Fleetwood says committed to Montana 110 percent
Pub Date: 1/1/2009
As the Montana video gaming market evolves, so do the hardware and software components. Even the companies designing, assembling and selling the equipment are evolving.
Fleetwood Gaming out of Billings is certainly no exception.
In a matter of four years, the company has hit home runs with first the Keno King video gaming machine (VGM), then the combined poker/keno game suite known as Casno King, and finally a new generation series called Brilliant Bet. Along the way Fleetwood has earned a nearly 10 percent market share by fielding 1,500 devices.
Lately, as machine sales have slowed, all manufacturers are looking for ways to control or even trim the cost side of the ledger.
IGT recently announced it was laying off five people in Montana and greatly curtailing its sales operations and its service department'; and Summit Gaming consolidated its research and development department at its corporate GameTech international headquarters in Reno shedding over a dozen positions at its Billings plant.
Like all the rest, Fleetwood, too, is looking for ways to add efficiencies and cost savings to its operations, and out-sourcing is one common way to do it.
Most gaming machine manufacturing companies subcontract for, or purchase wholesale, basic hardware items from specialty companies such as wiring harnesses, monitors, computer processors, audio components, cabinets and more.
It's the proprietary bits such as logic boards and computer code that are designed and created in-house, then added to sub-assemblies.
According to Fleetwood General Manager Thom Propp, the company put together a contract with its cabinet provider that allowed some of these common and standardized hardware components to be pre-installed in the cabinets before they were shipped to Billings.
Thus the Fleetwood plant laid off four assemblers in November. The company, in a bid to lower costs and increase efficiency, also closed their Great Falls office, a regional submarket where they only serviced about 11 devices. Those machines will now be serviced out of Billings, Propp assures.
Both moves sparked rumors that Fleetwood was getting out of game manufacturing, even getting out of gaming altogether. The Montana Tavern Times visited the Fleetwood operation in Billings December 5, then interviewed Propp in Butte December 11 in order to ascertain the facts and set the record straight.
"We pay attention, but speculation doesn't add value to what We're doing," Propp says of the misinformation in circulation, chuckling.
On the contrary, Propp says, "We're committed 110 percent all of our resources to the Montana market. Our development process is at full bore. In 2008 we added seven positions to our engineering staff" which work both in Billings and in an office in Colorado. "In 2009 we are planning to add more."
"We're as aggressive as we've ever been in our determination to deliver the newest and best products and services available to Montana," Propp continues. "We have developments in the works, some completed and others nearing completion, some that are nearing submission (to regulatory authorities for testing and approval) and more that are already in submission'; new games and modifications to existing games, new hardware configurations..."
The Fleetwood reality is similar to what is being reported at Montana's other VGM manufacturing firms. In fact, as the industry switches from the old impact printers to thermal printers, and from the conventional paper audit rolls to portable data storage devices, the wave of fresh engineering has meant a tide of submissions at Gambling Control that have created a bit of a bottleneck, industry sources report, despite GCD adding another test lab technician.
"We're not pessimistic about global markets and their impact on Montana," Propp continues, "but we are realistic. It will be challenging. It's always highly competitive and our competitors have great products, but we offer products with some real distinctions...and they earn and play very well. They are popular and there is a good demand.
"In fact, we'll be ordering another 100 cabinets next week," he says, which should be delivered by the first part of February, about the time existing inventory has dwindled.
Those boxes will get new game introductions for the Keno King, Casino King and Brilliant Bet lines, Propp says.
What sort of new games?
"I won't say, except that they will add value. We access a lot of player behavior data from our machines on our routes, and that is and has been integral to the development process. (Fleetwood vends its own machines or has other route vendors perform those functions under contract.)
But Fleetwood's first priority will be updating machines already in service, Propp says. The new hardware roll-outs will soon follow which will incorporate the thermal printers and portable data storage devices, he says. "But we must do it at minimum expense," he says, "to keep the cost of the devices down, and it may take awhile because of engineering, submission and approval bottlenecks.
"There is a lot of room to grow our market share," Propp says. "It is a replacement market and our products will fit the market.
"We will have both casino models and bar/tavern models. There will be plenty of operator software options. Some locations benefit from machines with more game titles, others from fewer. A good vendor can help with that level of scrutiny to improve performance.
"We want to make sure our customers get their share of the gaming dollars spent."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, January, 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.