Inside Leyard’s new European showroom

The opening of Leyard and Planar’s new European showroom in Barcelona, Spain, attracted attendees from all over EMEA, who were keen to explore the demonstration space, get hands-on with the new

LED, LCD and advanced display product offerings and find out about the company’s strategy for this year and beyond.

Strengthening regional offerings

Leyard’s European base is the next step in the display manufacturer’s two-strand plan to achieve international growth whilst developing local support. Last year saw Leyard add to its existing manufacturing facilities in Beijing in China, Shenzhen and Oregon, US, by building a 3,000 square metre manufacturing plant in Slovakia. This is now home to a team of 65 who are dedicated to the testing and assembly of products shipped from China or the US. Continuing their focus on improving local resources, Leyard set up an office in Russia to offer demo equipment and support for their customers based there.

In 2018, improving regional services and facilities continues to be a priority, as Marco Bruines, ceo of Leyard Europe, commented at the launch event. “Local support is important. We have demo rooms in Moscow, Rome, Paris and London and we want our European customers to get the most out of using our new facility in Spain too. This year, we will continue to expand our regional support with the launch of our first showroom in Dubai.”

According to Chris Van Elslander, a recent addition to the Leyard team and the company’s vp sales EMEA, the showroom is crucial for delivering the right messages to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and equipping them with the tools to go out and sell the solutions.

“Our company has become global, but to be successful in EMEA you need to be close to your customers and build long-term relationships,” he says. “We deliver local service and are building the field sales team as well as increasing the number of business development specialists. They will offer customers knowledge of specific segments in the market.”

Bruines agrees it is essential to hire experienced people from the key markets: “We have been growing the sales support team and for 2018 we will also have a big increase in our technical teams.”

So why did Leyard choose this particular location in Barcelona? Firstly, the 5.382 sq foot (more than 500 sq metre) showroom is within easy reach of the airport and harbour and – being 500m from the beach and restaurants – it is in a prime position for customers who are visiting to enjoy.

Two members of Leyard’s management team are also already based in Barcelona – Christian and Desiree – and will now work out of the new showroom. So as well as acting as a location for showcasing the full range of product offerings on the top floor, the new flexible space will double up as a working space for the European sales and marketing team. The premises also feature an extensive open office space on the lower level, designed to cater for sales training, events and customer meetings.

Marco Bruines, ceo of Leyard Europe, opens the new showroom

Showcasing innovation

Leyard acquired and restructured the new facility and has designed it to present their product innovations in an application-specific way. The top level of the showroom is filled with the broad product ranges from Leyard and Planar, divided into zones dedicated to the multiple markets and applications the companies cater for, including broadcast, corporate, rental and staging, control rooms and museums.

“It is important this space shows customers why a certain pixel pitch is the best option for different applications,” says Bruines. “We will organise open days dedicated at particular applications, for example an application specific day designed for customers specialising in using display technology in control room settings.”

On the day of the showroom’s grand reveal a presentation on the company’s financial performance and development strategy was followed by a round-up of key product announcements. Examples of recent innovation highlighted by Christian Orcin, vp product marketing EMEA, included the 0.7mm 4K videowall showcased at ISE.

“It was the first 4K video wall at 0.7mm pixel pitch and we decided to launch it on Leyard DirectLight because it is our premium product – wall mounted, front accessible and with precise alignment,” he says. “We also unveiled Clarity Matrix G3 – our LCD product range. What we provide with this release out of the box is a media processing functionality on a normal LCD videowall.”

In 2012, the company launched its first 2.5mm and has since focused quite heavily on small pixel pitch. “However, we want to lead the industry and we know without offering standard pixel pitch this would not be possible,” Orcin adds. “So at ISE we launched Leyard VersaLight Series– a lightweight product that goes to 6mm indoor or 8mm outdoor.”

Orcin also admits that whilst offering premium products is important, it does not deliver volume so the company plans to expand its range further in 2018, not only to reinforce the premium products but to provide more cost-effective solutions too.

Company expansion

Leyard has seen impressive growth since 2012 and last year achieved a revenue of $1 billion, Bruines revealed. “But we didn’t achieve this just through LED, it was through acquisitions of companies such as Glux, Planar, Linso and NaturalPoint. We are not just an LED company with a factory, we have multiple companies in China and many outside China,” he says. “This year, we are hoping to achieve a revenue of $1.6 billion.”

The key, according to Orcin, is acquiring innovative companies that are a good match for the whole portfolio. “And we will keep acquiring companies that display this innovation. We are not just growing as a group for financial reasons, we are acquiring companies because we believe they complement our product range.”

View more photos from the opening event in our gallery…