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Left: The simple overhead restraints found on Afterburners and Move Its Right: The lightweight, minimal restraints on Tango. Images: KMG

CK: You seem to use different restraint designs according to the ride. Is this to provide most comfortable support according to the ride’s movements, or is it because of other considerations? 

KMG: “We always try to innovate and come up with something new. We did this with the knife locking system on the Tango rides. 

“The type of restraint always depends on the sort of application. Forces and direction of forces require more or less protection. The restraints we use on Experience and Afterburner rides have been proven to be a very reliable and secure way of restraining riders in their seats.”

It’s important that we sell our first ride to someone who is on our side

CK: Dutch showman Kroon seems to receive many prototype rides from KMG such as Move It 32, Tango and the new Afterburner XXL. Is this because they’re family, or is it for more complex reasons, such as being nearby to deal with any teething problems the ride may face?

KMG: “In the first place it’s important that we sell our first ride to someone who is on ‘our side’. Somebody who thinks with us to improve the ride for further series of the ride, rather than buzzing around what’s wrong with the ride.

“In our opinion Tonny Kroon is the best person for this job. He is all showman and knows what he wants. He’s family and knows exactly what works on a fair and what doesn’t.”

CK: Who is responsible for the lighting packages on KMG’s rides? At what stage are these elements designed and presented to the buyer?

KMG: “All turbo lights are produced especially for us. We design what lights come on the ride and how a standard package will look like. We don’t want to sell a ride without lights even if it makes the ride cheaper. Most of the lighting packages are done by chief of the factory, Albert Kroon”.

CK: What artist designs and paints the backflash designs?

KMG: “There are only a small number of companies good at making backflashes. In my opinion, there is only BB Decorators in Zaandam, The Netherlands, mostly responsible for all Kroon rides. They paint with real paint and their designs always look very refreshing.

“Of course there are some other companies like Festidecor from France and Jacek from Germany. Sometimes the customer comes up with a design and has it sprayed by an independent artist.”

We don’t want to sell a ride without lights even if it makes the ride cheaper

CK: How many people work for KMG, and how many of those are in Research & Development, Design, Fabrication etc?

KMG: There are about 15 people working permanently for KMG. There are 5 people on R&D, but since it’s a small company we are not working 100% on R&D.

“There are two engineers working permanently on drawings, while the other three mostly are involved in the mechanical and electrical design, project management and solving service calls. The other 10 are involved in assembling the rides in the factory.

“Of course it does take many more people to build a ride. We only assemble the rides, but with sub-contractors an additional 30 people are busy with welding and manufacturing all the parts for us. Continues...