X-Treme was founded in 2001 and is a brand of products created by the Strategic Business Unit of the Sound Corporation group, whose objective is to produce “concert, touring and portable sound systems”. In other words, professional audio systems dedicated to concerts, live open-air events or any other installation in a closed environment where live music is played.

This group’s top management directly controls well-known brands such as Peecker sound (a leader in the “fixed installations and club sound” sector for over 30 years, with more than two thousand sound reinforcement installations and an international distribution network) and XTE (which deals mainly with "commercial sound").

Maintaining distinct independence in not only management and personnel, but also the strategic aims of the business unit, the X-Treme division, made up of an authentic enterprise with various working activities (from R&D to Production, Quality Control, etc…) can make use of both the tangible resources (i.e. joinery, the electronic department and the electro acoustic department) and the intangible resources (i.e. the know how of the engineers and technicians from the afore-mentioned companies, who are the current members of staff) of a group which has been operating successfully in the competitive professional audio sector since 1968.

The X-Treme SBU (Strategic Business Unit) structure

A functional hierarchical structure can be identified in X-Treme Audio, and is made up of different elements:

- General Manager: he coordinates and manages the various divisions with periodic meetings, and “estimates future cash flow” through past experience and a good understanding of the market. He/she is a board member of the Sound Corporation group, which has the task of studying the market situation, assessing financial problems, organizing events for production and cooperation between the associated enterprises.

- Research and Development: it has the crucial responsibility of identifying and experimenting new types of material and new project philosophies for the professional audio sector. It works in close contact with the sound department at the University of Parma.

- Design Division: it has the duty of translating the guidelines for new products, which come from the sales office and general management, into specific projects. It also has the responsibility of providing a detailed description of a new product’s manufacturing processes, and creating the necessary prototypes, liaising with the production department.

- Production: it assigns tasks to single departments and controls working progress according to the program created, together with the design division.

- Control Department: it is responsible for respecting all the functional characteristics of the end product: therefore, its role is to guarantee good quality products, protecting the interests of the client and, above all, the company’s reputation.

- Quality Control: it’s function is to check the quality of external supplies, the manufacturing process and the assembly.

- Sales Office: it is in charge of selling of the catalogue products through direct or indirect contact with customers. It also has the duty of carrying out in-depth market research and has an Export Division within the department.

- Accountancy and Personnel Department: (in common with the other units of the Sound Corporation group) it deals with analytical and industrial accounts, and selects new personnel to be presented to the General Manager.