A dead screen takes a machine off the floor, and the cost is not the panel — it is the machine standing idle while you wait for a replacement. This guide sets out how to work out a spares level you can defend, and how to store spares so a replacement actually fits when you need it.
1. Start from the failure history, not from a rule of thumb
Every floor has its own failure pattern, and it is usually already in your maintenance records. Before ordering anything, pull two numbers from the last twelve months:
- Replacements per year — how many screens were actually changed, and on which cabinet models.
- Average wait — how long each machine was out of service waiting for the part.
Those two numbers tell you whether you have a spares problem or a lead-time problem. If screens arrive quickly, a small spares shelf is enough. If the wait was long, the fix is more stock or a shorter supply route — and both are worth pricing.
2. The arithmetic that sets the level
A defensible spares level comes from three inputs:
- Annual replacement rate for that model: replacements per year ÷ number of machines of that model.
- Resupply time: production time plus shipping plus customs, measured in years for this calculation (six weeks ≈ 0.12 years).
- Safety factor: how much buffer your floor can tolerate while a whole batch is being replaced. Batch replacement programmes need a higher factor than single swaps.
Spares = annual replacement rate × fleet size × resupply time × safety factor. Worked example: 200 machines of one model, 6% replaced per year, eight weeks to resupply (0.15 years), safety factor 2 → 200 × 0.06 × 0.15 × 2 ≈ 4 screens. Round up, and keep at least one spare of every screen size in that model family, including top box and button-deck panels.
Two adjustments matter in practice: machines that are still in production are easy to replenish, so they need less stock; discontinued cabinets need more, because at some point you are matching a panel you may not be able to buy again.
3. Stock the long-lead item, not the whole cabinet
On most cabinets the display is the item with the longest lead time, because the panel, the curvature and the bonding are specific to the model. Power boards, controllers and cables are usually short-lead and often interchangeable between cabinets of the same generation. So the practical policy is:
- Hold spares of the screens — main screen, top box and button deck, by model.
- Hold one or two donor cabinets where the platform is end-of-life, to cover boards and looms.
- Do not stock screens you cannot fit — a 43″ R1500 spare is useless in a cabinet that takes R800.
4. Store them so they still work in two years
- Stand them upright or on their edge in the original foam and carton. Stacked flat panels pressure-mark the glass and can deform the frame.
- Keep them dry and dust-free. Humidity damages the driver board and the polariser edge; dust in a bonded assembly is impossible to remove.
- Leave the protective film on until the screen goes into a cabinet.
- Avoid temperature swings — a hot storeroom next to a cold loading dock is the worst case.
- Label every unit with the model, radius, brightness and the invoice or PI number so a later replacement can be matched to the same batch and generation.
5. Matching a spare to the machine you are repairing
Two screens can look identical and still not interchange: same size but a different radius, same radius but a different brightness band, or the same panel with a different interface board. Record these five values per cabinet model and keep them on the spare’s label:
- Visible screen area (mm) and resolution
- Curve profile and radius (for example C-curve R1500)
- Brightness band (250 / 300 / 500 nits)
- Touch type and touch point count
- Interfaces used by the platform (HDMI / DP / VGA, USB or RS232 touch)
If you do not have those values written down, the photographs and method in how to match an existing display will recover them from a cabinet in a few minutes.
6. Plan refurbishments in batches
When screens are replaced one at a time, a bank of machines slowly becomes a patchwork of different brightness and colour. A refurbishment programme avoids that: bring the whole bank to the same panel generation in one pass, at a planned downtime window, and keep the outgoing units as donors. The operational side (staging, spares trolley, swap sequence) is covered in reducing screen downtime on the casino floor.
7. What to ask your supplier for
- Batch consistency: can the spare come from the same panel generation as the fleet?
- Spares pricing: is there a price for a small quantity held against future orders, rather than a one-off unit price?
- Lead time in writing for the spare, including the shipping leg to your destination.
- Documentation: test report and warranty terms for the model you are stocking (3 years on our displays).
Send us the fleet size, the cabinet models and where the machines are — we will quote a spares package alongside the series you already run: C-curve, J-curve, S-curve, deep C-curve R800 and flat. Pricing logic (why sizes, curvature and brightness change the number) is explained in what drives the cost of a screen.