grabowski
4607a4da58
New docs/artist-platform.md: upload master and artwork with automatic audio, artwork and rights checks; an itemised price calculator for every customer (per-title vs per-copy lines, price-per-copy curve, lead time from the production-timeline quote table, versioned price list); and fan-funded campaigns that press and dropship per fan once the goal is reached, refund otherwise. Covers goal maths, payments (charge into a ring-fenced account, CNX as seller of record, legal opinion first; the Qrates failure as the design rule), repress pre-orders, architecture on the cnx-factory stack with the public side on a fleet machine, PDPA, phasing (calculator public early as a run-size probe, campaigns only after first releases ship), cost and open decisions. Backlinks from README, process flow, production timeline, revenue model, digital factory and roadmap items 1 and 20; total investment added-scope table gains the platform line.
192 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
192 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
# CNX Vinyl / Poy Records
|
|
|
|
A vinyl record factory in planning for the Chiang Mai area of northern
|
|
Thailand (site candidates include Lamphun and Lampang provinces). This
|
|
repository is the source of truth for the project: planning documents and
|
|
cost data today. As the factory takes shape it will also hold the data and
|
|
software used to run it.
|
|
|
|
## Team
|
|
|
|
- **Simona Meesaiyati**, Project Lead
|
|
- **Alexander Grabowski**, Technical Consultant
|
|
|
|
[buildfor.life](https://buildfor.life) supports the project in a consulting
|
|
capacity.
|
|
|
|
## Vision: Full-Service Production
|
|
|
|
The goal is the complete vinyl production chain under one roof, from audio
|
|
file to delivered record:
|
|
|
|
1. **Mastering**: audio mastering for vinyl
|
|
2. **Lathe cutting**: cutting the master disc
|
|
3. **Silvering**: metallizing the cut master
|
|
4. **Stamper production**: electroforming nickel stampers in-house
|
|
5. **Pressing**: extrusion and pressing of the records, with the labels
|
|
pressed in
|
|
6. **Finishing**: trimming, sleeving, shrink wrapping
|
|
7. **Packaging**: folded paper cartons (jackets and sleeves), produced in
|
|
collaboration with local packaging manufacturers
|
|
8. **Fulfillment**: dropshipping directly to end customers on behalf of
|
|
labels and artists, alongside conventional bulk delivery
|
|
|
|
In-house galvanics (steps 3 and 4) removes the dependency on overseas stamper
|
|
suppliers, a common bottleneck for pressing plants, and shortens turnaround
|
|
for clients. Partnering with local carton manufacturers keeps packaging
|
|
sourcing close to the plant, in line with the local-sourcing preference for
|
|
materials. The pressing line is documented in detail; equipment, partners,
|
|
and budgets for the other steps are open planning items.
|
|
|
|
## Project Status
|
|
|
|
**Planning stage** (as of mid-2026).
|
|
|
|
- Industry outreach has been ongoing for several years: equipment vendors,
|
|
material suppliers, and independent consultants.
|
|
- 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
|
|
discussion.
|
|
|
|
## Planning Documents
|
|
|
|
The detail lives in dedicated documents:
|
|
|
|
- [Roadmap](docs/roadmap.md): next steps in dependency order, from the
|
|
three current gates (market validation, BOI, land title check) through
|
|
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 (~USD 232k quoted scope), and site requirements
|
|
- [Vendor landscape](docs/suppliers/vendor-landscape.md): researched
|
|
candidates for mastering and cutting (Agnew Analog, and the Sillitoe
|
|
SDMS with integrated cutting automation at a published USD 125k),
|
|
galvanics equipment
|
|
(Plating Power / Digital Matrix), stamper preparation (Sibert), bridge
|
|
stamper service (Stamper Discs), and automated presses (Pheenix Alpha)
|
|
- [Equipment needs and supplier map](docs/suppliers/equipment-suppliers.md):
|
|
the full needs list per production step with supplier tables and contacts
|
|
- [Sustainability](docs/sustainability.md): the solar installation (Deye
|
|
inverters, 271 kWh Gobel Power battery stack), the zero contaminated water
|
|
commitment, and the materials strategy
|
|
- [Worker safety](docs/worker-safety.md): safety training, galvanics clean
|
|
rooms and decontamination, PPE
|
|
- [Biomass fuel strategy](docs/biomass.md): the 60 rai own-grown coppice
|
|
idea (with the forestry-classification check that comes first), northern
|
|
agricultural waste as the main supply, and the staged electric-to-biomass
|
|
path
|
|
- [BOI investment promotion](docs/boi.md): the promotion strategy (Group B
|
|
base activity plus solar, automation, and R&D measures for the tax value),
|
|
requirements, Northern-region angle, and why BOI approval precedes
|
|
machinery orders
|
|
- [Facility security and site systems](docs/facility-security.md): access
|
|
control, CCTV, whole-factory HVAC (temperature, humidity, PM), archive and
|
|
audio protection, fire and life safety, plant monitoring, Thai compliance
|
|
anchors
|
|
- [Overhead crane, workshop and visitor corridor](docs/crane-workshop-tours.md):
|
|
a 5 t crane over the whole production floor to move machines in and
|
|
out, a crane-served maintenance workshop and machine bay at the ramp
|
|
end, and a glazed ground-level corridor for guided tours without noise,
|
|
dust or plating chemistry; what each changes in the building and what
|
|
it costs
|
|
- [Process logging and traceability](docs/traceability.md): end-to-end
|
|
per-order traceability for customers, batch genealogy from audio file to
|
|
shipment, and the requirements this sets for the factory software
|
|
- [Digital factory systems plan](docs/digital-factory.md): every system
|
|
that has to exist for environment, machine, QC and genealogy data to land
|
|
in one database keyed to one record identity: the plant as one more site
|
|
in B4L's existing NixOS fleet (the cnx-network clan: mesh, DNS, fleet
|
|
monitoring, site gateway module, public proxy), what changes in that
|
|
repo, VLAN zoning, Telegraf/MQTT acquisition source by source, QC
|
|
instrument integration, the factory application, alerting, backup,
|
|
security, the data clauses for every RFQ, build order and rough cost
|
|
- [Quality automation](docs/quality-automation.md): stamper metrology
|
|
(Keyence-class confocal, profiler, XRF), layered pressed-record QC (100%
|
|
optical inspection, per-cycle press telemetry, sampled automated audio
|
|
comparison), and how it feeds traceability
|
|
- [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)
|
|
- [Artist platform](docs/artist-platform.md): upload a master and
|
|
artwork, get a transparent itemised offer from the price calculator
|
|
(for artists, labels and any other customer), and optionally launch a
|
|
fan-funded campaign that the plant presses and ships to each fan once
|
|
enough have pre-ordered, with refunds if not
|
|
- [Plant operation page](docs/plant-operation.html): a single static page
|
|
animating the whole plant as a simulated SCADA overview, from PVC intake
|
|
and the material lab through extruder, press, trim, optical inspection,
|
|
finishing, packaging and fulfillment, with the metal path, utilities and
|
|
energy alongside; open it in a browser, every station is clickable
|
|
- [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 (~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 (~3.7M to 6.8M USD/yr), direct cost and margin per record, and
|
|
the levers and caveats behind the numbers
|
|
- [Business plan](docs/business-plan/CNX-Vinyl-Business-Plan.docx): the
|
|
investor-facing roll-up of everything above, built from
|
|
`docs/business-plan/build/` (run `python build_plan.py` to regenerate
|
|
after the numbers move). Draft 0.1 carries the land-lease decision, the
|
|
cassette and CD scope, and Ploy Printing as packaging partner and
|
|
intended co-investor
|
|
|
|
## Repository Layout
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
docs/
|
|
├── business-plan/
|
|
│ ├── CNX-Vinyl-Business-Plan.docx Investor business plan (generated)
|
|
│ └── build/ Python source of the plan; regenerate with
|
|
│ build_plan.py
|
|
├── consulting/ Consultancy proposals and overviews
|
|
├── equipment/
|
|
│ ├── newbilt/ Offers, site requirements, process schematic,
|
|
│ │ service rates (vendor PDFs)
|
|
│ └── pressing-line.md Press fleet strategy and equipment plan
|
|
├── finance/ Project cost overviews, revenue model,
|
|
│ construction RFQ
|
|
├── suppliers/ Supplier contacts, vendor landscape, supplier map
|
|
├── artist-platform.md Upload, price calculator, fan-funded pressing
|
|
├── biomass.md Biomass fuel strategy and the 60 rai coppice idea
|
|
├── boi.md BOI promotion strategy and requirements
|
|
├── crane-workshop-tours.md Overhead crane, workshop, visitor corridor
|
|
├── digital-factory.md Data platform, NixOS/Clan fleet, acquisition, app
|
|
├── 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
|
|
├── sustainability.md Energy, water, materials commitments
|
|
├── traceability.md Process logging and per-order traceability
|
|
└── worker-safety.md Training, clean rooms, PPE
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Vendor PDFs and spreadsheets are primary sources and reflect the state of
|
|
negotiations at their file dates. Treat prices and lead times as snapshots,
|
|
not commitments.
|
|
|
|
## What This Repo Will Grow to Hold
|
|
|
|
- Accumulate planning and vendor documents as decisions firm up, including
|
|
the mastering, cutting, and galvanics chain
|
|
- Add structured data (inventory, orders, production batches) once operations
|
|
begin
|
|
- Host the software/tooling built to run the factory (tracking, ERP-style
|
|
workflows)
|