grabowski
0a4f47a5cc
- README reduced to overview with linked document index - docs/equipment/pressing-line.md: fleet strategy, Newbilt plan, site reqs - docs/suppliers/vendor-landscape.md: researched vendor narratives - docs/sustainability.md: solar, zero-discharge water, materials - docs/worker-safety.md: training, clean rooms, PPE - docs/facility-security.md: access control, CCTV, archive/audio protection, fire and life safety, plant monitoring, Thai compliance anchors
74 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
# Vendor Landscape
|
|
|
|
Research on candidate vendors for the production chain beyond the Newbilt
|
|
pressing line (from vendor sites and trade press; capabilities are claims
|
|
until quotes and visits verify them). Pricing is unpublished across the
|
|
board: every one of these is a quote-on-request conversation.
|
|
|
|
The tabular needs-and-suppliers map lives in
|
|
[`equipment-suppliers.md`](equipment-suppliers.md); this document is the
|
|
narrative per vendor.
|
|
|
|
## Mastering and cutting: Agnew Analog (Greece)
|
|
|
|
[Agnew Analog Reference Instruments](https://agnewanalog.com/) builds the
|
|
**Type 612 disk mastering lathe** (unveiled 2023, billed in the trade press
|
|
as the first all-new lacquer cutting lathe since the mid-1960s) and the
|
|
companion Type 602 stereo cutter head, sold turnkey or as components. Bespoke,
|
|
low-volume manufacturing by J. I. Agnew, so expect long build times. The
|
|
lathe is only the platform: a working cutting room additionally needs cutter
|
|
amplifiers, a mastering console, a preview/pitch-automation solution, vacuum
|
|
and swarf handling, plus lacquer blanks and styli as consumables.
|
|
|
|
## Silvering and electroforming equipment: Plating Power / Digital Matrix (USA)
|
|
|
|
[Plating Power](https://www.platingpower.com/) is the vinyl brand of Digital
|
|
Matrix Corporation (Farmingdale, NY), the dominant turnkey vendor for vinyl
|
|
galvanics. Their line covers silvering (VLSS station), nickel pre-plate
|
|
(VLPP), production electroforming (VLFP 2/4/6-cell system), and
|
|
electro-clean/passivation (EC-1000), all built for clean-room use with fume
|
|
extraction hookups. Two gaps matter for this project: they supply **no
|
|
closed-loop water treatment or metal recovery** (a separate industrial
|
|
water-treatment vendor must deliver the zero-discharge system; the
|
|
zero-discharge plating room at Gotta Groove Records in Ohio, built around a
|
|
wastewater evaporator, is the reference model), and no stamper
|
|
punching/finishing equipment (see Sibert below). No Southeast Asia
|
|
distributor; contact is via the US factory or their Japan/Korea distributors.
|
|
|
|
## Stamper preparation: Sibert Instruments (UK)
|
|
|
|
[Sibert Instruments](https://www.sibert.co.uk/) (Hampshire, in this niche
|
|
since the early 1970s) makes the machines that turn a raw electroformed
|
|
nickel shell into a press-ready stamper: the VSP center punch, VSF
|
|
back-finisher, and VSC coiner (trim and form in one pass). One-off capital
|
|
equipment filling exactly the gap between the plating line and the presses.
|
|
|
|
## Stamper service, as a bridge: Stamper Discs (UK)
|
|
|
|
[Stamper Discs](https://www.stamperdiscs.com/) (Sheffield, founded 2018,
|
|
family-run) is a trade galvanics service: send lacquers or DMM masters, get
|
|
back press-ready 1-step or 3-step stampers in 7"/10"/12", explicitly made to
|
|
fit Viryl, Toolex, and **Newbilt** molds. They ship to 30+ countries and can
|
|
broker lacquer cutting through European partners. Natural role for CNX
|
|
Vinyl: stamper supplier while the in-house galvanics line is being built,
|
|
then overflow capacity and a quality benchmark. Watch-outs: a small
|
|
single-site operation, no documented Asia customers yet, and two
|
|
international freight legs per job.
|
|
|
|
## Fully automated presses: Pheenix Alpha (Sweden)
|
|
|
|
[Pheenix Alpha](https://www.pheenixalpha.com/) (Solna) is the direct
|
|
successor of Toolex Alpha, founded in 2006 by former Toolex staff. Their
|
|
**AD12** is the continuation of the original 1977 fully automatic press:
|
|
24 to 26 second cycle (roughly 140 records per hour), one operator running
|
|
up to four presses, 7"/10"/12" up to 200 g, about 3.25 m² per press. Each
|
|
press has 25 kW installed electrical power and consumes per cycle roughly
|
|
1.2 kg of steam, 12.5 L of chilled water in a closed platen circuit
|
|
(compatible with the zero-discharge goal), and compressed air. Deepgrooves
|
|
in the Netherlands runs its AD12 steam from wood-fired biomass boilers, a
|
|
working precedent for the renewable-steam question. Pheenix also offers the
|
|
**AD12 Manual**, a semi-automatic press on the same platform aimed at
|
|
splatter and short runs, which makes them a possible single-vendor
|
|
alternative covering both halves of the 50/50 fleet; that option should be
|
|
weighed against the Newbilt plan on price, spares, and support.
|