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User (October 2026): we only build tools and interfaces that interact with ERPNext; invoices, stock and the rest are kept there, except telemetry and other machine data. digital-factory.md: standing decision, decisions 2, 3, 6, 7 and 10 rewritten (ERPNext holds every record of the business and of production, including artist gates, metal-part genealogy as serial numbers with parents, and quality inspections; the machine-data store keeps only cycle and record rows, the hash chain and time series, keyed to ERPNext names; ERPNext first, then custom fields or document types in cnx_erp, then a tool, never a second business database). Systems table, architecture labels, factory application section (modules as a table: records in ERPNext, what we build, machine data outside; our only tables are the machine-data ones), ownership table, integration rules 4 and 8, phasing and estimates (cnx_erp app 2 to 3 person-months; total 3.5 to 6). artist-platform.md: campaigns are an ERPNext document from launch, pledges post as advance payment entries; traceability, README, facility security (archive location on the serial number), production timeline (sets per mother on the mother's serial number), crane-workshop spares store, total-investment. Factory console: KPI row no longer touches the postings card (user screenshot); ERPNext page, order card, sidenote and ledger say every record lives in ERPNext and only machine data stays outside; new postings for artist gates, stamper metrology inspections, stamper set serial numbers (grown, retired with play count). Checked headless: Edge dark and light, 1440/1024/390, no overflow or page errors, rows aligned, pw_fc, pw_wo, pw_feed and pw_erp pass.
267 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
267 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
# Production Timeline: Order to Delivered Record
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How long an order actually takes, stage by stage. This is the time
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dimension of [process-flow.md](process-flow.md), which lists all nine
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stages and every check but no durations.
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The repo asserts turnaround as the core regional advantage in four
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places — "competes on turnaround and freight against EU/US plants",
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"in-house galvanics removes days of turnaround", "validate turnaround
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against the regional pitch", "get a written turnaround SLA" — without
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ever putting a number on it. This page puts numbers on it so the claim
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can be tested at Making Vinyl instead of repeated.
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**Every figure is an estimate** from industry norms and this repo's own
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equipment data. Nothing is vendor-confirmed and no order has ever run
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through this plant. Durations are **working days** unless stated;
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divide by 5 for weeks, and note that Thai public holidays run to
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16–20 days a year, clustered heavily around Songkran in April.
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## The headline
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| Configuration | Plant-controlled | Including customer gates |
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| **Launch** (bridge stampers, no in-house cutting or galvanics) | 22–49 days | **~6 to 17 weeks** |
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| **Mature** (full chain in-house) | 11.5–22 days | **~4 to 11.5 weeks** |
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| **Repress** from an archived mother, no changes | 6.5–11.5 days | **~1.5 to 2.5 weeks** |
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These are straight sums of the stage table below, plus 9–35 days of
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customer gate time for the first two rows. They are wide because the
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stages are wide, and they are not a quotable lead time — see "What to
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promise a customer" at the end, which adds queue and buffer on top.
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Reported EU/US plant lead times run roughly **10 to 16 weeks** for a
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standard black LP, down from the 6-to-9-month peak of 2021–22. That
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figure is an industry impression gathered in conversation, not a
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surveyed one, and it should be tested at Making Vinyl alongside the
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price. One published data point: Record Industry (Haarlem, NL) quotes
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**3 weeks to test pressings** (from complete files, or from a supplied
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lacquer's arrival) and then **9 to 11 weeks** for the finished order
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after the customer approves the test pressings and the artwork
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(calculator FAQ, checked October 2026), which on the same reference
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point compares with the 7 to 9 week mature quote below. Two cautions on the comparison:
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- **It is not like-for-like.** The EU/US figure is a *quoted* lead time
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carrying queue and buffer; the CNX figures above are unbuffered stage
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sums. The honest comparison is against the quote table at the end of
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this page — 7–9 weeks mature, 10–14 launch.
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- **On that basis the launch configuration is at parity, not ahead.**
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Its 10–14 week quote sits inside the EU/US 10–16 week band, and its
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unbuffered worst case of 17 weeks is beyond it. The regional advantage
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comes from freight and time zone at launch, and only becomes a
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manufacturing advantage once cutting and plating come in-house. That
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matters, because launch is what the first two years actually sell.
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**Bringing cutting and galvanics in-house takes roughly 1.5 to 5 weeks
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out of the lead time** — replacing a 13–27 day outsourced metal block
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plus freight with 4–7 days of in-house cutting, plating and stamper
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prep. The spread is wide because the outsourced block is the part
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nobody has measured. That is the commercial case for the galvanics line
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stated in time rather than in the stamper cost that
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[revenue-model.md](finance/revenue-model.md) counts separately.
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## Two tracks run in parallel
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A full-service order is not one chain. The metal path and the packaging
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path run concurrently and converge at assembly, and **the packaging path
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is the one that most often slips**, because it waits on artwork the
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customer owes and on a print partner who is not us.
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```mermaid
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flowchart LR
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subgraph M[Metal and record path]
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A[Audio intake] --> B[Mastering] --> C[Cutting]
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C --> D[Galvanics] --> E[Stamper prep] --> F[Test pressing]
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F --> G[Production run] --> H[Finishing]
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end
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subgraph P[Packaging path]
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X[Artwork received] --> Y[Proof and Delta E approval]
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Y --> Z[Carton and sleeve print run]
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end
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H --> I[Assembly and packaging]
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Z --> I
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I --> J[Fulfilment]
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```
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Printed jackets from a local carton partner typically need **10 to 20
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working days** from approved artwork. That fits comfortably underneath
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the metal path, but only if artwork lands early. When a label delivers
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artwork after approving the test pressing, the jackets become the
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critical path and every day of metalwork saved is wasted.
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**Consequence for the order intake process:** artwork deadline is
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effectively a fourth approval gate and should be contracted as one,
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alongside the three artist gates in
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[process-flow.md](process-flow.md). It is not currently modelled as a
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gate anywhere in the repo.
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## Stage by stage
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Times below are elapsed scheduled duration for one title, not touch
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labour. The "launch" column reflects the phased entry in
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[total-investment.md](finance/total-investment.md): bridge stampers from
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Stamper Discs, lacquer cutting brokered through their EU partners or
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bought direct (SST in Frankfurt already cuts for Poy Records, see the
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[vendor landscape](suppliers/vendor-landscape.md#lacquer-cutting-service-schallplatten-schneid-technik-germany)),
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and no mastering room of our own.
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| # | Stage | Launch | Mature | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 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 |
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| - | **Gate: master plan approved** | *customer* | *customer* | 2–10 days in practice |
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| 2 | Vinyl mastering | 3–7 | 2–4 | Launch: external engineer or partner. Mature: in-house room, and queue depth becomes ours to manage |
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| - | **Gate: master approved** | *customer* | *customer* | 2–10 days; more if the artist wants revisions |
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| 3 | Lathe cutting to lacquer | - | 1–2 | Includes test cut, groove microscope, dead-wax scribe |
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| 4 | Silvering and electroforming | - | 2–4 | Three generations plus XRF, metrology, mother listening check |
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| 5 | Stamper prep | - | 1 | Punch, back-finish, coin, concentricity |
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| 3–5 | **Outsourced cut + metal** (launch only) | 10–20 | - | Stamper Discs, Sheffield; queue is theirs, not ours |
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| - | **Stamper freight UK → TH + customs** | 3–7 | - | Air freight; nickel travels well, unlike lacquer |
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| 6 | Press setup and test pressing | 1 | 0.5–1 | Mold change, stamper mount, warm-up, 10–20 TPs |
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| - | **TP to artist + gate: TP approved** | *5–15* | *5–15* | Courier plus listening time. The single largest customer-side block |
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| 7 | Production run | 1–5 | 1–3 | Throughput table below |
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| 8 | Finishing, assembly, packaging | 2–4 | 2–3 | Trim is inline; shrink and jacket assembly are labour-bound |
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| 9 | Fulfilment and dispatch | 1–3 | 1–2 | Bulk pallet, or per-parcel dropship on an ongoing basis |
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Two things the table deliberately does not hide:
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- **Stages 3, 4 and 5 collapse into one 10–20 day external block at
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launch**, and its duration is not ours to control. That is precisely
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why [roadmap.md](roadmap.md) item 14 calls for a **written turnaround
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SLA** with Stamper Discs. Without one, the whole quoted lead time
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rests on a supplier's goodwill, and they have no documented Asian
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customers to set expectations from.
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- **Lacquers do not fly.** A cut lacquer is soft nitrocellulose, heat-
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and shock-sensitive, and wants plating within roughly 24 to 72 hours.
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The launch configuration is sound precisely because it never ships
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one: audio goes to Europe as a file, the lacquer is cut and plated in
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the same region, and only finished nickel stampers make the journey.
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Any future arrangement that cuts in Thailand and plates abroad, or
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the reverse — would be a quality risk, not just a slower schedule.
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## Production run throughput
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From the fleet assumptions in [scale.md](scale.md), after the 60–70%
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overall effectiveness already applied there.
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| Fleet | Good records/day | 300 units | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Launch: 1 semi-auto, 1 shift | ~300–450 | <1 day | 1–2 | 2–3 | 5–7 |
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| Duplex: 2 semi-auto, 2 shifts | ~1,150–1,790 | <1 | <1 | 1 | 1–2 |
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| Mature: 2 semi + 2 auto, 2 shifts | ~3,300–5,000 | <1 | <1 | <1 | <1 |
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Read these as **press-days, not calendar days**. At mature scale no
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single title gets the whole plant; it gets a scheduled slot. Past
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roughly 60% utilisation the queue in front of the press starts to
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dominate everything in the table above it, and quoted lead time
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decouples from process time entirely.
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That is the standard failure mode for pressing plants and it is worth
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stating plainly: **lead time is a capacity decision, not a process
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decision.** A plant running at 90% quotes 16 weeks with the same
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equipment that quotes 6 weeks at 50%. Any turnaround promise made to
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the market is implicitly a promise to hold spare capacity.
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Small runs invert the arithmetic, though not as sharply as it first
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looks. At 300 units on the semi-automatic line the run is **5 to 8
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hours**, most of a shift, once the 60–70% effectiveness above is
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applied; it is roughly an hour on the full mature fleet. What dominates
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a small order is not the pressing but the setup, the approvals and the
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assembly, all of which cost the same at 300 units as at 3,000, which
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is exactly the boutique/color work the semi-automatic
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line exists to serve, per
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[pressing-line.md](equipment/pressing-line.md). Small runs are not
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faster to deliver; they are only cheaper to press.
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## Repress: the shortest path in the plant
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A repress of an existing title with no artwork or audio changes skips
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stages 1 through 3 and all three artist gates. If a **mother** was
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archived, a fresh stamper is pulled and the order runs:
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| Step | Days |
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| Pull stamper from archived mother | 1–2 |
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| Stamper prep | 1 |
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| Press setup, first-article check | 0.5 |
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| Production run (1,000) | 1–3 |
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| Finishing, assembly, dispatch | 3–5 |
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| **Total** | **~7–11 working days** |
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Two commercial consequences worth acting on:
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- **Choose the 3-step process and archive fathers and mothers.** Stamper
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Discs offers both 1-step and 3-step. A 1-step stamper is faster and
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cheaper for a one-off, but it is a single-use part: there is no mother
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to go back to, so a repress restarts at lacquer cutting and costs the
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customer six weeks and a new cutting fee. 3-step buys the two-week
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repress, and that repress is the highest-margin order the plant will
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ever take. Decided (October 2026): the plant keeps the **father as well
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as the mother** of every side.
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- **How many represses a mother carries.** The common rule of thumb is
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about **10 stamper sets per mother** before it degrades (Third Man
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Pressing's FAQ; a Nashville plater quoted by WPLN, both checked October
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2026); quality-minded sources give fewer: 5 (The VinyLab), 6 to 8
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(Stereo Review, 1962, quoted on pspatialaudio.com). At 1,000 to 2,000
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pressings a stamper that is roughly 10,000 to 20,000 records per side,
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or about ten represses of a few hundred to 1,500 copies. A father grows
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about 5 to 10 mothers (pspatialaudio.com; Third Man: up to 10), so with
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the father archived a worn mother is replaced by plating a new one
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(about an hour in the bath plus the listening check) instead of
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re-cutting, and a title reaches roughly 50,000 to 100,000 records
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before a new lacquer. These are industry rules of thumb, not this
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plant's figures: the galvanics vendors are asked for theirs
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([galvanics](equipment/galvanics.md#open-questions-for-the-quotes)), and
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ERPNext counts stamper sets on each mother's serial number.
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- **The archive is an asset with a shelf life.** It needs the
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storage conditions and the genealogy records that
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[traceability.md](traceability.md) already specifies, and a stated
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retention policy: how long a customer's fathers and mothers are kept before
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they are scrapped or returned. That policy does not exist yet and
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should be in the customer contract, not discovered later.
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## What to promise a customer
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A defensible quoted lead time is **not** the sum of the mature column.
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It carries queue and it carries a buffer, and it should be quoted from
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the last customer gate, not from order date — the plant cannot be held
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to a clock the customer keeps stopping.
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| Order type | Quote | Basis |
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| New title, full service, launch config | **10–14 weeks** | Stage sum plus external metal queue plus buffer |
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| New title, full service, mature config | **7–9 weeks** | |
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| New title, customer supplies jackets | **−1 to 2 weeks** | Removes the print path |
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| Repress from archived mother | **2–3 weeks** | |
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| Rush slot | **premium, capped per month** | Only credible with reserved capacity |
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Quote in weeks from **test-pressing approval**, with the pre-approval
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stages quoted separately as "typically X weeks, subject to your
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approvals". Every plant that quotes from order date and gets caught by
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a slow artist ends up explaining itself.
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The price calculator on the [artist platform](artist-platform.md) quotes
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from this table in exactly this form, and a fan-funded campaign shows its
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fans an estimated ship month built the same way: campaign close, plus the
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typical pre-approval stages, plus the quote above.
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## Honest caveats
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- **No order has ever run through this plant.** These are planning
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numbers built from vendor throughput data and industry norms, and
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early production will run slower than any of them while the reject
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rate settles — [revenue-model.md](finance/revenue-model.md) already
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concedes the same about its 5–10% reject allowance.
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- **The external metal block at launch is unmeasured.** 10–20 days is
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an industry-typical figure, not a Stamper Discs commitment. Get it in
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writing before it appears in a customer quote.
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- **Equipment lead times are absent from the repo entirely** and do not
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affect this page, but do affect
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[project-timeline.md](project-timeline.md), which is where they
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matter.
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- **The competitive comparison is the least validated part.** Whether
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regional labels will actually pay for 7 weeks instead of 14 plus
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freight is the same open question as the 3.50–4.60 USD blended price,
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and both should be tested in the same conversations at Making Vinyl.
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A turnaround advantage nobody pays a premium for is a cost, not a
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moat.
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