
+not clearly lead until the mature fleet. Nameplate is not sold output —
+their actual utilisation is unknown, and an unconditioned floor will not
+hold top-end effectiveness through the wet season — but the fleet is
+real and should not be discounted.
+
+What remains true is the **quality and capability gap**, and it is where
+the whole differentiation now sits: no plating, no climate control, no
+metrology, no traceability. There is still no *industrial* vinyl plant in
+Thailand — but the gap CNX is closing is capability, not capacity, and it
+will be outgunned on presses for its first two phases.
+
+### The incumbent is press-rich and metal-poor
+
+With the fleet confirmed, the pricing behaviour in point 3 below stops
+looking like three separate quirks and starts looking like one constraint.
+A plant that can press 230,000–350,000 records a year:
+
+- **turns away 150-unit orders** because they cost too much,
+- discounts only **30% for a tenfold** increase in run size,
+- and needs **two to four extra weeks** for anything over 3,000.
+
+None of that is press capacity — 3,000 units is roughly three days of
+pressing on that fleet. Every one of those behaviours is explained by the
+**stamper being a purchased import**: it is the irreducible fixed cost that
+makes small runs uneconomic, the cost that does not fall with volume so
+the discount ladder stays flat, and — at 1,000–2,000 pressings per stamper
+— the reason a 3,000-unit run needs two or three sets and therefore
+another overseas order.
+
+**They have the presses. They cannot feed them.** That single sentence
+explains the entire observed price list, and it is the market position
+CNX's galvanics line is aimed at.
+
+It also reframes the collaboration. If the constraint is metalwork rather
+than machines, a CNX galvanics line could sell stampers **into their
+existing spare press capacity** — revenue against the galvanics capex
+before CNX presses anything itself. At 300 titles a year of their work
+that is ~6.6M THB (~200k USD); if faster stamper supply let them grow into
+their fleet, more. Against a 320–650k USD line that is a one-to-three-year
+payback **from a single customer**.
+
+Which raises a sequencing question the roadmap does not currently ask:
+**should galvanics come first rather than fifth?** It is a fraction of the
+full capex, it addresses the market's actual bottleneck, it earns before
+the press hall exists, and it is the one capability no one in the country
+has. The counter-argument is real — galvanics still needs a building, a
+clean room and zero-discharge water treatment, and it is the hardest skill
+to hire — but the option deserves costing rather than assuming.
+
+**The number that decides it is ResurRec's actual annual output and title
+count**, which is not known. At 300 titles the stamper opportunity is
+strong; at 100 it is marginal. Worth asking directly in the collaboration
+talks.
+
+**No HVAC turns the biggest cost line into the product.**
+[facility-security.md](../facility-security.md) specifies whole-factory
+climate control — 20–26 °C, 35–60% RH, PM filtration sized for
+burning-season PM2.5 — and the utilities budget treats it as overhead.
+Against a competitor pressing in uncontrolled Bangkok air it is a quality
+argument instead:
+
+- Moisture in PVC compound causes bubbles, non-fill and surface defects;
+  humidity also drives cooling rate, and so flatness and warp.
+- Airborne particulate embeds in the record surface. That is the classic
+  source of clicks and pops, and it is the complaint that gets a pressing
+  rejected by a label.
+- Thailand's burning season makes this seasonal as well as chronic — a
+  plant without filtration produces measurably different records in March
+  than in September.
+
+**Newbilt is now vendor-validated in Thailand, and that is worth money.**
+The incumbent runs Newbilt kit, which means the machines demonstrably
+survive Thai humidity and Thai power, and that somebody has already walked
+the import, commissioning and spares path CNX is about to walk. Two things
+to ask on the back of it, both free: ask **Newbilt** for their Thai
+install base and a service-response precedent — the northern-dispatch SLA
+question in [equipment-suppliers.md](../suppliers/equipment-suppliers.md)
+is much easier to answer with an in-country reference — and, if the
+collaboration talks progress, ask **ResurRec** directly what commissioning
+and support actually cost them.
+
+The corollary is a pricing one. CNX cannot win a price war at 200-unit
+runs against an operator with apartment rent and no HVAC load, and should
+not try. Nor is capacity the wedge — they can already press volume. It
+competes on what an unconditioned, non-plating shop cannot offer at any
+run size: export-grade QC and traceability, titles needing plating,
+consistent output through burning season, and the regional labels
+currently shipping to Europe, the US or Japan.
+
+### What the invoices say about the model
+
+**1. The galvanics saving is bigger than modelled.** The model credits
+in-house galvanics with removing 175–460 USD per title of external stamper
+cost. The observed differential is **~665 USD** — 1.4 to 3.8× higher, and
+it is a resold price rather than a plating cost, per the tour notes above.
+On a galvanics line at 320k–650k USD, and assuming in-house marginal cost
+(nickel, silver nitrate, chemistry, labour, QC, water treatment) runs
+25–35% of the external price, the net saving is roughly 430–500 USD per
+title:
+
+| Titles/yr | Annual saving | Payback on 320k | on 650k |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 300 | ~130–150k USD | ~2.1 yr | ~4.3 yr |
+| 600 | ~260–300k USD | ~1.1 yr | ~2.2 yr |
+
+A one-to-four-year payback is a materially better case than the model
+implied, and it is driven by **title count, not record volume** — which
+is an argument for pulling galvanics earlier than its current Phase 5
+slot in [roadmap.md](../roadmap.md).
+
+**2. Per-title services are understated by roughly 3 to 4×.** The model
+bundles mastering, cutting, stampers and test pressings into 19,000–57,000
+THB per title. At observed market rates a ten-track album masters at
+50,000–200,000 THB *before* the 22,000 THB stamper set — so the real
+per-title value is more like **72,000–222,000 THB (2,180–6,730 USD)**.
+
+At 300–600 titles/yr that is **0.65M to 4.0M USD/yr of title services**,
+against the 0.17M–0.69M in the table below. Two things cap it, and both
+are real:
+
+- **Mastering is labour-bound.** An engineer masters perhaps 2–4 songs a
+  day, so 600–1,200 songs or 60–120 albums per engineer per year. The
+  300–600 titles/yr in this model would need **3 to 5 mastering
+  engineers**; [scale.md](../scale.md) currently plans for 1 to 2.
+- CNX would not necessarily capture full boutique retail rates as a plant
+  rather than a studio.
+
+**3. The volume ladder, and what it gives away.** The 650–950 THB price is
+for **300 units**. The published discounts:
+
+| Run | Discount | THB/unit | USD/unit |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 150 (stated minimum) | — | rarely accepted, "cost is way too high" | |
+| **300 (reference)** | — | **650 – 950** | 19.70 – 28.80 |
+| 500 | −5% | 618 – 903 | 18.70 – 27.35 |
+| 1,000 – 3,000 | −15% | 553 – 808 | 16.75 – 24.45 |
+| >3,000 | −30% | 455 – 665 | 13.80 – 20.15 |
+| | | *+2 weeks to 1 month lead time* | |
+
+**The curve is remarkably flat.** A tenfold increase in run size buys only
+30% off. Solving the first three tiers as a fixed-plus-variable structure
+(the fit is good to ~2%) gives:
+
+- **Per-title fixed: ~34,000 – 50,000 THB** (1,030 – 1,515 USD)
+- **Per-unit variable: ~535 – 780 THB** (16.20 – 23.65 USD)
+
+Two readings fall out of that, and both matter.
+
+**The variable price is four to seven times the model's assumption.** This
+model prices a record at 115–150 THB (3.50–4.60 USD) blended. The Thai
+domestic market pays **535–780 THB** for the same per-unit scope, and even
+at the deepest >3,000 discount never drops below ~455 THB. Some of that
+gap is scope — their figure carries a printed jacket where this model
+passes packaging through separately — but nothing like all of it. Either
+the pricing assumption here is far too low for this market, or ResurRec is
+pricing at the import-parity ceiling that a sole domestic supplier can
+hold. Probably both, and a second plant would compress it. **It still says
+there is far more headroom in domestic pricing than this model assumes,
+and that is the most consequential finding in the data.**
+
+**The fixed figure does not reconcile, and that is informative.** At
+34,000–50,000 THB it barely covers the 22,000 THB stamper set plus one to
+three songs of mastering. So the 650–950 THB either does not fully carry
+album mastering, or albums are mastered far below the 5,000–20,000 THB
+per-song headline. Worth resolving — it is the difference between point 2
+above being a 3–4× understatement or a much smaller one.
+
+**The >3,000 lead-time penalty is probably a stamper problem, not a press
+problem.** At nameplate the two presses clear 3,000 units in about two
+days, so a two-to-four-week extension cannot be press time. The likely
+cause is in the numbers already in this repo: a stamper is good for
+**1,000–2,000 pressings**, so a 3,000-unit run needs **two to three
+stamper sets** — and with no plating in-house, every additional set is an
+overseas order. "Blocking out the entire factory" reads like scheduling
+around an imported-metalwork wait.
+
+If that inference is right it is the sharpest competitive fact yet found:
+**the incumbent's lead time degrades with run size precisely because they
+cannot plate**, while a plant with in-house galvanics pulls a fresh
+stamper off an archived mother in a day or two (see the repress path in
+[production-timeline.md](../production-timeline.md)). Their weakness at
+volume is structural and is the exact thing the Phase 5 galvanics line
+fixes.
+
+**And the floor of the market is unserved.** A 150-unit minimum that is
+"rarely accepted because the cost is way too high" means sub-300 runs are
+effectively unavailable in Thailand. That floor exists because per-title
+cost — an imported stamper set plus outsourced mastering — is irreducible
+for them. In-house cutting and plating collapses it, which makes short
+runs viable for CNX in a way they structurally are not for ResurRec.
+
+**What it does to the volume-versus-boutique question.** The model assumes
+1.0–1.5M records/yr across 300–600 titles, an average of 1,700–5,000 units
+per title. The market evidence says the reference order is 300 units and
+that 3,000+ is disruptive enough to need special handling. Those two
+pictures still do not fit together, and the earlier back-calculation of a
+200–400 unit typical run was right. But the resolution is now clearer than
+"pick one": the volume tiers exist and are priced, so larger runs are not
+absent from the market — they are **rationed by a metalwork bottleneck**
+that CNX would not have.
+
+### What is still missing
+
+- Is the 22,000 THB stamper set for a complete 12" (both sides), or per
+  stamper? This drives the two-to-three-sets inference above.
+- Does the >3,000 lead-time extension come from stamper supply, press
+  scheduling, or PVC procurement? Worth asking directly — it decides
+  whether their constraint is one CNX escapes.
+- Does 650–950 THB include jacket printing, or is packaging billed
+  separately?
+- Is the 5,000–20,000 THB/song mastering rate for general audio mastering,
+  or vinyl-specific mastering? Lacquer cutting is a separate service again
+  and is not obviously in either figure.
+- Is there album-rate pricing for mastering, or is it strictly per song?
+  Ten tracks at the 20,000 THB top end would be 200,000 THB, which seems
+  high for an indie release and suggests album rates exist.
+
+One further consequence worth naming: [README](../../README.md) records a
+collaboration with ResurRec as "under discussion", and the tour makes that
+look more like complementarity than rivalry. They press, they do not
+plate, and they cannot scale inside an apartment. A plating and mastering
+relationship — CNX supplying stampers and cut lacquers into their pressing
+capacity — is a plausible shape for it, and it would put revenue against
+the galvanics line from day one rather than waiting on CNX's own title
+count.
 
 ## Pricing assumptions (what a pressing plant charges)
 
-Typical Western pressing-service prices run roughly 2.50 to 5.00+ EUR per
+Typical Western pressing-service prices run roughly **2.90 to 5.80+ USD**
-12" record at volume for standard black, with premiums for color/splatter
+per 12" record at volume for standard black, with premiums for
-(+0.50 to 1.50), 180 g, and small runs; full-service with printed jacket
+color/splatter (+0.60 to 1.70), 180 g, and small runs; full-service with
-lands around 4 to 8 EUR per unit. Per-title service fees come on top:
+printed jacket lands around **4.60 to 9.20 USD** per unit. Per-title
-mastering, lacquer cutting, stamper sets, test pressings, setup.
+service fees come on top: mastering, lacquer cutting, stamper sets, test
+pressings, setup.
 
 Working assumptions for CNX at mature volume, blended across run sizes and
 standard/color mix:
 
-- **Blended pressing price: ~3.0 to 4.0 EUR per record** (pressing,
+- **Blended pressing price: ~3.50 to 4.60 USD per record**
-  labels, inner sleeve, assembly into customer-supplied or locally-made
+  (~115 to 150 THB) — pressing, labels, inner sleeve, assembly into
-  jacket; deluxe packaging passed through at cost plus margin)
+  customer-supplied or locally-made jacket; deluxe packaging passed
-- **Per-title services: ~500 to 1,500 EUR per title** (mastering, cutting,
+  through at cost plus margin
-  stampers, test pressings), at roughly 300 to 600 titles/yr at full
+- **Per-title services: ~580 to 1,730 USD per title** (~19,000 to 57,000
-  capacity
+  THB) for mastering, cutting, stampers, test pressings, at roughly 300
+  to 600 titles/yr at full capacity
 - Dropshipping/fulfillment fees per parcel on top, not modeled here
 
+**These two assumptions are the ones the market data contradicts most
+sharply.** Domestic Thai pricing runs 535–780 THB per unit on the variable
+scope against the 115–150 THB assumed here, and per-title services look
+understated as well. The figures above are deliberately left at the
+conservative Western-benchmark level until a second data point exists:
+re-basing the whole model on one supplier's price list, in a market with
+one supplier, would be worse than leaving it low. Test it at Making Vinyl,
+then re-base.
+
 ## Revenue at full capacity
 
-| Scenario | Records/yr | Pressing revenue | Title services | Total |
+| Scenario | Records/yr | Pressing revenue | Title services | Total USD | Total THB |
-|---|---|---|---|---|
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-| Mature, low | 1.0M | ~3.0M EUR | ~0.15M EUR | **~3.2M EUR/yr** |
+| Mature, low | 1.0M | ~3.5M | ~0.17M | **~3.7M/yr** | **~122M/yr** |
-| Mature, high | 1.5M | ~5.3M EUR | ~0.6M EUR | **~5.9M EUR/yr** |
+| Mature, high | 1.5M | ~6.1M | ~0.69M | **~6.8M/yr** | **~224M/yr** |
 
-(Low: 1.0M x 3.0 EUR + 300 titles x 500 EUR. High: 1.5M x 3.5 EUR + 600
+(Low: 1.0M x 3.50 USD + 300 titles x 580 USD. High: 1.5M x 4.05 USD + 600
-titles x 1,000 EUR. A pure-volume plant runs at the low per-title end; a
+titles x 1,155 USD. A pure-volume plant runs at the low per-title end; a
 boutique-heavy mix pushes the title line up and the volume down.)
 
 ## Direct cost per record (estimates)
 
-| Cost element | EUR/record | Basis |
+| Cost element | USD/record | THB/record | Basis |
-|---|---|---|
+|---|---|---|---|
-| PVC compound | 0.25 to 0.40 | ~150 to 160 g effective virgin per record at 1.5 to 2.5 EUR/kg record-grade; regrind loop covers scrap |
+| PVC compound | 0.29 to 0.46 | 9.6 to 15.2 | ~150 to 160 g effective virgin per record at 1.75 to 2.90 USD/kg record-grade; regrind loop covers scrap |
-| Labels | 0.03 to 0.08 | printed pairs, volume |
+| Labels | 0.03 to 0.09 | 1.1 to 3.0 | printed pairs, volume |
-| Inner sleeve | 0.08 to 0.15 | poly-lined |
+| Inner sleeve | 0.09 to 0.17 | 3.0 to 5.7 | poly-lined |
-| Jacket (standard) | 0.35 to 0.80 | local carton partners; pass-through-ish |
+| Jacket (standard) | 0.40 to 0.92 | 13.3 to 30.4 | local carton partners; pass-through-ish |
-| Shrink wrap | 0.02 to 0.03 | film |
+| Shrink wrap | 0.02 to 0.03 | 0.8 to 1.1 | film |
-| Energy | 0.10 to 0.20 | ~1.5 to 2 kWh blended per record at grid/solar mix |
+| Energy | 0.12 to 0.23 | 3.8 to 7.6 | ~1.5 to 2 kWh blended per record at grid/solar mix |
-| Production labor | 0.20 to 0.35 | 15 to 25 staff across shifts at Thai wage levels over 1.0 to 1.5M records |
+| Production labor | 0.23 to 0.40 | 7.6 to 13.3 | 15 to 25 staff across shifts at Thai wage levels over 1.0 to 1.5M records |
-| Stamper amortization | 0.03 to 0.06 | in-house stamper over 1,000 to 2,000 pressings |
+| Stamper amortization | 0.03 to 0.07 | 1.1 to 2.3 | in-house stamper over 1,000 to 2,000 pressings |
-| Maintenance, spares, consumables | 0.10 to 0.20 | estimate |
+| Maintenance, spares, consumables | 0.12 to 0.23 | 3.8 to 7.6 | estimate |
-| Reject allowance | 0.10 to 0.15 | 5 to 10% reject rate carried by good units |
+| Reject allowance | 0.12 to 0.17 | 3.8 to 5.7 | 5 to 10% reject rate carried by good units |
-| **Total direct cost** | **~1.3 to 2.4** | |
+| **Total direct cost** | **~1.45 to 2.75** | **~48 to 91** | |
 
 ## Margin per record
 
-- Blended price ~3.0 to 4.0 EUR minus direct cost ~1.3 to 2.4 EUR gives a
+- Blended price 3.50–4.60 USD minus direct cost 1.45–2.75 USD gives a
-  **gross margin of roughly 1.2 to 1.8 EUR per record (~40 to 55%)**
+  **gross margin of ~1.95 USD per record at the midpoint (~64 THB, ~48%)**
+- The spread around that is wide and worth stating rather than hiding in
+  a range: the adverse corner — low price meeting high cost — leaves
+  **0.75 USD (21%)**, and the favourable corner **3.15 USD (68%)**.
+  Neither extreme is likely, but it shows that price realisation and cost
+  control each move the margin by more than a third on their own
 - Overheads on top: admin/sales, insurance, facility running costs, and
-  depreciation (~300k to 600k EUR/yr on the 4M to 7.7M full-vision capex
+  depreciation (~350k to 700k USD/yr on the 4.7M to 8.9M full-vision
-  over 10 to 15 years), together roughly 0.4 to 0.7 EUR per record at full
+  capex over 10 to 15 years), together roughly 0.45 to 0.80 USD per
-  volume
+  record at full volume
 
-Rough operating picture at full capacity: **EBITDA ~0.8 to 1.5M EUR/yr;
+Rough operating picture at full capacity: **EBITDA ~0.9 to 1.7M USD/yr
-operating profit after depreciation ~0.5 to 1.0M EUR/yr**, before tax.
+(~30M to 56M THB); operating profit after depreciation ~0.6 to 1.2M
-The BOI CIT exemptions (solar, automation, and any merit measures) shield a
+USD/yr (~20M to 40M THB)**, before tax. The BOI CIT exemptions (solar,
-meaningful part of early-year profits; see [boi.md](../boi.md).
+automation, and any merit measures) shield a meaningful part of early-year
+profits; see [boi.md](../boi.md).
+
+**Both roll-ups predate the margin correction above** and sit at the
+conservative end of what it now implies — a midpoint margin of 1.95 USD
+over 1.0–1.5M records leaves more than this once overheads come off. They
+are deliberately not re-derived here. The inputs they rest on
+(utilisation, overhead per record, the blended price itself) are all
+unvalidated, so re-running the arithmetic would give the output a
+precision the inputs do not have. The whole P&L should be rebuilt when
+the model is re-based after market validation, not before.
 
 Payback on the full-vision capex at these margins: **roughly 5 to 8
 years at mid assumptions** (the adverse corner, high capex meeting low
@@ -82,20 +409,34 @@ proves the market before the big blocks are bought.
 - **Regional position**: an Asia-Pacific full-service plant competes on
   turnaround and freight against EU/US plants for regional labels; pricing
   power there is unproven and is the single biggest assumption in this
-  model
+  model. The turnaround claim is quantified in
-- **In-house galvanics** removes 150 to 400 EUR per title of external
+  [production-timeline.md](../production-timeline.md)
-  stamper cost and days of turnaround, feeding both margin and the sales
+- **In-house galvanics** removes **~665 USD** per title of external
-  story
+  stamper cost — the observed ResurRec differential, up from the 175–460
+  USD previously estimated — plus three to five weeks of turnaround,
+  feeding both margin and the sales story
 - **Energy**: solar plus heat recovery pushes the energy line toward the
   low end and hedges Thai tariff rises
+- **The currency mismatch is a live exposure.** Revenue is quoted to
+  export customers in USD or EUR while roughly two-thirds of the direct
+  cost base (labor, energy, local cartons, maintenance) is incurred in
+  THB. A stronger baht compresses margin directly: at the mid case, a 10%
+  THB appreciation takes roughly 0.10 to 0.15 USD off the gross margin
+  per record without a single operational change. Worth deciding early
+  whether to quote regional customers in THB.
 
 ## Honest caveats
 
-- No market validation yet: no signed customers, no confirmed regional
+- Still no signed customers and no seller-side validation. The August 2026
-  price points; the Making Vinyl trip and early conversations should test
+  data point above is buy-side, from one plant and one buyer, and it
-  the 3.0 to 4.0 EUR blended assumption before it anchors any financing
+  contradicts the model on per-title services and probably on run size.
-  case
+  The Making Vinyl trip and early conversations should test the 3.50 to
+  4.60 USD blended assumption — and the run-size question — before either
+  anchors a financing case
 - Demand risk is real: vinyl demand is cyclical and capacity has been
   added globally; the model assumes the plant can sell what it presses
 - The reject allowance assumes the QC investment holds rejects at or below
   industry norms; early production will run worse before it runs better
+- FX is a snapshot. Every figure here restates research done at ~38
+  THB/EUR and ~33 THB/USD; the ranges are wider than the FX noise, but the
+  totals should be re-based, not just re-converted, if rates move much

docs/finance/total-investment.md

@@ -4,32 +4,39 @@ Everything priced or estimated so far, rolled into one view. Blocks marked
 "estimate" have no vendor confirmation; the rest trace to quotes or the
 researched ranges in this repo. Treat all figures as budgetary with a wide
 margin (plus or minus 30 to 50% on the estimates) until RFQs replace them.
-FX: ~38 THB/EUR. Compiled July 2026.
+
+**Currency: USD and THB.** FX at 5 August 2026: **1 USD = 33 THB**.
+Vendor quotes issued in another currency are kept in that currency
+wherever they appear next to their source document, and converted here at
+**1 EUR = 1.155 USD** and **1 GBP = 1.35 USD**. Original figures compiled
+July 2026; the underlying THB estimates are unchanged, because EUR/THB at
+~38 is where it was when they were made.
 
 ## Full vision, all blocks
 
-| Block | Low (EUR) | High (EUR) | Basis |
+| Block | USD | THB | Basis |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| Newbilt semi-auto line, full Duplex | 300,000 | 320,000 | 2024 quote 200,500 + quoted 2nd press/extruder ~100,000; expired, needs re-quote |
+| Newbilt semi-auto line, full Duplex | 350k – 370k | 11.5M – 12.2M | 2024 quote EUR 200,500 (~USD 232k) + quoted 2nd press/extruder ~USD 115k; expired, needs re-quote |
-| 2 automated presses (Pheenix AD12) | 500,000 | 800,000 | unverified ~$340k/press indicative + delivery and commissioning |
+| 2 automated presses (Pheenix AD12) | 580k – 920k | 19.1M – 30.5M | unverified ~USD 340k/press indicative + delivery and commissioning |
-| Galvanics line (Digital Matrix) | 280,000 | 560,000 | six-figure-USD turnkey inference from vendor research |
+| Galvanics line (Digital Matrix) | 320k – 650k | 10.7M – 21.4M | six-figure-USD turnkey inference from vendor research |
-| Zero-discharge water treatment (ZLD) | 80,000 | 210,000 | utilities CSV option row, 3-8M THB |
+| Zero-discharge water treatment (ZLD) | 90k – 240k | 3.0M – 8.0M | utilities CSV option row |
-| Stamper prep (Sibert VSP, VSF, VSC) | 50,000 | 150,000 | estimate, pricing unpublished |
+| Stamper prep (Sibert VSP, VSF, VSC) | 60k – 170k | 1.9M – 5.7M | estimate, pricing unpublished |
-| Mastering and cutting room (Agnew lathe and head, cutter amps, console, room treatment) | 250,000 | 500,000 | estimate, bespoke market |
+| Mastering and cutting room (Agnew lathe and head, cutter amps, console, room treatment) | 290k – 580k | 9.6M – 19.1M | estimate, bespoke market |
-| Metrology and QC stack (confocal, profiler, XRF, inline vision, audio station) | 300,000 | 700,000 | estimate, phaseable |
+| Metrology and QC stack (confocal, profiler, XRF, inline vision, audio station) | 350k – 810k | 11.5M – 26.7M | estimate, phaseable |
-| Utilities, solar, HVAC, racking baseline | 630,000 | 1,100,000 | reviewed utilities CSV, 23.98-41.63M THB |
+| Utilities, solar, HVAC, racking baseline | 730k – 1,270k | 24.0M – 41.6M | reviewed [utilities CSV](utilities-investment.csv), THB-native |
-| Building ~1,500 m² plus civil works | 560,000 | 950,000 | estimate at 12,000-20,000 THB/m² Thai industrial construction plus ~20% site works |
+| Building ~1,500 m² plus civil works | 650k – 1,100k | 21.4M – 36.2M | estimate at 12,000–20,000 THB/m² Thai industrial construction plus ~20% site works |
-| Land 6-8 rai, if purchased | 315,000 | 840,000 | estimate at 2-4M THB/rai industrial; leasing cuts this to near zero upfront |
+| Land 6–8 rai, if purchased | 360k – 970k | 12.0M – 32.0M | estimate at 2–4M THB/rai industrial; leasing cuts this to near zero upfront |
-| Traceability and factory software | 50,000 | 150,000 | estimate |
+| Traceability and factory software | 60k – 170k | 1.9M – 5.7M | estimate |
-| Freight, installation, training (non-Newbilt equipment) | 100,000 | 200,000 | estimate |
+| Freight, installation, training (non-Newbilt equipment) | 120k – 230k | 3.8M – 7.6M | estimate |
-| Working capital, PVC stock, spares | 100,000 | 200,000 | estimate |
+| Working capital, PVC stock, spares | 120k – 230k | 3.8M – 7.6M | estimate |
-| Subtotal | ~3,500,000 | ~6,700,000 | |
+| Subtotal | ~4.1M – 7.7M | ~135M – 254M | |
-| Contingency 15% | ~500,000 | ~1,000,000 | |
+| Contingency 15% | ~0.6M – 1.2M | ~20M – 38M | |
-| **Total, full vision** | **~4,000,000** | **~7,700,000** | **~150M to 290M THB** |
+| **Total, full vision** | **~4.7M – 8.9M USD** | **~155M – 294M THB** | |
 
 ## Phased entry
 
-A credible launch phase is far smaller, roughly **1.5M to 2.5M EUR**:
+A credible launch phase is far smaller, roughly **1.7M to 2.9M USD
+(~57M to 95M THB)**:
 
 - Newbilt Single system (not Duplex yet)
 - Bridge stampers from Stamper Discs, so no galvanics line at launch
@@ -50,11 +57,20 @@ exactly this reason.
   blocks, and the solar and automation spend converts into CIT-exemption
   headroom; the application precedes every purchase order (see
   [boi.md](../boi.md))
-- **Buy vs lease** on land and building swings roughly 0.9M to 1.8M EUR of
+- **Buy vs lease** on land and building swings roughly **1.0M to 2.1M
-  upfront capital
+  USD (~34M to 69M THB)** of upfront capital, and also moves the launch
+  date by about three quarters — see
+  [project-timeline.md](../project-timeline.md)
 - **Biggest uncertainty bands**: metrology (partly a choice of ambition),
   the mastering/cutting room (bespoke vendor, no public pricing), the
   automated presses (single unverified price point), and land
+- **Currency exposure is real and is not modelled here.** Revenue is
+  mostly USD/EUR from export customers, the cost base is mostly THB, and
+  the largest single equipment block is EUR-denominated and unhedged
+  against an order that will not be placed for roughly a year (see
+  [project-timeline.md](../project-timeline.md)). A 10% move in EUR/THB
+  between now and the Newbilt order is worth ~USD 25–35k on that line
+  alone. Ask for the re-quote to state its currency and validity period.
 - Every band narrows only with RFQs; the supplier map in
   [equipment-suppliers.md](../suppliers/equipment-suppliers.md) lists who
   to ask

docs/production-timeline.md

@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+# Production Timeline: Order to Delivered Record
+
+How long an order actually takes, stage by stage. This is the time
+dimension of [process-flow.md](process-flow.md), which lists all nine
+stages and every check but no durations.
+
+The repo asserts turnaround as the core regional advantage in four
+places — "competes on turnaround and freight against EU/US plants",
+"in-house galvanics removes days of turnaround", "validate turnaround
+against the regional pitch", "get a written turnaround SLA" — without
+ever putting a number on it. This page puts numbers on it so the claim
+can be tested at Making Vinyl instead of repeated.
+
+**Every figure is an estimate** from industry norms and this repo's own
+equipment data. Nothing is vendor-confirmed and no order has ever run
+through this plant. Durations are **working days** unless stated;
+divide by 5 for weeks, and note that Thai public holidays run to
+16–20 days a year, clustered heavily around Songkran in April.
+
+## The headline
+
+| Configuration | Plant-controlled | Including customer gates |
+|---|---|---|
+| **Launch** (bridge stampers, no in-house cutting or galvanics) | ~21–39 days | **~8 to 14 weeks** |
+| **Mature** (full chain in-house) | ~14–20 days | **~5 to 10 weeks** |
+| **Repress** from an archived mother, no changes | ~7–11 days | **~2 to 3 weeks** |
+
+Reported EU/US plant lead times currently run roughly **10 to 16 weeks**
+for a standard black LP, down from the 6-to-9-month peak of 2021–22. An
+Asian label using a European plant adds freight on top of that in both
+directions. So the mature configuration is a genuine regional advantage
+and the launch configuration is merely competitive — which matters,
+because the launch configuration is what the first two years actually
+sell.
+
+**Bringing cutting and galvanics in-house takes roughly 3 to 5 weeks out
+of the quoted lead time.** That is the number behind the sales story,
+and it is the commercial case for the Phase 5 galvanics line stated in
+time rather than in the ~665 USD per title of stamper cost that
+[revenue-model.md](finance/revenue-model.md) already counts.
+
+## Two tracks run in parallel
+
+A full-service order is not one chain. The metal path and the packaging
+path run concurrently and converge at assembly, and **the packaging path
+is the one that most often slips**, because it waits on artwork the
+customer owes and on a print partner who is not us.
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    subgraph M[Metal and record path]
+        A[Audio intake] --> B[Mastering] --> C[Cutting]
+        C --> D[Galvanics] --> E[Stamper prep] --> F[Test pressing]
+        F --> G[Production run] --> H[Finishing]
+    end
+    subgraph P[Packaging path]
+        X[Artwork received] --> Y[Proof and Delta E approval]
+        Y --> Z[Carton and sleeve print run]
+    end
+    H --> I[Assembly and packaging]
+    Z --> I
+    I --> J[Fulfilment]
+```
+
+Printed jackets from a local carton partner typically need **10 to 20
+working days** from approved artwork. That fits comfortably underneath
+the metal path — but only if artwork lands early. When a label delivers
+artwork after approving the test pressing, the jackets become the
+critical path and every day of metalwork saved is wasted.
+
+**Consequence for the order intake process:** artwork deadline is
+effectively a fourth approval gate and should be contracted as one,
+alongside the three artist gates in
+[process-flow.md](process-flow.md). It is not currently modelled as a
+gate anywhere in the repo.
+
+## Stage by stage
+
+Times below are elapsed scheduled duration for one title, not touch
+labour. The "launch" column reflects the phased entry in
+[total-investment.md](finance/total-investment.md): bridge stampers from
+Stamper Discs, lacquer cutting brokered through their EU partners, and
+no mastering room of our own.
+
+| # | Stage | Launch | Mature | Notes |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | Audio intake and technical QA | 1–2 | 1–2 | Checksums, format, levels, side-length vs format. Rejects here are cheap; rejects later are not |
+| — | **Gate: master plan approved** | *customer* | *customer* | 2–10 days in practice |
+| 2 | Vinyl mastering | 3–7 | 2–4 | Launch: external engineer or partner. Mature: in-house room, and queue depth becomes ours to manage |
+| — | **Gate: master approved** | *customer* | *customer* | 2–10 days; more if the artist wants revisions |
+| 3 | Lathe cutting to lacquer | — | 1–2 | Includes test cut, groove microscope, dead-wax scribe |
+| 4 | Silvering and electroforming | — | 2–4 | Three generations plus XRF, metrology, mother listening check |
+| 5 | Stamper prep | — | 1 | Punch, back-finish, coin, concentricity |
+| 3–5 | **Outsourced cut + metal** (launch only) | 10–20 | — | Stamper Discs, Sheffield; queue is theirs, not ours |
+| — | **Stamper freight UK → TH + customs** | 3–7 | — | Air freight; nickel travels well, unlike lacquer |
+| 6 | Press setup and test pressing | 1 | 0.5–1 | Mold change, stamper mount, warm-up, 10–20 TPs |
+| — | **TP to artist + gate: TP approved** | *5–15* | *5–15* | Courier plus listening time. The single largest customer-side block |
+| 7 | Production run | 1–5 | 1–3 | Throughput table below |
+| 8 | Finishing, assembly, packaging | 2–4 | 2–3 | Trim is inline; shrink and jacket assembly are labour-bound |
+| 9 | Fulfilment and dispatch | 1–3 | 1–2 | Bulk pallet, or per-parcel dropship on an ongoing basis |
+
+Two things the table deliberately does not hide:
+
+- **Stages 3, 4 and 5 collapse into one 10–20 day external block at
+  launch**, and its duration is not ours to control. That is precisely
+  why [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 14 calls for a **written turnaround
+  SLA** with Stamper Discs. Without one, the whole quoted lead time
+  rests on a supplier's goodwill, and they have no documented Asian
+  customers to set expectations from.
+- **Lacquers do not fly.** A cut lacquer is soft nitrocellulose, heat-
+  and shock-sensitive, and wants plating within roughly 24 to 72 hours.
+  The launch configuration is sound precisely because it never ships
+  one: audio goes to Europe as a file, the lacquer is cut and plated in
+  the same region, and only finished nickel stampers make the journey.
+  Any future arrangement that cuts in Thailand and plates abroad — or
+  the reverse — would be a quality risk, not just a slower schedule.
+
+## Production run throughput
+
+From the fleet assumptions in [scale.md](scale.md), after the 60–70%
+overall effectiveness already applied there.
+
+| Fleet | Good records/day | 300 units | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| Launch: 1 semi-auto, 1 shift | ~300–450 | <1 day | 1–2 | 2–3 | 5–7 |
+| Duplex: 2 semi-auto, 2 shifts | ~1,000–1,500 | <1 | <1 | 1 | 1–2 |
+| Mature: 2 semi + 2 auto, 2 shifts | ~3,300–5,000 | <1 | <1 | <1 | <1 |
+
+Read these as **press-days, not calendar days**. At mature scale no
+single title gets the whole plant; it gets a scheduled slot. Past
+roughly 60% utilisation the queue in front of the press starts to
+dominate everything in the table above it, and quoted lead time
+decouples from process time entirely.
+
+That is the standard failure mode for pressing plants and it is worth
+stating plainly: **lead time is a capacity decision, not a process
+decision.** A plant running at 90% quotes 16 weeks with the same
+equipment that quotes 6 weeks at 50%. Any turnaround promise made to
+the market is implicitly a promise to hold spare capacity.
+
+Small runs invert the arithmetic. At 300 units the run itself is under
+an hour of pressing and the entire timeline is setup, approvals and
+assembly — which is exactly the boutique/color work the semi-automatic
+line exists to serve, per
+[pressing-line.md](equipment/pressing-line.md). Small runs are not
+faster to deliver; they are only cheaper to press.
+
+## Repress: the shortest path in the plant
+
+A repress of an existing title with no artwork or audio changes skips
+stages 1 through 3 and all three artist gates. If a **mother** was
+archived, a fresh stamper is pulled and the order runs:
+
+| Step | Days |
+|---|---|
+| Pull stamper from archived mother | 1–2 |
+| Stamper prep | 1 |
+| Press setup, first-article check | 0.5 |
+| Production run (1,000) | 1–3 |
+| Finishing, assembly, dispatch | 3–5 |
+| **Total** | **~7–11 working days** |
+
+Two commercial consequences worth acting on:
+
+- **Choose the 3-step process and archive mothers.** Stamper Discs
+  offers both 1-step and 3-step. A 1-step stamper is faster and cheaper
+  for a one-off, but it is a single-use part: there is no mother to go
+  back to, so a repress restarts at lacquer cutting and costs the
+  customer six weeks and a new cutting fee. 3-step buys the two-week
+  repress, and that repress is the highest-margin order the plant will
+  ever take.
+- **The mother archive is an asset with a shelf life.** It needs the
+  storage conditions and the genealogy records that
+  [traceability.md](traceability.md) already specifies, and a stated
+  retention policy — how long a customer's mothers are kept before
+  they are scrapped or returned. That policy does not exist yet and
+  should be in the customer contract, not discovered later.
+
+## What to promise a customer
+
+A defensible quoted lead time is **not** the sum of the mature column.
+It carries queue and it carries a buffer, and it should be quoted from
+the last customer gate, not from order date — the plant cannot be held
+to a clock the customer keeps stopping.
+
+| Order type | Quote | Basis |
+|---|---|---|
+| New title, full service, launch config | **10–14 weeks** | Stage sum plus external metal queue plus buffer |
+| New title, full service, mature config | **7–9 weeks** | |
+| New title, customer supplies jackets | **−1 to 2 weeks** | Removes the print path |
+| Repress from archived mother | **2–3 weeks** | |
+| Rush slot | **premium, capped per month** | Only credible with reserved capacity |
+
+Quote in weeks from **test-pressing approval**, with the pre-approval
+stages quoted separately as "typically X weeks, subject to your
+approvals". Every plant that quotes from order date and gets caught by
+a slow artist ends up explaining itself.
+
+## Honest caveats
+
+- **No order has ever run through this plant.** These are planning
+  numbers built from vendor throughput data and industry norms, and
+  early production will run slower than any of them while the reject
+  rate settles — [revenue-model.md](finance/revenue-model.md) already
+  concedes the same about its 5–10% reject allowance.
+- **The external metal block at launch is unmeasured.** 10–20 days is
+  an industry-typical figure, not a Stamper Discs commitment. Get it in
+  writing before it appears in a customer quote.
+- **Equipment lead times are absent from the repo entirely** and do not
+  affect this page, but do affect
+  [project-timeline.md](project-timeline.md), which is where they
+  matter.
+- **The competitive comparison is the least validated part.** Whether
+  regional labels will actually pay for 7 weeks instead of 14 plus
+  freight is the same open question as the 3.50–4.60 USD blended price,
+  and both should be tested in the same conversations at Making Vinyl.
+  A turnaround advantage nobody pays a premium for is a cost, not a
+  moat.

docs/project-timeline.md

@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+# Project Timeline: Today to First Paying Release
+
+A calendar against the dependency-ordered phases in
+[roadmap.md](roadmap.md). That page deliberately carries no dates —
+"the clock starts when the first-phase items move" — and it is right to,
+because nothing in Phase 0 has moved yet. This page is the other half of
+that: what the calendar looks like **if** Phase 0 starts now, so the
+consequences of delay are visible and the critical path is explicit.
+
+Anchored at **August 2026**. Every duration is an estimate; the ones
+that are not in this repo at all are flagged as such, and one of them
+governs the whole schedule.
+
+## The answer
+
+**First paying release lands around Q4 2028 to Q1 2029 — roughly 27 to
+30 months from today**, on the buy-and-build path with a BOI-funded
+machinery order.
+
+The critical path is not construction and not money. It is:
+
+> **BOI certificate → press order → press build → sea freight →
+> commissioning**
+
+Everything else, including the entire building, has float against that
+chain. Which means the two things that actually move the date are the
+BOI filing date and the press vendor's build time — and **the second
+one is not documented anywhere in this repo.**
+
+## Gantt
+
+```mermaid
+gantt
+    title CNX Vinyl - Phase 1 to first paying release
+    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
+    axisFormat %b %y
+
+    section Gates (Phase 0)
+    Market validation / Making Vinyl   :a1, 2026-08-01, 120d
+    BOI consultant engaged             :a2, 2026-08-01, 60d
+    BOI application prepared           :a3, after a2, 90d
+    60 rai title check                 :a4, 2026-08-01, 90d
+
+    section BOI
+    Application filed                  :milestone, m1, 2026-12-15, 0d
+    BOI review and analyst meeting     :b1, 2026-12-15, 150d
+    Promotion certificate              :milestone, m2, 2027-05-15, 0d
+    Company incorporation              :b2, after m2, 45d
+
+    section Land and building
+    Zoning and title verification      :c1, 2026-09-01, 90d
+    Soil boring test                   :c2, after c1, 30d
+    Land purchase or lease             :c3, after c2, 60d
+    Design and building permit         :c4, 2027-03-01, 120d
+    Phase 1 construction               :c5, 2027-07-01, 240d
+    Utilities, solar, fit-out          :c6, 2028-03-01, 120d
+    Ror.Ngor.4 factory licence         :c7, 2028-01-01, 150d
+
+    section Equipment (critical path)
+    Newbilt re-quote incl. lead time   :d1, 2026-08-01, 90d
+    Press order signed                 :milestone, m3, 2027-06-15, 0d
+    Press build at vendor              :d2, 2027-06-15, 300d
+    Sea freight Alsdorf to Thailand    :d3, after d2, 50d
+    Install and commission             :d4, 2028-07-01, 75d
+
+    section Launch
+    Hire and train launch team         :e1, 2028-05-01, 120d
+    First test pressings               :e2, 2028-09-15, 45d
+    First paying release               :milestone, m4, 2028-11-15, 0d
+```
+
+## The critical path, step by step
+
+| # | Step | Duration | Source |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | Engage BOI consultant, prepare application | 4–5 months | Estimate; the application must stack solar, automation and R&D measures ([boi.md](boi.md)) |
+| 2 | BOI review to certificate | 4–6 months | [boi.md](boi.md): ~40 working days decision, 4–6 months in practice |
+| 3 | Company incorporation under the certificate | 1–2 months | [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 10 |
+| 4 | Press order to vendor-ready | **9–12 months** | **Not in this repo — assumed.** See below |
+| 5 | Sea freight Germany → Thailand | 6–8 weeks | Newbilt quote includes freight and seaworthy packaging |
+| 6 | Install, commission, train | 2–3 months | Newbilt includes 5 days; the rest at ~USD 97/h plus travel |
+| 7 | Test pressings, QC baseline, reject shakedown | 1.5–2 months | [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 19 |
+| | **Total** | **~27–33 months** | |
+
+### The one number that governs everything
+
+**Nobody has written down how long Newbilt takes to build a Single 2.1
+system.** It is not in the 2024 budgetary offer summary, not in the site
+requirements, not in `equipment-suppliers.md`, and not in
+`pressing-line.md`. The 9–12 months above is an industry-typical figure
+for a built-to-order press system from a small German manufacturer, and
+it is carrying about **40% of the entire schedule**.
+
+If the real figure is 15–18 months — entirely plausible for a shop of
+Newbilt's size with a full order book — first production moves to late
+2029 and the whole plan shifts by half a year.
+
+**Action, and it is free:** [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 4 already
+calls for a Newbilt re-quote, since the 2024 offer has expired. Add
+**quoted build time and current order-book position** as required fields
+in that re-quote, and ask Pheenix Alpha the same in item 5. This is one
+line in an email that is being sent anyway, and it is the single
+highest-value piece of missing information in the project.
+
+### The lever worth checking first
+
+The sequencing rule in [boi.md](boi.md) is stated as: BOI approval comes
+before "any machinery purchase orders", because duty exemption is not
+retroactive and the certificate defines the import window.
+
+That serialises ~9 months of press build **behind** ~10 months of BOI
+process, and it is where most of the 27 months comes from.
+
+But the duty exemption attaches at **importation**, not at contract
+signature. If an order can be placed — even with a deposit — while the
+BOI application is in review, so long as the machinery *clears customs*
+after the certificate is issued and appears on the approved machinery
+list, then steps 2 and 4 overlap and **the launch pulls forward by six
+to nine months**.
+
+This is not a claim, it is a question, and it is the first question to
+put to the BOI consultant in [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 2:
+
+> Can we sign a machinery supply contract and pay a deposit before the
+> promotion certificate is issued, provided importation and customs
+> clearance occur after issuance and the item is on the approved
+> machinery list? What is the risk to the exemption if the certificate
+> is delayed or refused after the contract is signed?
+
+Nothing else on this page is worth six months. This is.
+
+## What has float, and how much
+
+| Track | Needed by | Float | Becomes critical if |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Land purchase | Design start, ~Q1 2027 | ~4 months | Zoning fails and a new site is needed (~6 months reset) |
+| Phase 1 construction | Machinery arrival, ~Q3 2028 | ~3–5 months | Soft-paddy soil forces piling, or permits stall |
+| Ror.Ngor.4 factory licence | First production, Q4 2028 | ~4 months | Galvanics effluent permitting is raised early — but galvanics is Phase 5, so keep it out of the Phase 1 licence scope |
+| Solar and BESS | Fit-out, ~Q2 2028 | large | Gobel lead time is documented at 50–60 days; not a risk |
+| Hiring and training | Commissioning, ~Q3 2028 | ~2 months | Galvanics process expertise — "the hardest skill to hire" per `equipment-suppliers.md` — but again, Phase 5 |
+
+Construction has the thinnest float of anything with a real duration,
+and it is thin for a reason: it cannot start until the land is bought,
+which cannot happen until zoning is verified, which has not started.
+**Zoning verification is the cheapest schedule insurance available** and
+it currently sits unowned — `scale.md` flags it as "still unverified"
+and gates "phase 1 every bit as much as phase 2".
+
+## The BOI windows are not a risk here
+
+Worth confirming explicitly, because they are hard deadlines with
+penalties:
+
+| Window | Deadline on this schedule | Actual need | Margin |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Machinery import, 30 months from certificate | ~Q4 2029 | Machinery clears customs ~Q3 2028 | **~15 months** |
+| Full operation, ~36 months from certificate | ~Q2 2030 | First production ~Q4 2028 | **~18 months** |
+
+Comfortable — but only on the buy-and-build path as drawn. The margin is
+consumed by exactly one scenario: filing BOI early to start the clock,
+then discovering the site does not work. Which is another argument for
+verifying zoning **before** filing, not after.
+
+## The lease-versus-build fork
+
+[total-investment.md](finance/total-investment.md) states the phased
+entry as "**leased building** instead of purchase", saving 1.0–2.1M USD
+of upfront capital. Recent work has gone the other way: a full
+parametric building model and a
+[construction RFQ](finance/phase1-construction-rfq.md) for a purpose-built
+60 × 25 m facility on a purchased Mueang Chi parcel.
+
+Both are legitimate. They are not both costed, and the difference is not
+only money:
+
+| | Lease | Buy and build |
+|---|---|---|
+| Upfront capital | ~0 | 1.0–2.1M USD (34–69M THB) |
+| On the critical path? | No | Yes, with ~3–5 months float |
+| Earliest first production | **~Q1–Q2 2028** | ~Q4 2028–Q1 2029 |
+| Slab rating, 3 t/m² | Must be verified in an existing building; most Thai light-industrial stock will not have it | Specified from the start |
+| 500–1,000 kVA supply | Existing connection, or a PEA upgrade with its own lead time | Designed in |
+| BOI land ownership privilege | Unused | Used |
+| Galvanics effluent, Phase 5 | Landlord's permission needed, and may not be given | Ours to permit |
+
+Leasing pulls the launch forward by roughly **three quarters** and frees
+a seven-figure sum, at the cost of a building that probably compromises
+on the two hardest requirements (floor loading and power) and may block
+the Phase 5 galvanics line entirely. Locating in the Northern Region
+Industrial Estate, which [boi.md](boi.md) already favours for its shared
+central effluent treatment, is the version of leasing that keeps the
+galvanics option alive.
+
+**This is an unresolved fork, not a decision I can make.** It is worth
+resolving before more design effort goes into the parametric model,
+because the model is only useful on one side of it.
+
+## The investor's CD and cassette request
+
+Adding CD and cassette to the plant has been raised by the main
+investor. Its effect on **this** schedule depends entirely on which of
+three very different things is meant, and the range is enormous:
+
+| Option | Capex order | Space | Effect on this timeline |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Cassette duplication | Tens of thousands USD | ~40–80 m² | **None.** Short lead times, fits inside the building programme, can be added during fit-out or later |
+| CD-R duplication, short run | Low tens of thousands | ~20–40 m² | **None** |
+| **CD replication** (glass mastering, injection moulding, metallising) | **Millions USD** | ~300–600 m² plus clean room | **Substantial** — new BOI activity codes, a larger building, and a second commissioning programme |
+
+The first two are schedule-neutral and can be decided late. The third is
+a different project bolted onto this one and would need to be in the BOI
+application from the start, since activity codes cannot be added
+casually afterwards.
+
+Because the answer changes by three orders of magnitude, this page
+assumes the vinyl-only critical path until the scope is settled. The
+substance of that decision is not a timeline question and is discussed
+separately.
+
+## What this page is not
+
+It is not a plan of record. No Phase 0 item has started, so the whole
+calendar shifts day for day with the BOI consultant engagement. It is a
+tool for seeing which delays cost time and which do not:
+
+- **A month lost engaging the BOI consultant costs a month of launch.**
+- A month lost on land or construction costs nothing, until the float is
+  gone.
+- A month lost getting the press lead time in writing costs nothing
+  today and may cost six months of surprise later.

docs/roadmap.md

@@ -8,11 +8,17 @@ Rough durations are estimates.
 
 These three run in parallel and gate everything downstream:
 
-1. **Market validation**: test the 3.0 to 4.0 EUR blended pressing price
+1. **Market validation**: test the 3.50 to 4.60 USD blended pressing price
    and regional demand with Asian labels and distributors, starting at
    Making Vinyl in Haarlem (Alexander and Simona). This is the biggest
    assumption in the [revenue model](finance/revenue-model.md); the
-   financing case waits on it.
+   financing case waits on it. **Partially started**: a first buy-side
+   data point and a factory tour (ResurRec Bangkok, August 2026) are
+   recorded in the revenue model. The prices disagree with the model on
+   per-title services and run size; the tour showed no plating and no
+   HVAC anywhere in the incumbent's operation, which is the strongest
+   argument yet for pulling galvanics forward from Phase 5. Carry the
+   open run-size question into these conversations.
 2. **BOI track**: engage a BOI-registered consultant, confirm the activity
    sub-code, and structure the application so the solar, automation, and
    R&D measures stack (see [boi.md](boi.md)). The application precedes
@@ -85,7 +91,12 @@ These three run in parallel and gate everything downstream:
 
 22. Duplex expansion (second press and extruder are already quoted options)
 23. Galvanics line in-house (silvering, electroforming, stamper prep) with
-    the zero-discharge water plant; Stamper Discs moves to overflow/backup
+    the zero-discharge water plant; Stamper Discs moves to overflow/backup.
+    **Open question: should this move to Phase 1?** The August 2026 market
+    evidence says the domestic bottleneck is imported metalwork, not press
+    capacity, and that a galvanics line could earn from the incumbent's
+    spare presses before CNX's own press hall exists — see the
+    [revenue model](finance/revenue-model.md)
 24. Automated press line (the 50/50 fleet target)
 25. Full metrology stack and the sampled audio QC station
 26. Biomass boiler, fed by the by-then-mature coppice plus regional fuel
@@ -97,5 +108,5 @@ These three run in parallel and gate everything downstream:
 Nothing in Phases 2 to 5 starts before its gate clears: no machinery order
 before the BOI certificate, no big-block spending before the market
 validates the price, no coppice fuel planning before the land title check.
-The phased entry (~1.5M to 2.5M EUR) is the default path; the full vision
+The phased entry (~1.7M to 2.9M USD) is the default path; the full vision
-(~4M to 7.7M EUR) is reached through it, not instead of it.
+(~4.7M to 8.9M USD) is reached through it, not instead of it.

docs/scale.md

@@ -20,6 +20,17 @@ realistic overall effectiveness of 60 to 70% applied. The theoretical
 ceiling of the mature fleet at 100% uptime is roughly 1.9 to 2.1 million
 records per year.
 
+**The 60–70% effectiveness assumption is worth challenging.** Newbilt
+publishes **≥95% yield and ≥95% uptime** for the Classic 12" automatic at
+a 28 s cycle (~128 records/h), and quotes ~30 s average for the Duplex.
+Even discounting the vendor's optimism and multiplying availability by
+yield by a realistic performance factor, that implies an OEE nearer 80%
+than 65% — which would make the capacity table here conservative by
+roughly a fifth to a third. Ask both press vendors for the **basis** of
+their uptime and yield figures (measured over what period, at what run
+length, counting which stoppages) as part of the re-quote. It is a free
+question and it moves the whole capacity model.
+
 ## Building
 
 | Zone | Rough area |
@@ -164,11 +175,15 @@ people** across shifts at maturity, fewer than half that at launch.
 
 ## Money (cross-references)
 
-- Newbilt semi-auto line: **~€200,500** (2024 quote, expired, in
+Figures in USD and THB at 1 USD = 33 THB (5 August 2026); vendor quotes
-  [pressing-line](equipment/pressing-line.md))
+keep their original currency alongside.
+
+- Newbilt semi-auto line: **~USD 232k (~7.7M THB)**, from the June 2024
+  quote of EUR 200,500 — expired, in
+  [pressing-line](equipment/pressing-line.md)
 - Thai-sourced utilities, HVAC, racking, solar, BESS baseline: **~24M to
-  42M THB** (~€630k to 1.1M), detail in the
+  42M THB (~USD 730k to 1.27M)**, detail in the
   [utilities CSV](finance/utilities-investment.csv)
-- Not yet priced: automated presses (indicative ~$340k each, unverified),
+- Not yet priced: automated presses (indicative ~USD 340k each, unverified),
   galvanics line, mastering/cutting room, metrology, building
   construction/fit-out, land

docs/suppliers/equipment-suppliers.md

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ Suppliers identified:
 
 | Supplier | Location | Offering | Notes |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| Newbilt machinery GmbH | Alsdorf, Germany | Single 2.1 system (VEX 50 extruder, HRP 12 press ~150 t, semi-auto), Duplex expansion, molds, Vario trimmer, grinder, label punch | 2024 quote 200,549.50 EUR incl. freight, expired, needs re-quote; contact via Hans-Juergen Helm |
+| Newbilt machinery GmbH | Alsdorf, Germany | Single 2.1 system (VEX 50 extruder, HRP 12 press ~150 t, semi-auto), Duplex expansion, molds, Vario trimmer, grinder, label punch. **Also builds the Classic 12" fully automatic press**: hydraulic **3-column** frame, **built-in 15 kW extruder** (3 heated zones, water-cooled screw), automatic patty loading, automatic label supply, automatic cooling-plate management, spindle stack output, Siemens Security PLC on a 10" touchscreen with SCADA / OPC UA, CE approved, **28 s cycle (~128 records/h)**, vendor-claimed **≥95% yield and ≥95% uptime**. So Newbilt is a single-vendor candidate for *both* fleet halves, not only the semi-auto one. Note the half-automatic press is a **4-column book-mould** design — column count is the quickest way to tell the two apart on a factory floor | 2024 quote EUR 200,549.50 (~USD 232k / ~7.7M THB) incl. freight, expired, needs re-quote; ask for build time and order-book position in the re-quote; **ResurRec Bangkok already runs one automatic + one semi-automatic Newbilt — ask for the Thai install base and a service-response precedent**; contact via Hans-Juergen Helm |
 | Pheenix Alpha | Solna, Sweden | AD12 fully automatic press (24-26 s cycle, ~140 records/h, 1 operator per 4 presses); AD12 Manual semi-auto | Direct Toolex Alpha successor; possible single-vendor option for both fleet halves; andreas.runsten@pheenixalpha.com |
 
 Open: decision between Newbilt semi-auto + Pheenix automatic vs. single
@@ -137,6 +137,15 @@ Suppliers identified (2021 contact list, needs refresh; full contacts in
 
 Open: identify and qualify Thai/regional PVC compound producers.
 
+**Lead (August 2026):** photographs from the ResurRec tour show the
+pressing floor stacked with kraft sacks printed **"MADE IN THAILAND"**,
+suggesting the incumbent already runs Thai-sourced material. The visible
+wording includes "Pigment", so these may be colorant/masterbatch rather
+than base compound — worth a photograph of a full sack label, or a direct
+question, to identify the supplier. Either answer is useful: a qualified
+Thai compound source would close this open item, and a Thai pigment source
+feeds the colour/splatter work the semi-automatic line is meant to serve.
+
 ## 8. Utilities and Site (customer-supplied around the machines)
 
 - Solar PV installation (large; panel and array sizing open until site
@@ -149,7 +158,8 @@ Open: identify and qualify Thai/regional PVC compound producers.
 - Battery storage: Gobel Power (Shenzhen, est. 2012) GP-SRA-HV314 HV rack
   BESS, 271 kWh = 15 stacked 18 kWh packs (LFP 314 Ah, 1P18S), DC 225-985 V,
   8000+ cycles, ~135 kW continuous discharge at 0.5P, CAN/RS485 with "Deye
-  CAN HV" protocol support. Listed USD 39,900-58,000, 50-60 day lead from
+  CAN HV" protocol support. Listed USD 39,900-58,000 (~1.3M to 1.9M THB),
+  50-60 day lead from
   China. Open checks: rack voltage vs. chosen Deye model's battery window
   (full 15-pack rack can exceed 800 V), safety certifications
   (UN38.3, IEC 62619, CE) not published, no performance warranty published,
@@ -175,8 +185,8 @@ site systems are compiled in
 
 | Supplier | Location | Offering | Notes |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| Kevin Da Costa | UK | Vinyl manufacturing consultancy: factory layout, installation, training, process optimization | GBP 10k-20k packages / GBP 450 per day; credentials self-stated, references needed |
+| Kevin Da Costa | UK | Vinyl manufacturing consultancy: factory layout, installation, training, process optimization | GBP 10k-20k packages (~USD 13.5k-27k) / GBP 450 per day (~USD 610); credentials self-stated, references needed |
-| Newbilt service | Germany | Installation, commissioning, training beyond the included 5 days | 2024 rate card: 84 EUR/h on-site plus surcharges and travel |
+| Newbilt service | Germany | Installation, commissioning, training beyond the included 5 days | 2024 rate card: EUR 84/h (~USD 97 / ~3,200 THB) on-site plus surcharges and travel |
 | buildfor.life | Thailand | Project consulting | Supporting |
 
 Open: mastering/cutting engineer training, galvanics process expertise