The electronics PC board manufacturing knocked my socks off. They’ve got a machine that feeds a whole mess of parts into a belt of parts in sequence to build a particular product, kind of like images of soldiers carrying machine gun ammunition.

That spool of resistors, diodes, capacitors, etc., then feeds a machine that automatically inserts the parts into the board, and from there the entire board has its parts soldered by dipping it into a pool of molten solder!

What else? Oh, in addition to loudspeaker parts, and electronic components, they make chassis components. If you’re going that far, why not? An automated machine was whipping out AVM-30 face plates from solid aluminum. They later powder-coat and anodize them, but I liked the raw look myself. Maybe I should ask if they might offer special industry accommodations on a raw version?

But that's not all, in addition to just designing and building an enormous amount of stuff to exacting standards, they actually distribute efficiently as well, further lowering the cost per unit to the end user.

The warehouse is HUGE. Mark claims that they use an inventory monitoring system which takes into account current orders, yearly trends, and other information to tell them what and how much to make of what, so as to maintain an inventory that will have roughly enough stock in each item to supply dealers for the next 60 days of whatever they’ll need.

Of course there’s a random component, and it's unpredictable exactly much of what any particular dealer may want and when to supply the needs of their clients, but the law of large numbers allows averaging, so that such prediction systems can work well to reduce backorders (increasing sales), as well as help the manufacturer not sit on more inventory than they have to, which would otherwise be putting capital into an effectively lower return distribution system. End result, we pay less for the end product, and get it when we want it.

Time to Go Home

So what did I actually take away from this experience that I couldn’t have gotten from reading Brian’s original write-up? Well, seeing the disciplined, monstrosity of it all in person is certainly a different experience, and I’m sure my summary doesn’t adequately convey the scope of what this company is, but if I were to summarize in a few words, I’d use clever, skillful, proficient, resourceful, and rigorous. Said in something resembling a complete sentence, Paradigm has displayed superb and at times barely believable methods to create products of outstanding value and performance. That they've earned a reputation for delivering just that shouldn’t be shocking. I'm surprised that there's as much competition left as it is.

As much as I got a goo gooed and ga gaaghed over the technical prowess of this group, the reality is that I only got to visit because of my press affiliation, even if I like to tell myself that they really like me, and I'm good enough, and smart enough. In a short burst of journalistic flair, I asked Mark, point blank, if Paradigm was doing anything special or patented to assure such a combination of value and performance. Was there anything they were doing which couldn’t be done by any other manufacturer, and he answered, quite honestly, a simple, "No."

For all I know, there could be lots of companies that take this degree of care, thought, and effort to providing the best results for the least amount of money from beginning to end.

Then again, if that company does exist, I can certainly say I've not had that tour, nor even heard of it.

I'm glad I dropped by Paradigm to see it in person. Utterly remarkable.
 

- Colin Miller -