Commercial Integrator October 2022 - 3

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EDITORIAL
Crestron Talks
Supply Chain
OVER THE LAST TWO-PLUS YEARS, the
phrase " supply-chain challenges " has been at
the tip of integrators' tongues as business leaders
struggle to obtain the gear that they need
to fi nish projects and get paid. With integration
businesses uniquely susceptible to cashfl ow
challenges, it has been deeply problematic
for many of them to have millions - if not tens
of millions - of dollars tied up in backlogged
projects. That's why Commercial Integrator
reports on the supply chain regularly.
It's also why we off er Total
Tech Summit peer-to-peer calls
to help business leaders navigate
these treacherous waters.
On September 1, Crestron,
one of the largest and most
prominent names in commercial
AV, directly addressed how it's
responding to supply-chain
snarls in a one-hour open forum
for partners. Dan Brady, COO,
said the issue primarily centers
on a " tremendous avalanche "
of demand worldwide. And, he added,
there aren't - and haven't been for many
months - " shock absorbers " in the system
to ameliorate strains up and down the chain.
The biggest strain, of course, is component
availability. " The capacity at our factories is
not the issue, " Brady emphasized, adding that
Crestron already does the vast majority of its
fi nished-goods production in North America.
What many observers don't realize is
exactly how many components make up a
Crestron product. Brady mentioned that one
NVX circuit board requires 2,564 parts from
240 suppliers. Doing the math, he said, for
Crestron to fulfi ll all the backlog for one DM
NVX product, it actually takes 700 million tiny
parts. On a positive note, Brady confi rmed
that the vast majority of those components
are now in hand at Crestron. " I'm waiting
on a very small quantity of part numbers to
complete my build, " he explained. As further
evidence of an improving situation, Crestron
reports more Flex kits shipping in the last
commercialintegrator.com
Crestron
deliberately
avoided
expedient
'fi xes' to
supply-chain
issues.
three months than ever in history.
Dan Feldstein, CEO, expressed empathy
with integrators whose businesses have suffered
due to product unavailability, as well as
unsteady updates regarding when gear would
ship. " It truly does pain us, " he said, not to
deliver what integrators need. Feldstein added,
" We are doing everything we can to work
together so we can continue to grow and be
successful together. " Part of that is working to
dramatically improve communication
about backordered products.
Crestron, he said, " did not
have a robust system to manage
a backorder situation of this magnitude, "
adding that he knows of
no company that did. According
to Feldstein, integrators are now
starting to see emails, coming at
regular intervals, with improved
information.
Feldstein made clear that
Crestron deliberately avoided
expedient " fi xes " to supply-chain
issues - namely, cutting corners or compromising
on quality. " We will never sacrifi ce our
quality or our integrity, " he declared, saying
that every product must meet the level of
" what a Crestron product should be. " Happily,
with demand levels now normalizing and
domestic logistics getting back into full swing,
there's genuine light at the end of the tunnel.
According to Brady, " By the end of this calendar
year, we will start feeling improvements
here at Crestron. " He added, " By Q1/23 [or]
Q2/23, that's when you and your end users
will start to feel signifi cant improvement. "
Feldstein is under no illusions, and he readily
acknowledges there is still " incredible volatility "
in the supply chain. But, he said, Crestron
has seen improvements on a lot of fronts. And
that's something that might help some integration
business leaders breathe a little easier.
Dan Ferrisi, Editor-in-Chief
dan.ferrisi@emeraldx.com
@danferrisiedit
OCTOBER 2022 Commercial Integrator
3
Editor-in-Chief Dan Ferrisi,
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Commercial Integrator October 2022

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