Skip Davis on the Modern Casino Seating Industry in CGB magazine
Skip Davis, President of Gary Platt Manufacturing, was featured in a Canadian Gaming Business Magazine article on casino seating trends, developments, and issues. Here is what Mr. Davis said about the modern casino seating industry:
- What are some of the recent developments in casino seating options?
- We are seeing design trends that feature and enhance the local theme of casino properties. We often work with operators and design teams to understand their overall vision. Specific colors, upholstery patterns and new innovative finishes all work hand in hand to create a memorable design. As a manufacturing leader of interactive seating, we continuously work closely with game suppliers to offer the latest in sound, lighting, and movement to maximize the customer’s experience.
- What are the major issues when it comes to designing optimal customer seating?
- The primary challenge always remains the same for seating manufacturers: To design seating that will be comfortable for the wide variety of customers seated at a specific game. This, along with an endless selection of game cabinets, placement of touch screens and buttons, various heights and widths of table games, all combine to create an opportunity for our team to design and manufacture seating that satisfy the majority of players. Creating the right balance of comfort, serviceability, design and durability has always been extremely important to us.
- What to do you see as some of the most exciting things on the horizon for the casino seating market?
- Excitement in many cases is created through our partnerships with slot and game manufacturers. The next new and exciting interactive chair is always in development and ideas are brought to our team regularly. We are recognized as the leader in comfort and innovation, which is why the overwhelming majority of slot manufacturers turn to Gary Platt as a partner. For the casino direct market, we recently introduced the next generation of X-tended Play Seating, the X-2 series. We are widely recognized as the leader in ergonomically designed casino seating and this X-2 series continues and enhances this popular line.
- What are the biggest challenges when it comes to designing and manufacturing casino seating?
- Ensuring safety, serviceability and longevity, while maintaining pleasing designs and comfort. Our entire team is dedicated to providing this delicate balance for our customers and it shows by the popularity of our X-tended Play Seating line, interactive seating and our new X-2 line. Our goal remains the same: To satisfy operators/owners, design teams and ultimately the customer, hence the player sitting at the game. If we keep each vital part of this in mind, we are confident we will continue to provide the ultimate casino chair.
- Which international markets offer the biggest opportunities for business expansion for seating companies and which ones have the biggest competition?
- In the last several years, we have partnered with some of the finest distributor groups in several international markets including Canada, Europe, South America, Australia and others. We’ve experienced robust growth in every market we have entered and consider all of them a valuable part of our business as we compete for additional market share.
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