Alcorn McBride’s COO Brings the Sights and Sounds out from Behind the Scenes
Quick Bio
NAME: Jeremy Scheinberg
COMPANY: Alcorn McBride
TITLE: Chief Operating Officer
BACKGROUND: Scheinberg has been with Alcorn McBride since graduating from Penn, with the exception of twoyear hiatus to attend business school.
SCN: What does your position entail?
Jeremy Scheinberg: I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company as well as charting our future product strategy. I just celebrated my thirteenth year at Alcorn McBride.
SCN: How has your background prepared you for your role?
JS: My degree is in control systems engineering, so I have always had a love for systems design. When I first arrived here, I did field project management as well as systems engineering. I traveled around the world working on installations and programming, as well as ride control on Universal Studio’s Spiderman. Being in the field definitely gave me greater insight into how people use our equipment, and the unique demands that only a project schedule can afford. So as COO , my priority is to ensure our team is as responsive as possible to assist our clients with tight deadlines. Our philosophy is to make the engineers who design the product accessible. Doing that provides an extremely high level of support (they know the products best), and helps achieve our other goal: To stay in tune with how our products are used so we can make our products robust, feature-rich, and as easy-to-use as possible.
SCN: What are your short- and long-term goals?
JS: Our short-term goals are to expand into ancillary industries that make sense for us. For example, we are growing into the broadcast industry because they have many of the same demands that the themed entertainment industry has—products that work 24/7/365, and that won’t crash during a live broadcast or get a virus. Long-term, I hope that we will constantly evolve into a workplace that fosters creativity and ingenuity so we can come out with great new products to serve new and emerging markets.
SCN: What is the greatest challenge that you face?
JS: Very cheap, disposable products that compete with our solutions. Sometimes it may appear as if a lower-cost PC-based product is the best solution, but it is short-term thinking. We have seen that these products don’t last, and in the types of venues that we operate in, failures are very high-profile. Our clients don’t want their guest to walk into their facility and see a giant LED sign with a BSOD (blue screen of death), or have a control system crash in the middle of the show. Our products are engineered specifically from the ground up, so you get all of the functionality without the risk inherent in these low-quality products.
SCN: How can systems contractors better position themselves to profit from what Alcorn McBride has to offer?
JS: Our equipment powers some of the highest-profile attractions in the world. However, since we are “The Sights and Sounds Behind the Scenes,” many contractors may not be familiar with us, or our products. Systems contractors can benefit and profit from our products by working with us to learn the depth of our product capabilities. Many of our clients offer service contracts, maintaining projects long after the installation. Using our gear will ensure a level of reliability, cutting down on maintenance costs. Plus, when installed systems simply work as designed, everyone is happy.
