Abuzz’s Wayfinder product has set a new standard for customer experience and is rapidly growing in popularity across Asia-Pacific with installations in top retail malls and resorts including the prestigious ION Orchard mall in Singapore. Abuzz was invited by The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands to develop and implement 29 new wayfinding points, based on the current state-of-the-art Projected Capacitive Technology (PCT™) and offering a much higher level of functionality.
The Abuzz directories feature 40” landscape format Zytronic touch screens driven by the new ZXY110 touch controller. The 40″ touchscreen design was a joint effort from the sales force and field knoweldge of the staff at JEA Technologies and the expert engineers at Zytronic. The new controller provides enhanced performance in a number of areas. It offers better immunity against electrical noise in the environment, and dynamically retunes itself to avoid performance degradation from emissions from mobile phones and other nearby electronic devices. Although the directories are large units externally, there is in fact only very limited space inside and the ZXY110 board is pleasingly compact. The fact that the controller is offered with native Windows device drivers was an added advantage, simplifying integration.
An interesting feature of The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands was the global nature of the supply chain – and here the flexible and extensive manufacturing capabilities of Zytronic come to the fore. The internal electronics, LCD screens and the artificial marble housings were sourced locally in Singapore, the metalwork for the directories was manufactured in New Zealand and the touch sensors came from Zytronic in England. To bring all these elements together in Sydney before shipping to Singapore would have added a great deal of cost. Abuzz decided to bring the components together on site in Singapore. To allow the units to be assembled quickly and easily, the touch assemblies needed an acrylic frame with bonded clips to hold the electronics, and fasten directly to the metal frame. JEA Technologies assembled the 40″ touch screen and acrylic frame in Melbourne, Australia, before shipping directly to the end destination in Singapore.