Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/621384
22 | I NSIGH T • J a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m rapidly shipped out to the ordering customer. Bay Tek does not carry inventory. Games are manufactured as ordered. "Normally, our lead time is about two weeks," Philippon says, showing off a cross-discipline space where engineers, schedulers and sales reps work together to make sure games are built on time. "We have been known to get one out the door in as little as three days." e majority of the games leaving the plant will find homes in FECs around the U.S., though Bay Tek has a healthy export business as well, with international markets making up about 30 percent of sales, Philippon says. International sales do pose some unique problems for the company — since they pay out tickets, some countries treat them as gambling — but the market is growing. M o r e m a r k e t s N ot everything the company makes is targeted toward that 9- to 10-year-old demographic in the FEC. Bay Tek also has a line of mechanical bar games, as well as what is referred to as the "street market." Popular games in the bar market include Beer Pong Master and the alley bowler Beer Ball. e "street market" locations include the front area of supermarkets and retailers such as Wal-Mart. ese games differ in that they pay out actual prizes rather than tickets. Perhaps a good measure of Bay Tek's success is that Wal-Mart sent members of its corporate team to tour the company's plant, even though it usually requires suppliers and vendors to visit its headquarters in Arkansas. Bay Tek does not actually operate the games in retail locations such as Wal-Mart; one of the company's select distributors provides them to site managers who may operate dozens of the sites. "at was a unique experience," Philippon says. "ey opportunities on the horizon, as technology allows the company's games to be interconnected, provide better data on usage and even eliminate the need for coins. Once a game graduates from concept to production, it starts a journey down the Yellow Brick Road. e Yellow Brick Road is Bay Tek's nickname for the path a game follows as it moves along the production line, from 4-by-8-foot sheets of plywood at the start to the shipping dock, where it departs for an FEC or other location. And yes, the path on the floor leading from workstation to workstation is painted yellow. Each game produced by Bay Tek is craed in house, from the cabinets to the circuit boards to the wiring harnesses that hold it all together. e company uses LEAN, just-in-time manufacturing to produce up to 15 games a day. Each stop on its journey down the Yellow Brick Road takes about 35 minutes. Once a game clears the last workstation, where it is tested, given a final inspection and cleaned up, it is ONLINE: Click to hear Gaetan Philippon discuss the thought process and innovation that go into creating new games at Bay Tek. Bay Tek's target audience gathers around a game at a family entertainment center. C O U R T E S Y B AY T E K G A M E S W I N B I G c o n t i n u e d