CE Pro September 2023 - 22

INTERVIEW
Networking+Home Control
Brad Hintze
Executive VP, Global
Marketing, Crestron
What changes in residential technology has Crestron
observed from before the pandemic?
The pandemic accelerated work-from-home trends that had
been on the rise - that's leveled off a bit, but there's still demand
for quality WFH technologies. I don't see that interest
waning, as a significant percentage of the population splits
their workweek between home and office.
The pandemic had another effect: People looked around at
their homes and determined they needed to upgrade certain
elements. They really began to understand how their home
environment could impact their well-being. That's especially
true in the lighting and shading segments, but entertainment
options also factor into the notion of the home as a haven for
wellness and relaxation. We've heard the term a lot - " wellness "
- but I think it's going to continue to inform the kinds
of solutions that will resonate with homeowners.
How is the issue of supply chain now versus a year ago?
Recovery has been uneven, but we see more and more
products join the " available to ship now list " each week.
Currently, over 80% of our product catalog is available to
" ship now " ; of the remaining 20%, 10% percent have an
eight-week lead time, and the final 10% of our core technologies
have shipping times of 36 weeks or less.
That said, Crestron is shipping product at nearly the same rates
as compared to July 2019, however, demand and growth were exponential
at the same time we were facing supply chain problems.
This continued to place strain on our manufacturing, production,
and warehousing situation, all of which have more than doubled
in size since the start of the pandemic. With expected runs in the
high five-digit volume over the coming months, we feel confident
that all current backorders will be fulfilled by the end of the year.
Crestron has extensive roots in the residential and
commercial markets. Do new products like the TST-1080
touchpanel reflect how the company tries to meet the
needs of both markets' end users?
That's a great question. When Crestron entered the residential
segment, we already had years of experience in commercial
control and automation solutions, and that informed the
early connected home products we were developing. Now it's
much more of a two-way street. Sometimes that crossover
is very intentional, and the TST-1080 is a great example of
that. It made perfect sense to offer a control device suited for
22 | CE Pro September 2023
both at-home and commercial settings, especially one of this
quality and reliability.
In other instances, the " cross-pollination " of residential
and commercial technology has been more organic: For
example, shading automation should absolutely exist in both
worlds. When that's a given, adapting a solution for both
deployments is just a matter of scale and perhaps a slight
adjustment to control interfaces.
" People really began to
understand how their
home environment could
impact their well-being.
That's especially true in lighting and
shading, but entertainment options
also factor into [that] notion. "
A tremendous illustration of how we're bridging commercial
and residential technologies is our hospitality vertical.
From elegant keypads to light fixtures to shades and AV
solutions, all of those in-room amenities are clearly rooted in
our residential offerings. At the same time, technologies that
ease check-in, provide digital signage options, and allow hotel
operators to monitor and manage both the building and
the guest experience are based on our commercial products.
There's a terrific synergy there.
What can dealers look forward to as Crestron continues
to augment Crestron Home?
When we first started rolling out our new lighting solutions
- tunable fixtures, daylight sensors like SolarSync, and
third-party products like Black Nova keypads - we were,
quite honestly, a bit surprised by the level of enthusiasm for
these products. We also really embraced the idea of expanding
our shading offerings with new fabrics and our everevolving
battery-powered devices, and the feedback from
those developments has been equally positive.
As we partner with more manufacturers, build more Crestron
devices, and improve the existing ones, we're creating a
massive portfolio of solutions that are all part of the Crestron
Home ecosystem. (That initiative extends into our hospitality
and marine segments, too.) That's always been the goal: How
many elegant and reliable choices can we offer our dealers?
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CE Pro September 2023

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