- Featherlite Luxury Coaches®, a division of Featherlite®, Inc., manufactures high-end motor coaches for personal, corporate and executive travel. Delivering luxury coaches to the market since the mid-90's, Featherlite continuously strives to deliver the world's most opulent living accommodations on wheels. With more than 200 standard amenities and retailing for more than $1.5 million, the coaches are so exclusive that fewer than 50 are sold annually in the United States. "Our customers are usually retired business owners who want to take a more leisurely tour of the country in absolute comfort, convenience and style," said Clyde Bailey, Director of Sales, Featherlite.
Home Away From Home
- Featherlite wanted to surround its customers with state-of-the-art technology, enabling them to enjoy the comforts of home no matter where their travels take them. By incorporating so much technology, however, the company knew the number of conventional remote controls needed to operate the shades, lights and A/V equipment would be overwhelming.
- To solve this problem, AMX and Encore Broadcast Equipment Sales, Inc. of Tampa, Florida partnered to create an integrated control system for Featherlite, which features two AMX 7.5" Modero ViewPoint Touch Panels, a Wall Docking Station (WDS) and an NI-3000 Controller. The system has been so popular with Featherlite's clientele, it is now a standard feature of every motor coach.
- Using either of the wireless touch panels, the end user can control the surround sound system, satellite receivers, computers, high-definition TVs, TiVo, and CD and DVD players, as well as the lights, shades and door locks. Once either Modero is dropped into the WDS, it can even provide circuit breaker control from inside the coach via custom designed software – an industry first for Featherlite.
- When the day's travels are concluded, Featherlite drivers and passengers enjoy settling into their luxury coaches for a quiet evening of relaxation. "They'll use the Modero to set the ambience of the stateroom," Bailey commented. "Through multiple settings on one control panel they can choose a movie, close the shades, dim the lights, play the movie and adjust the sound. Modero does everything but pop the popcorn."
Wow Factor
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In addition to centralizing control for its customers, Featherlite wanted to create an intuitive interface that is simple and easy to use. "We'd need to give customers a two-inch-thick manual for them to control all the equipment and environmental systems if we didn't have the simplicity of the Modero," Bailey said. "That's the beauty of being able to customize the Modero panel to a user-friendly interface. When we sit someone down and hand them a Modero, the 'Wow' factor kicks in
you can see it in their faces."
Competitive Edge
- "AMX has been able to steadily maintain the needs of Featherlite as technology has become more complicated," said Sam Lewis, account manager, Encore Broadcast Equipment. In the future, the flexibility of AMX technology will enable Featherlite to easily modify or upgrade its system – from adjusting the user interface to changing the number and types of devices controlled.
- "Featherlite dominates the conversion market and we believe AMX plays a big role in our ability to differentiate our products from the competition," added John Weiss, Director of Manufacturing, Featherlite.
