Duncan, how would you define 2022 at this point as we look ahead beyond the summer? What's improved - what's stayed the same and what's proving challenging?
I’d say that 2022 has continued the challenges of the last couple of years. At the start of the year, we all expected the supply chain challenges to improve, but the reality is that they’re with us for some time yet. Quixant’s response has been to focus our attention upon providing support for our customer base.
We recognise that availability is king right now as customers seek to ramp up production to meet positive market sentiment. Our engineering efforts, therefore, have been concentrated around ensuring that we offer sustainable supply chain solutions.
My belief is that 2022 presents an exciting opportunity as gaming environments ‘normalise,’ but there is a lag between expectations as they unfold in the present and the long-term reality. Quixant’s focus on availability ensures that we are prepared for the next few years, not just 2022.
We are seeing pricing start to plateau for the bulk of
components, however, and, as external factors begin to stabilise, we’re expecting price consistency into Q1-Q2 next year. Our hope is that we will start to see a fall in costs beyond this point, at which time Quixant will pass this reduction straight to our clients.
What supply, price and inflationary pressures are we seeing in the market in regard to components? We're already seeing average machine prices rising as manufacturers pass on costs to operators - have we peaked or are we still climbing - and what's are the drivers?
Speaking for Quixant, the vast majority of our products have around 1,000 individual components, and it only takes one of those components to suffer an availability issue or cost spike to affect the supply and price of our products. I think that OEMs in the gaming sector have been very reluctant over the last two years to pass increases to operators, appreciating the effects of lockdowns and disruptions to
Duncan Faithfull EVP, Gaming Business Leader and Chief Commercial Officer, Quixant
regular business. However, we’re at a stage in which costs have spiralled and there continues to be a supply/demand imbalance for certain components.
What’s been most important from the perspective of our customers is availability and guarantee of supply. At Quixant, we have focused upon product resilience, which includes re-engineering our core products to accommodate different components based on supply availability. Obviously, this is difficult and must be done sensitively as our clients operate in markets in which product consistency is highly regulated.
We are seeing pricing start to plateau for the bulk of components, however, and, as external factors begin to stabilise, we’re expecting price consistency into Q1-Q2 next year. Our hope is that we will start to see a fall in costs beyond this point, at which time Quixant will pass this reduction straight to our clients.
Can anything be done to alleviate the pressure and how do you manage customer expectations right now? Quixant' has changed its products to best fit the components market right now - how much of a game changer is this as regards to customer support and is this sustainable too?
We rationalised our product range at the very start of the component supply issue, appreciating that it was a better strategy to plan our future around a tighter product range. Our priority has been to give certainty to our customers that our products will be available. Key to this is that fact that Quixant only operates in the gaming industry, which means we aren’t spreading our components across other market verticals, so it’s easier for us to focus on our ability to flex our engineering support where it’s needed most.
We’re on the cusp of event season again - Quixant exhibited at G2E last year. Was that worthwhile - what's been the progress in the US since the show?
Gaming is a people-based industry and so
P30 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156
