KC: How do you compete against emerging sources from the Far East? Lorenzo: We simply focus more on quality to make the difference. There's no way we can compete on price without compromising on quality, so we work with our strengths - the same ones we've had all along. A big caution we impose on ourselves is to not get too esoteric with our products - there must be a balance between making advancements and supplying the customers with what they need. Simone Pratesi: In 1996, we moved to our present facilities, and then have been expanding since then, renovating older facilities, and so on. One of our focuses as we grow is to insure that we improve our assembly processes. We've added some automation, but only where prudent. Some things are best done by hand. And, all vital functions are kept in-house to further the quality effort. We also invested considerably in bringing a new range of woofers and mid-range cones to market - it took some time to get them into the market, but this has come along quite well. Lorenzo: Another factor is that we have invested heavily in test equipment - the leading test equipment - to make sure the product that's put out does what is claimed, and meets the specification. There are no games - want accurate specs the customers can rely on. Each unit is verified before it goes out the door. The key to survive in competition is to insure quality. The top engineers at manufacturers will check everything, and you must expect this, and you must deliver. If you're sending them 1,000 units, they all must be working properly, and they all must be consistent. If you are a profitable company, it's your responsibility to invest in training, better facilities - really, a better way of serving your customers. KC: How do you handle the product development process with your customers? Lorenzo: One of the things we do is remain independent. It's a fine line between working closely with manufacturers as opposed to letting them dictate too much of what you do. It's easy to fall into this trap, and if you focus too much on party, it can hurt your business, both in terms of your own R & D and having too much income depending on one source. So it's important to remain independent and do your best to develop close relationships with customers to get them what need while… We now target companies we want to work with, good partners, and help them in various aspects in product design and to discuss what the primary applications of their boxes will be. New design is a real cooperation and exchange of information, and also, there must be trust among us to freely share information. Simone: It's tough to meet the cycle - manufacturers are looking for new products every six months, and these can require new drivers. Therefore, there's a constant demand for us to meet their specifications and to provide technological improvements, and also special features they may be looking for. So again, this boils down to close relationships and sharing information. Lorenzo: From a business perspective, this is a positive way to go for both sides. We continue to work with them as partners, and they aren't tempted to switch to another supplier because their drivers happen to cost a little less. Of course, there's a full line of off-the-shelf products that we offer. But the mainstream of our business is custom OEM designs, which is an enjoyable process and one that leads to advancements. Simone: Our chief engineer, Alessandro, has been working on driver design for more than 25 years and has acquired a lot of knowledge that can be of benefit. He and our other engineers have developed considerable skill in anticipating needs, and in translating what a customer wants into a product that meets their needs. KC: What are some of your most notable technology developments? Lorenzo: There are no real new technologies with loudspeakers these days - the important work was done long ago. So it's much more a question of refining technologies, exploring the details. For all of us, neodymium has been the most notable change over the past decade. It takes a lot of work to get the best blend of performance, price and reliability with neodymium, because it's somewhat expensive. We debuted a new line of neo drivers about three years ago, and this again took a lot of investment. And we'll continue going this way, because it is definitely a very promising way. Especially on the compression driver side of things. Simone: We'll be further exploring it on the cone driver side, taking a scientific approach and applying what we know from the compression driver side. Lorenzo: Our philosophy is that we tend to be leaders rather than followers. We find other suppliers coming out with innovations we've developed a year or two after they're introduced, and we know where these innovations come from. This is fine, and it's the nature of the market. We may have copied things which were out there since decades! While others are catching up, we prefer to look forward. KC: Any projections as to what the future holds in terms of transducer technology? Lorenzo: When most of the audio industry is going digital, loudspeakers will remain analog for a long time, for obvious reasons. We're keeping our eyes wide open, but again, although there are some interesting new approaches that we may investigate deeper, this technology cannot violate the rules of physics. Related coverage on PSW:
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