Thailand 2017

Did you ever wonder where the vinyl used to press your records originates? Most of the vinyl pellets used by American pressing plants originates in Thailand, manufactured at a TPC plant on the outskirts of Bangkok.

We got to go there the other day. Unfortunately, the company would not allow us to video inside the plant. That said, I think you will enjoy the parts we could video as well as the meeting we had with company executives. I did my best to describe what I saw, though I didn't do so well because with no advance warning I wasn't prepared.

The "we" included AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer, QRP's (Quality Record Pressing) Chad Kassem, RTI's pressing guru Rick Hashimoto, Lyra Cartridge manufacturer Stig Bjorge VPI's Mat Weisfeld and our Thai host Wuti Larnroongroj.

Also in attendance was TPC's American representative Casey Gibson who has been researching and working with TPC to develop improved vinyl formulations.

The facility we visited manufactures the pellets but it doesn't appear to be where the PVC powder itself (polyvinyl Chloride) is manufactured, though perhaps it is, but in an area off-limits to us.

The tour we took that you can listen to was of an area where the powder is melted, extruded, chopped, cleaned (including removing any metallic contamination), tested and packaged for shipment to America and elsewhere.

By the way, Mr. Kassem introduces the discussion participants including a flattering one of AnalogPlanet's Michael Fremer, who chose to edit it out of the video lest it seem self-serving. Also in the corporate presentation you'll see, it refers to "SCG". That is Siam Cement Group, the original name for the company.

The headline refers to an area of the factory where they melted PVC and extruded it through a flat die to produce long strips of vinyl "noodles", produced to inspect the product's purity. And of course it refers to the Traffic song.