These guys survived a kidnapping scare to find 10 record presses in Mexico City

Virginia-based Furnace Manufacturing to open new pressing plant in the US after discovering vinyl press “motherload”.

On the hunt for record presses for the best part of ten years, Furnance Manufacturing have discovered ten Toolex Alpha presses in Mexico City and carted them back to Fairfax, Virginia in order to set up North America’s newest pressing plant.

Involved in vinyl production since 1996, packaging records pressed up at Pallas in Germany, Furnace have now acquired the presses needed to start manufacturing records themselves, and how they got hold of them is quite a story.

As told by Analog Planet, the Furnance team survived “machetes, protesters and a “genuine kidnapping scare”” to get the presses back home, where they will now seek out a location to build the pressing plant.

As packing manager Mark Reiter describes: “The experience of tracking down and bringing these record presses home has been amazing. We had some tense moments. Hiding from (rumors of) kidnappers was one, unexpected late night taxi detours through Mexico City back alleyways was another.”

Furnace will be the latest new pressing plant to open in the United States this year, with capacity at United Record Pressing already boosted, and new plants opening in New York City, Oregon and Vermont.

Furnace President Eric Astor is under no illusions about the scale of the find: “It’s almost impossible to find record presses out there in the wild. To find late era, automated machines is unheard of. We’re excited to build a world-class record pressing facility in the USA to help “feed the beast”. The industry needs additional vinyl capacity, shorter lead times and a laser focus on quality. I’m certain that we’ll achieve these goals once we breathe life back into these machines.” [via Analog Planet]

Check out some more images, courtesy of Analog Planet, below: