Visteon to Make Premium Theater Seating
8 April 1998
Pull Up a Chair: Visteon is Venturing Into The Premium Theater Seating Business
DETROIT, April 7 -- Ladies and gentlemen, please take your
seats -- because seating is the main event at this show. Coming soon to a
theater near you, Visteon high-back movie seats -- seats that deliver the
plush comfort of an easy chair.
In another major business venture outside of the automotive industry,
Visteon Automotive Systems is now manufacturing state-of-the-art theater and
stadium seating. The seats, which incorporate advanced automotive technology,
offer movie buffs and theater owners optimal comfort and chair serviceability.
"Theater and stadium seating offers a good fit with our interior systems
capabilities, and we are establishing a new paradigm in this industry," notes
Roger B. Saillant, vice president and general manager of Visteon's Interior
Systems Division. "This will help strengthen our automotive seating
business. It also allows us to put some outstanding Visteon technology
directly into the hands of consumers -- while they enjoy a show!"
Although Visteon has supplied the fabric for stadium seating to
manufacturers for over a year, this is the first time it will build theater
and stadium chairs. Visteon has signed a contract to supply its first 5,000
high-back chairs to MJR Theatres. MJR will use the seating in a new 20-screen
theater complex it is building in Southgate, Mich., set to open in November.
The Visteon theater chair offers movie fans a few of the comfort features
they have come to expect in their car and their home. It brags a built-in
headrest and back lumbar support built into the foam construction. The padded
armrests have cupholders. And at 46 and one-half inches high, Visteon's chair
is the highest in the industry.
But creature comfort is only half of the story behind the Visteon theater
chair. In what is a big and potentially growing industry -- some 1.1 million
movie seats annually -- Visteon offers theater owners a new level of quality,
speed, and unprecedented service. Speed to market, for example, is core to
what Visteon can offer the entertainment industry. The prototype for MJR's
chair was completed to exacting design specifications in about three weeks
using advanced Visteon technology.
"We are setting new standards in the theater and stadium seating industry
by applying highly successful automotive engineering and processes to these
products," says John Check, director, Seating Systems, Interior Systems
Division, Visteon. "Our quality and delivery capabilities are unprecedented
-- and we can offer some state-of-the-art technologies that the industry
hasn't seen before in movie seating."
Visteon plans to explore a new level of technological integration -- such
as audio capability -- as it continues to develop its theater seating
business. And it plans to market its premium chairs to movie theater
companies, stadium owners, and educational facilities throughout the world,
notes Craig Muh1hauser, vice president of Global Marketing, Sales and Service.
"Visteon is committed to leveraging its automotive expertise in new and
diversified industries," Muh1hauser comments. "We have tremendous capability
to help our customers offer their clients a positive product experience.
Theater seating presents Visteon with a great opportunity to expand into a new
market and to help make our customers even more successful."
In January, Visteon announced its first non-automotive business venture, a
strategic alliance to design, develop and manufacture AlliedSignal Power
System Inc.'s TurboGenerator(TM) Power System.
Visteon, an enterprise of Ford Motor Company with nearly a
century of experience, has 79,000 employees located in 76 plants, including
30 joint venture facilities, and 30 sales offices, engineering and technical
centers in 19 countries around the world.
SOURCE Visteon Automotive Systems