Korg Italy, a subsidiary of the Japanese Korg corporation, was established in 1995 to handle the design and production of electronic musical instruments and, in particular, of high-end digital pianos and electronic arranger keyboards.

The decision to locate the Italian facility in Osimo was prompted by the area’s tradition in the manufacture of electronic musical instruments such as the famous console organ, a forerunner of today’s digital keyboards.

“Korg Italy operates independently under the Korg brand name, with its own dedicated Research and Development department that handles not just the electronic and musical part, but also all other aspects of product design, including the mechanics, hardware, industrial design and everything else that goes into a new product,” says Jürgen Schmitz, co-founder and R&D manager.

Designing Objects with Internal Mechanisms

Korg produces objects that have an internal mechanism. Often, the engineers will require alterations to the industrial design if, for example, they discover that an electrical component is of a different size than that originally envisaged. Making changes to the design at an advanced stage in the product development cycle can incur considerable costs.

“Once an initial design has been finalized, we often have to repeatedly modify it to accommodate changes to internal components, such as a printed circuit board that is larger than anticipated, and so on,” explains Head of Design Paolo Capeci. “When this happens, we cannot afford to dismantle the entire original design."

Managing Modifications

“For those of us who make objects containing mechanisms, the Construction History feature of Evolve is invaluable”, continues Capeci. “Evolve allows us to manage the frequent design modifications that occur during the product development process. In this way, we maintain full control over the project through all its stages, from concept development to the construction of the mold."