ACT Entertainment, a leading manufacturer and distributor of audio, video, and lighting technology for the entertainment industry, announces the creation of its Center for Technology Excellence at the company's Cincinnati, Ohio facility. The newly rededicated campus will serve as a centralized hub for hardware service, logistics, and product distribution across ACT's portfolio of brands -- consolidating capabilities that have historically been distributed across multiple locations and operating structures into a single, purpose-built operation.
“The move reflects a broader strategic shift at ACT Entertainment,” the announcement states. “As the entertainment industry continues to integrate across disciplines -- with lighting, video, audio, and show control increasingly converging on every project -- the demands on service and support infrastructure have changed fundamentally. Live event productions, houses of worship, corporate AV environments, and performing arts venues alike are deploying systems that span multiple technology categories, and the nature of the support relationship with clients has shifted as well.
ACT is decoupling software and hardware support facilities to make both engagements more efficient and beneficial to customers; bringing software and training closer to its customers while centralizing hardware service for efficiency.
"ACT has long understood that live experience would expand beyond the walls of theater or concert halls, and now we’re seeing production technology brought into almost every room where people gather," says Bob Bonniol, Chief Innovation Officer of ACT Entertainment. "This shift is underway now and our role with partners like MA Lighting and Ayrton is not simply to distribute — it is to bridge our customers’ and our partners' engineering teams and ensure the tools evolve in lockstep with what designers, operators, and integrators actually need—and can be serviced for those environments."
The Center for Technology Excellence will house dedicated service and repair operations, centralized parts inventory, and streamlined distribution logistics for ACT's family of brands, which includes tvONE, Green Hippo, Ayrton, MDG, Robert Juliat, MA Lighting, zactrack, Ultimate Support Systems, ProCo, and others. By bringing these functions under one roof at an established facility with deep operational expertise -- Cincinnati has long served as the home of tvONE and Green Hippo -- the company’s goal is faster turnaround times, more integrated technical support, and a more cohesive service experience for customers working across product categories.
ACT Entertainment emphasizes that the transition is designed to be seamless for existing customers and their clients. Current service contacts, warranty processes, and support channels will remain active throughout the transition, and the company plans to communicate directly with customers at every stage of the rollout.
“For an industry where downtime on a critical project is not an option, ACT is building the Center for Technology Excellence around a simple commitment -- that the support customers rely on for their most important work will only get better, and never be disrupted,” the release continues.
"Our customers are buying outcomes – shows, venues, experiences – not lighting, or video, or signal, or power products. Those product categories increasingly depend on every layer working as one, and our organization should reflect that." says Ben Saltzman, CEO of ACT Entertainment. "Cincinnati's geographic position places most of our North American customers within a day's shipping reach, which makes it the right spine for a faster, more focused operational model. Where we manufacture, we're committing to deeper investment. Where we distribute, we're committing to partners whose roadmaps most closely align with where the market is going. Everything we build at ACT is in service of our customers’ creativity and our industry’s show-must-go-on ethos."
