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Zero Goes beyond 88

UK - Enjoying a great start to the new year is Eaton’s Zero 88, reporting that they have hit the magic number of ‘88’ in terms of territorial reach, and more specifically the number of countries to which their award-winning ZerOS lighting control products, including the popular FLX range consoles, have been supplied and are now being used and appreciated.

The first award-winning FLX console – proudly made in Wales – was launched in autumn 2015. Sales rose steadily throughout 2016. Since 2017, especially following the launch of the FLX S range, sales have increased dramatically via a carefully selected worldwide distribution network.

Business for the FLX range initially took off in the UK and Europe, according to Tyler Holpin, UK key accounts and international sales manager for the Cwmbran-based manufacturer.

However, the hot countries for FLX sales during 2018 were Japan and Australia!

Other places doing well and growing fast are South Africa, the Middle East, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and India, and the global reach of the brand and the FLX range in particular has resulted in significant sales in places as diverse as Bangladesh, Egypt and Mauritius and the Channel Islands.

Sales to rental companies and the television sector were particularly impressive, and FLX consoles are in constant use for live events and concerts: It’s also a winner for multi-purpose installations.

Optimised for the wide-spectrum market embracing medium-sized productions, typically those using a combination of moving lights and LED fixtures, the originalFLXconsole was designed to give users working in all sectors more time to be imaginative, inventive and efficient.

It offered many new and innovative features for that level of production, including up to 8,192 freely assignable control channels with no fixture patch limitations, supported by 4 rotary encoders, with 24 dedicated playback faders (across ten pages) and four UDKs (User Definable Keys).

The clean, straightforwarduser interface plus tools like Patch Wizard and Auto Palettes which consolidate all the prep work, aimed to offer LDs, programmers and operators the ability to to work faster, smarter and more harmoniously in creating shows, were an instant hit!

Zero 88 is famous for its excellent technical support, superlative after sales service and comprehensive product training programmes. The training concept is being rolled out worldwide via the distributors, so ZerOS users everywhere can experience continuity and the same high levels of support.

A delighted David Catterall, general manager for Zero 88Eaton Lighting Systems, estimates that the ZerOS user base “has doubled” in the last 12 months, “and that’s down to the foresight and hard work of the whole team here: R&D, manufacture, sales, marketing and admin. While there are currently some uncertainties in 2019 regarding our exact relationship with the EU, we are fully positioned to continue serving our dealer network wherever they are located.”

David adds that the company generally remains committed to ‘doing business right’ – including no waste to landfill, reducing the carbon footprint by 17%, generating new jobs due to taking the PCB manufacture in-house and respecting individuals' rights and wishes under GDPR.

“We are looking forward to a positive and active 2019,” he concluded.

In picture: The Zero 88 team ‘going global’ in Cwmbran.

25th January 2019

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