Filed under: Factory Info, News
Krix has always had its manufacturing base here in Adelaide, South Australia, with a commitment to engineering, design, manufacturing and wholesale distribution of the Krix loudspeaker brand globally. We occasionally come across some misconceptions in the marketplace whereby customers believe Krix is a fully imported product - when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Krix does utilise a number of key suppliers from around the world - including China - but 90% of the components we use are manufactured to Krix specifications - and 100% of all MDF cabinet speakers are made here in Adelaide. Every single loudspeaker we sell must pass a strict set of QC tests and tolerances before being packed.
So today's blog is about giving the public a look at some of the production technology available here at Krix - a brief synopsis on how we have progressed in the past 20 years - and more specifically to the 3rd of our CNC woodworking machines which has just been installed and commissioned in our cabinet manufacturing department.
The production of our vinyl and real timber cabinets requires the use of machines that will mitre, groove panels for bracing, rout holes for the drivers / tweeters / terminal plates etc, drill pilot holes for screws and grille clips and shape the baffles / bases as the design dictates.
In the early days at Krix, this was done by hand. The use of 'primitive' technology such as panel saws, platform drilling machines and overhead routers meant that production was much slower. Machining consistency, whilst at the time was very good, still lacked the precision we have at our disposal today. Our first pneumatic router was purchased for a whopping A$9,000 in 1981!
This machine could only route holes and required jigs / templates to be made, from which the actual parts were then duplicated. It required complete manual operation and in many respects had the potential to be quite dangerous. After production of the raw panels, there was the next step of including the pilot holes - a separate process done using a drill press.
In the mid 1990’s Krix began out-sourcing some of it's cabinet / baffle machining using several local woodworking companies that had CNC machines. It was far more accurate and allowed Krix to expand on the degree of difficulty in the design phase to see what could be achieved, without the cost of investing in a machine.
In the year 2000 Krix purchased its first CNC machining centre - a 'pod' machine (adjustable sliding 'beds' with small suction pods) from Italian manufacturer Morbidelli. 
We now moved all our production back in-house. This machine required jigs and templates to 'copy' the design and also required an operator to load / unload work from the two fields it operated in. It had a four tool changer which saw the tools chosen automatically from the tool changer as required by the machine. The machine would 'hold' the jig and work material down onto the adjustable pods via a vacuum system and would automatically slide up and down the machine as it completed each task. Whilst the individual cabinet panels had to be cut first to and approximate size on the beam saw before loading them onto the jigs this new machine could route, drill pilot holes, saw and shape. All this for a mere A$210,000.00.
Our experiences with this first machine taught us a lot and when purchasing our second machine in 2005. We had a far greater understanding of what additional features we needed and we decided to stay with the Morbidelli brand as it had served us well. The second machine was a flat bed, with many more suction holes to hold a greater amount of work. It had a 10 tool changer, 360 degree rotating vector router head, and the capability to not only cut the usual holes, shapes, but with the ability to v-groove (mitre) with accuracy to 0.1mm.
Not needing jigs meant that we could place full or part sheets of material straight onto the 'bed' with the machine holding them in position thanks to its 700psi vacuum. Writing our own programs in-house meant that we could be more selective and accurate in the deign and work to minimise waste. Machining a complete sheet at one time also allowed the operator to start the program and move away to undertake other tasks - delivering efficiency improvements to the business. The outlay for the second CNC machine was A$165,000.00.
Morbidelli Author-427 Flat Bed
Late 2010 Krix decided it was time to trade up - so the original pod machine was sent off to pasture. It had served us well, but was only being used for 4-6 hours a week due to a lack of flexibility and with production demand building - the flat bed was under increased pressure.
Morbidelli number 3 (also a flat bed) has a 20 tool changer, so no there is no need to manually remove or install any tools and with the tool numbering sequence the same on both machines there is no need to adjust any of our production programs.
Through continued investment in the best available plant and equipment, implementation of new production techniques such as lean manufacturing and KanBan (production scheduling system) and the right staff to drive these strategies, Krix has remained at the forefront of loudspeaker development right here in Australia.
