For thirty years, Florical Systems has been the leader in television automation, and their products have been deployed at some of the biggest names in TV and Cable. From high profile cable operations, network owned and operated stations, individual network affiliate stations and PBS stations, Florical has been the go-to company for solutions and software. Overseeing operations is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Shawn Maynard, who describes some of the company’s recent projects for Nextstar Media Group.
Florical recently completed installs of the Acuitas Integrated Playout platform for Nextstar Media’s Springfield MA facility including WWLP and WFXQ-CD, as well as the cluster at Indianapolis IN, which includes WISH-TV, WNDY-TV and WIIH-CD. Acuitas eliminates the traditional, serial-based proprietary boxes within the broadcast chain by employing off-the-shelf components. It also delivers reliable and affordable High Definition playout, graphics, effects and switching.
“These automation and integrated playout systems deliver huge cost savings and manpower reductions to our customers by ingesting all content, cataloging it and delivering to independent stations,” said Maynard.
The Indianapolis installation of Acuitas is special, as Maynard explains: “In addition to ingesting and distributing content to the local stations, Indianapolis also operates master control functions and feeds content to KHOU in Honolulu. This gives them tremendous cost savings and manpower reductions. Most of the staff in Hawaii are involved with engineering and gathering local news.”
Sure, there are other television automation companies to choose from, but Maynard notes that Florical’s approach both to technology and their customers is what sets them apart: “Often our customers’ requests have been turned down by other companies as ‘impossible’ or ‘not economically feasible’. That’s when we get busy. We’re usually able to deliver a solution that works for them.”
Maynard says that as Florical creates a system for a customer, they ask four questions: “Is the technology practical? Can we deliver it at a price-point that’s economical? Can it reduce labor costs and deliver savings to the customer? And, perhaps most important of all, is it reliable?”
Florical Systems also views customer service differently. “We view our relationship with customers as a partnership,” explains Maynard. ”Some companies view this relationship as vendor-client, which really means how much money can we, as a vendor, make off of a client. At Florical we ask, ‘how can we make you successful’, as we build win-win relationships.” He adds that in many ways, their customers’ high expectations are what drives Florical to be a better company.
While Florical takes pride in offering systems that are robust and bulletproof, outstanding tech support 24/7/365 is also part of the equation.