grabowski
9d5d695855
The parametric model (docs/cnx_vinyl_parametric.FCStd) is now tracked. It is the spreadsheet-driven Arch/BIM rebuild that supersedes the hard-coded massing in factory_building_rough.FCStd, which is kept because the current renders still come from it. Site works. The two gates are consolidated into a single 10.0 m bi-parting opening, with the wall plugged where the second one stood. The guard house sits beside it clear of the entry corridor, and was raised out of the ground - it had been modelled sunk half a storey. The fire water tank moved to the north-west corner of the plot, taking utility-yard clearance from 5.6 m to 18.6 m; the fire pump house follows it. The site is now paved continuously from the frontage through to phase 2: 4,387 m², split 1,608 heavy-duty and 2,779 general so the two can be priced apart. Phase 1 envelope. The walls stopped flat at 8.2 m while the roof rose to 12.6 m, leaving the entire high-side wall and both gable triangles open - about 366 m². Walls now follow the roof underside exactly. The rebuild also starts the sandwich panel on top of the masonry dado, clearing a 31.9 m³ overlap that had been double-counting 425 m² of envelope. A vehicle ramp (10.5 m at 1:10) and three stair flights are added, since with FFL at +1.2 m the building had no means of access at grade. Phase 2. Built from the design already documented in scale.md: 45 x 38 m, two-bay sawtooth at 10.35/7.0 m with a 3.35 m glazed riser, bays falling ESE. A three-storey office cube - canteen, office, office plus sleeping - stands at the yard end of the west tooth, 1.65 m proud of the ridge. Its walls and the hall walls are Arch Walls, and the yard glazing is Arch Windows, so both carry IFC types and cut their own openings. RFQ updated against the model throughout, with a new section on where mineral-wool core is required instead of PIR, for compartmentation and for acoustics.
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 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:
- Mastering: audio mastering for vinyl
- Lathe cutting: cutting the master disc
- Silvering: metallizing the cut master
- Stamper production: electroforming nickel stampers in-house
- Pressing: extrusion and pressing of the finished records
- Finishing: trimming, labels, shrink wrapping
- Packaging: folded paper cartons (jackets and sleeves), produced in collaboration with local packaging manufacturers
- 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 in Haarlem, Netherlands, to gather further insights from the pressing industry.
- A collaboration with Resurrec is under discussion.
Planning Documents
The detail lives in dedicated documents:
- Roadmap: 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: the 50/50 automated/semi-automatic fleet strategy, the Newbilt system under evaluation (≈ €200,500 quoted scope), and site requirements
- Vendor landscape: researched candidates for mastering and cutting (Agnew Analog), galvanics equipment (Plating Power / Digital Matrix), stamper preparation (Sibert), bridge stamper service (Stamper Discs), and automated presses (Pheenix Alpha)
- Equipment needs and supplier map: the full needs list per production step with supplier tables and contacts
- Sustainability: the solar installation (Deye inverters, 271 kWh Gobel Power battery stack), the zero contaminated water commitment, and the materials strategy
- Worker safety: safety training, galvanics clean rooms and decontamination, PPE
- Biomass fuel strategy: 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: 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: access control, CCTV, whole-factory HVAC (temperature, humidity, PM), archive and audio protection, fire and life safety, plant monitoring, Thai compliance anchors
- Process logging and traceability: end-to-end per-order traceability for customers, batch genealogy from audio file to shipment, and the requirements this sets for the factory software
- Quality automation: 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: 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)
- Project scale: 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: the full-vision roll-up (~4M to 7.7M EUR) and the ~1.5M to 2.5M EUR phased entry, with the basis of every block
- Revenue model: rough full-capacity revenue (~3.2M to 5.9M EUR/yr), direct cost and margin per record, and the levers and caveats behind the numbers
Repository Layout
docs/
├── 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
├── 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
├── 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)