Boxoffice-September.1997

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Seotember. 1997 133
Q&A
SMART
GET SMART:
VINCE LUCIANI
NAMED PRESIDENT
Theatre Systems, manufacturer of cinema sound products, has long known
about finding a niche and filling it. While DTS, Dolby and Sony battle for leadership
in the digital realm, SMART continues to focus much of its manufacturing and
marketing muscle on product for the many theatres that use analog sound equipment, as well
as devices that complement digital equipment. SMART'S latest strategy is to increase its
international presence, particularly in Eastern Europe, where analog sound-equipped theatres
are predominant. This moves sees Norm Schneider take the role
of chiefexecutive officer, spending most of his time focusing on that
market. Assuming the position of president is Vince Luciani, a
former engineer at SMART who spent a few years at Panasonic's
Car Audio department before returning to head domestic sales
and production at the company that first hired him right out of
college.
Boxoffice: What does this new executive structure say about the
direction in which SMART is headed?
VINCE LUCIANI: SMART is concentrating on the international
market. I was brought in to take care of domestic sales and manufacturing.
It will free up Norm, who has moved up to CEO, to concentrate
on the international market, spending a lot of time in Eastern Europe.
We're trying to stake our claim over in Europe.
Boxoffice: What is it about that market that appeals to SMART?
LUCIANI: [SMART'S product] is mainly at this point in time an
analog soundtrack audio system. We are not in the position to set forth with a new digital format.
Since we are an analog house, and the U.S. is going a lot towards digital, we feel Eastern Europe
is still running a lot of analog prints, and that's a good market there.
Boxoffice: How will the growing digitalization impact SMART'S business in the future?
LUCIANI: While the digital formats are fighting it out to see who's going to gain dominance
in the industry, SMART is always going to be there for analog backup. If another "Jurassic Park"
comes out and it's only available in DTS and your theatre only has Dolby Digital playback, then
SMART is going to be there for you to play the analog backup track. So that's basically the game
that we're playing. And also, we are expanding our product line to include more than just sound
equipment. We have just launched a a very flexible system for booth automation that includes
both the projector side and the sound side and the lights and masking and lens changes— it does
everything. So with those products, we're trying to widen our product base.
Boxoffice: What new SMART product are you most excited about?
LUCIANI: Probably the MOD VI. I would
put it in the realm of revolutionary. Because what
we're doing for a suggested retail price of $2,000 is what everyone else is currently doing in
the $4,000 to $6,000 range, it's still a full-featured analog processor, but, since it is so low-cost,
it allows you to add digital really easily.
Boxoffice: What kind of specialized product lines is SMART currently selling or developing
for the specialized needs of overseas exhibitors?
LUCIANI: We are putting together a package. The package includes a MOD VI, a new
low-cost monitor, and a six-channel amplifier. We're packaging that in a 21-inch rack, and
we're including speakers, everything complete. Our European customers do not have the
ability that we do here in the States, where you can buy speakers from one guy, amps from
one guy, and processors from another guy, because all this importing is very difficult. So they
want to have one-stop shopping for their sound systems.
Boxoffice: I understand you were with SMART a few years ago, and are just now returning
to SMART as president.
LUCIANhThat's right. Out of college, I went to graduate school here in Atlanta, and I heard
about SMART through a co-worker where I was doing some intern work. Within a week, I
came over and visited SMART and decided that's where I wanted to work. Being an audio
person, going to school in audio, I thought this was the perfect place for me. So I
here
directly out of school and worked here for about two and a half years. After that, I thought that
it was good to get a perspective of business from a large company, and Panasonic's car audio
division had an opening. By day I would work for Panasonic, but at night I would come back
to SMART and continue to do design work for them. I moonlighted with SMART for about four
and a half years of the six years that I was gone. So I kept up with SMART quite a bit, because
I had a feeling in the back of my mind that I might come back here some day. I knew that
SMART was the kind of organization that I wanted to be with.
Boxoffice: What sort of unique impression would you hope to make on SMART?
LUCIANI: i what I would like my mark to be is to open up a new market for us. I hope
that I can diversify us, and open other markets up that may not necessarily be in the theatre
industry. Of course, SMART will always be in the theatre industry, and we will always support
our current product line, and we will always do active research and development in that area.
[New markets] will probably be in the audio realm. Basically, SMART is an audio house, an
analog audio house. And we will continue to try to make better sound. Because that's what
we do. And there's sound in many, many different fields. So who knows where you might see
the SMART Devices logo pop up in the future. Christine fames
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