Archives for "Product History"

Posted by Chris Vickery on 23rd February 2010
// Comments: 2

Retro manufacturing: vinyl record pressing

I’m kind of a vinyl nerd. When things get hectic, I retreat to the man-cave in my garage, play some pinball and play my records on a little turntable perched on my workbench.

I’ve always been curious about the process for making vinyl records. I found the answer in a video filmed at Rainbo Records in Southern California that shows the record manufacturing process from end to end.

The basic process is that the sound pattern of music is fed into a computerized lathe, which cuts grooves into a master disc according to the tone–wider grooves for bass tones, narrower grooves for higher treble tones. That master disc is used to make multiple “mother” discs, which in turn are used to create negative “stamper” discs. These are then used to press the final records you buy in a shop where guys in ironic tee shirts flip through albums one by one.

Vinyl records are experiencing a resurgence in popularity. According to Rainbo Records, in 1977, 3 days after Elvis died, they were pressing 60,000 records per day. By the late ’80s, with the rise of the CD, that number was down to 8,000 to 10,000 per day. Now, thanks to the vinyl comeback, Rainbo is pressing up to 25,000 records per day.

Is this renewed popularity enough to change a manufacturing process that hasn’t changed much since the ’50s? Only time will tell.

Posted by Helen Shaughnessy on 14th January 2010
// Comments: 2

A cheese grater worth stealing from the CEO? It must be a Microplane.

Microplane grater/zester
I recently stole a cheese grater from Craig Livingston, our CEO at Arena. Since the incident occurred during a yankee swap gift exchange at the Arena holiday party, I’m hoping this will not turn out to be a career limiting move. The gift I stole was no ordinary cheese grater however — it was a Microplane®.

Microplane grater/zester Microplane® cheese graters rock. Growing up in an Italian family I grated hundreds of pounds of Pecorino Romano on a box grater as a child. I scraped my knuckles constantly when my hand slipped as I pushed the cheese hard against the grating surface. The box grater was made through a punch process. The cheese was torn apart by the rough edges of the pierced metal. Microplane® graters, on the other hand, are made through a photo-etching process that creates tiny knife-like blades throughout the surface of the grater. The cheese is literally planed as it passes over the cutting surface. Using very little force, you get fine, light flakes instead of small chunks of cheese.

I like the Microplane® cheese grater not only because the product works so well, but also because it has a great design story. The Microplane® was originally created by Grace Manufacturing in 1990 to be a woodworking tool. That tool was the first product designed and built by Grace, which before then had been a contract manufacturer and not an OEM.

In 1994 a woman in Canada, frustrated with her zester, grabbed a new tool her husband had brought home from their hardware store. After using the tool on an orange, she promptly changed the product description in their catalogue and Microplane® had found a new market — kitchen gadgets.

Change is hard. I admire a company that can build on its strengths to take big steps in new directions.  Congratulations, Grace Manufacturing. I love my Microplane® graters and thanks to Craig, I now own five.