NEW RUNCO MANAGEMENT PLANS MORE FREQUENT PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS

New Pres. Robert Hana and Sales & Mktg. Vp Ben Jamison denied their approach digressed from original strategy and vision of company founder Sam Runco. Under new model, dealer and rep networks have been reorganized to resemble “Nordstrom” type model, Jamison said. Account teams will be assigned to geographic regions including eastern and western U.S. and Canada, Europe and rest of world. For example, N.Y.C. retailer will deal with same Runco staff members every time he calls seeking inside sales account information, customer service and finance. Goal is to foster closer bond between dealers and account managers, Jamison said.

“Our vision is the same [as Sam Runco’s] but there has been the recognition that the company has to have some complementary resources to deal with growth and success,” said Hana, who joined Runco in March and whose 16-year relationship with company goes back to his early days at NEC. “Sam on one side has a phenomenal history with innovation and standards, but at a certain point if you don’t deal with growth in the proper way it will actually fail. My challenge is to bring in processes, systems and to manage life cycles so that we can be a first-class company.”

Among challenges facing Runco is sluggish world economy and wave of commodity-priced front projectors that attack market in which company traditionally has maintained high-end position. “Our challenge is to make the marketplace understand the difference between real home theater and boxes, so we don’t commoditize it to the point that anyone with a $900 projector can be home theater,” Hana said. To keep pace with shifts in market, Hana said, Runco hopes to emulate Dell Computer’s model for sourcing products. His former employer, NEC, has been major Runco supplier in past. “Dell doesn’t necessarily manufacture anything but when Dell goes out and buys a product it’s been custom-designed for them,” Jamison said. “The way you put those parts together in a product is different. [Dell’s is] the model of how we want to source our products.”

Sourcing model will come into play as Runco seeks to meet growing demand for lower priced projectors. Company plans to ship 2 new single-chip DLP projectors this month and next with pricing starting at $5,995. It also previewed its first 3-chip projector with 1,024x768 resolution and 12? tilt-angle mirrors that’s scheduled for delivery within 60 days. Single-chip CL-510 is $5,995 for “1.75-2.0” lens model and $6,995 for long-throw version with “2.3-3.0” lens, Jamison said. New 510 uses Texas Instruments Matterhorn widescreen chip with 1,024x576 resolution. Projector can display all pixels of widescreen image without overspray on top and bottom of screen. New single-chip CL-710, which uses TI’s HD-2 DLP chip has $9,995 retail for version with 1.4-1.6 lens, $10,995 for long-throw version with 1.85-2.4 lens. Both projectors have onboard VIVIX processors for installation flexibility.

New 3-chip DLP projector TI light engine is roughly same size as that used in Runco’s 5000ci single-chip projector, its engineers said. Three-chip model features 2 lamps on single cartridge -- an industry first -- for improved light output. Prototype sports 3,000 lumens of brightness.

In setting plans for Vidikron brand acquired last fall, Runco plans to ship first projectors in June. New models will feature industrial design that sports neutral tones over “Pininfarina” finishes favored by Vidikron for its projectors when it operated as standalone company.

Plans for Projectavision brand formerly owned by Vidikron still are on drawing board, Runco executives said. Projectavision distribution will be kept separate from Runco’s and Vidikron’s and strategies will be different, Jamison said: “Projectavision could take a lot of different directions for us. Hypothetically, if we chose to go in an entirely different direction with Projectavision -- whether it was commercial or commodity-oriented -- you would have a completely different distribution organization than you would with the kind of distribution we're doing with Vidikron.”

In adapting to more visionary role in company, CEO Sam Runco used dealer conference to bolster company’s effort to bring credibility to video projector specifications. Company is attempting to differentiate high-end fixed-pixel projectors from commodity-grade counterparts sold by PC companies by using stricter measurement criteria for home theater applications. Company’s hope is that other home theater projector suppliers then will have to follow suit, he said.

Runco’s namesake line has instituted 3-tier Cinema Standards Measurement System (CSMS), which sets ratings for fixed-pixel displays based on home theater applications. One set of specs lists typical brightness and contrast ratios so consumers can compare Runco’s projectors with those of competitors, using color temperature ratings based on Imaging Science Foundation standards. Another set lists foot lamberts used originally in movie theaters to measure screen brightness.

Sam Runco said commodity-priced fixed-pixel projectors emerging from PC side were conceived as PC peripherals with different set of performance criteria from home theater domain. “In the PC environment,” he said, “they have 3-1/2 minutes on the floor to sell product and everybody expects the specs to equal performance. That’s why there’s the drive for the horsepower, ANSI lumens and all the cheating that has gone on in the industry since it started. It’s imperative to us that specs in those categories not equate to video performance in home theater.”

Design, calibration and installation all factor into quality of home theater picture, Sam Runco said, but aren’t represented by current numbers in spec wars. “If we play the game the way the PC guys want on their court and with their rules we'll continue to have these issues,” he said. “We have to change the rules and make sure the consumer plays on our turf. Otherwise, it will become nothing more than a game with 5000 ANSI-lumens ratings, et cetera. If we use other specs that do equate to how good the video performance is, then they'll have a very difficult time penetrating this marketplace.”

Company also has been named Platinum partner in control company AMX’s In Concert program. As Runco develops new products, it will work with AMX engineers so Runco projectors are controllable and fully tested when they ship. In near future, applications will be available that monitor communication among projector, processor and controller, AMX National Sales Mgr. David Nowak said. If there’s a problem -- for example, if communication has been interrupted -- controller automatically can e-mail custom installer. Another application will be to monitor projector’s lamp life. Dealers will get preformatted e- mails sent at certain stages of lamp life allowing them to go out in the field and solve a problem before it happens.