Symbotic Inc (SYM) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Symbotic Second Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As reminder, today's call is being recorded.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Symbotic 2023 財年第二季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，今天的通話正在錄音。

I will now turn the conference to your host, Mr. Jeff Evanson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

現在我將會議的主持人，投資者關係和企業發展副總裁 Jeff Evanson 先生請來。請繼續。

Thank you, Valerie. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Symbotic's Second Quarter Fiscal 2023 Results Webcast.

謝謝你，瓦萊麗。大家下午好。歡迎收看 Symbotic 2023 財年第二季度業績網絡廣播。

Our press release and discussion today will include forward-looking statements based on assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including as the result of the factors described in cautionary statements and risk factors in Symbotic's financial release and regulatory filings with the SEC by which any forward-looking statements made during this call are qualified in their entirety.

我們今天的新聞稿和討論將包括基於假設的前瞻性陳述，這些假設受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中預測的結果存在重大差異，包括由於警告中描述的因素造成的結果Symbotic 向 SEC 提交的財務報告和監管文件中的聲明和風險因素，本次電話會議期間做出的任何前瞻性聲明均符合完整條件。

In addition, during this call, we will discuss certain financial measures that are not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, which the SEC refers to as non-GAAP measures. We believe these non-GAAP measures assist management in planning, forecasting and evaluating our business and financial performance, including allocating resources.

此外，在本次電話會議中，我們將討論美國公認會計準則不認可的某些財務指標，美國證券交易委員會將其稱為非 GAAP 指標。我們相信這些非公認會計原則措施有助於管理層規劃、預測和評估我們的業務和財務業績，包括分配資源。

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable reported GAAP measures are included in our financial press release, which is available in the Investor Relations section of our website and is on file with the SEC. These GAAP measures may not be comparable to measures used by other issuers.

這些非 GAAP 衡量標準與其最可比的公認會計準則衡量標準的對賬已包含在我們的財務新聞稿中，該新聞稿可在我們網站的投資者關係部分獲取，並已在 SEC 備案。這些公認會計原則措施可能無法與其他發行人使用的措施相比較。

Today, we'll provide guidance for our third quarter, including revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We're not providing guidance for a net loss today, which is the most comparable GAAP financial measure to adjusted EBITDA.

今天，我們將提供第三季度的指導，包括收入和調整後的 EBITDA。我們今天不提供淨虧損指導，這是與調整後 EBITDA 最具可比性的 GAAP 財務指標。

We're not able to provide reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA to GAAP financial measures because certain items required for such reconciliations are outside of our control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted such as the provision for stock-based compensation.

我們無法提供調整後 EBITDA 與 GAAP 財務指標的對賬，因為此類對賬所需的某些項目超出了我們的控制範圍和/或無法合理預測，例如基於股票的薪酬撥備。

On today's call, we are joined by Rick Cohen, Symbotic's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Ernst, Symbotic's Chief Financial Officer. These executives will discuss our second quarter 2023 results and our outlook, followed by Q&A.

Symbotic 創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Rick Cohen 也參加了今天的電話會議。以及 Symbotic 首席財務官 Tom Ernst。這些高管將討論我們 2023 年第二季度的業績和前景，然後進行問答。

Now I'll turn the call over to Rick.

現在我將把電話轉給里克。

Thank you, Jeff. Hello, everyone. As I think about how to talk about and give perspective on our second quarter, it's interesting to look back 2 years to see the progress we've made since our second quarter of fiscal 2021.

謝謝你，傑夫。大家好。當我思考如何談論和展望我們的第二季度時，回顧兩年來看看我們自 2021 財年第二季度以來所取得的進展是很有趣的。

Back then, we were building individual prototype systems and in that quarter, posted $23 million of revenue. We had a vision back then to dramatically transform the supply chain. We knew we had lots of challenges to overcome, and we are successfully overcoming most of those challenges.

當時，我們正在構建單獨的原型系統，該季度的收入為 2300 萬美元。當時我們的願景是徹底改變供應鏈。我們知道我們有很多挑戰需要克服，並且我們正在成功克服其中的大部分挑戰。

Now just 2 years later, we have 9 systems in full operation at multiple customer sites. We are currently deploying 28 additional systems and reporting over $0.25 billion of revenue in the quarter. So in 2 years, we have grown from a company with a sub-$100 million revenue run rate to one with a $1 billion-plus revenue run rate.

現在僅僅 2 年後，我們就有 9 個系統在多個客戶站點全面運行。目前，我們正在部署另外 28 個系統，本季度收入超過 2.5 億美元。因此，在兩年內，我們已經從一家收入運行率低於 1 億美元的公司成長為一家收入運行率超過 10 億美元的公司。

In addition to our significant revenue growth, our quarterly results also reflect improving adjusted gross margin, improving operating margin and additional liquidity. Our teams are working diligently to be more efficient as they keep our many deployment projects running on budget and on schedule and executing a new outsourcing strategy.

除了收入顯著增長外，我們的季度業績還反映出調整後毛利率的提高、營業利潤率的提高和流動性的增加。我們的團隊正在努力工作，以提高效率，讓我們的許多部署項目按預算、按計劃運行，並執行新的外包策略。

We are now aggressively diversifying training and scaling up a network of supplier and contractor partners. We feel good about the progress so far and see many ways we can improve. As I said on our call last quarter, we are committed to building a team of world-class talent to help us remain a leader in transforming the supply chain.

我們現在正在積極開展多元化培訓，並擴大供應商和承包商合作夥伴網絡。我們對迄今為止取得的進展感到滿意，並看到了許多可以改進的方法。正如我在上季度的電話會議上所說，我們致力於打造一支世界一流的人才團隊，幫助我們在供應鏈轉型方面保持領先地位。

During the quarter, we added several key team members who are already making important contributions to operations. Scaling and execution are important in driving our near-term results, but we believe that constantly innovating can sustain those results over the long term.

在本季度，我們增加了幾位關鍵團隊成員，他們已經為運營做出了重要貢獻。規模化和執行對於推動我們的近期業績非常重要，但我們相信不斷創新可以長期維持這些業績。

Thank you, everyone, for your support and interest in what we are doing and for helping us as we realize our vision, transforming the supply chain. It's exciting to see our plan coming together, and we have a long way to go, but we're making great progress. Thank you.

感謝大家對我們正在做的事情的支持和興趣，並幫助我們實現我們的願景，改變供應鏈。看到我們的計劃得以實現令人興奮，我們還有很長的路要走，但我們正在取得巨大進展。謝謝。

Now, Tom will discuss our financial performance and outlook. Tom?

現在，湯姆將討論我們的財務業績和前景。湯姆？

Thank you, Rick. Second quarter revenue of $267 million grew 177% compared to 1 year ago, driven by incredibly strong deployment progress. We initiated 7 new system deployments during the quarter and as planned, advanced one system to full operation.

謝謝你，瑞克。在令人難以置信的強勁部署進展的推動下，第二季度收入為 2.67 億美元，比一年前增長了 177%。本季度我們啟動了 7 個新系統部署，並按計劃推進了一個系統的全面運行。

We now have 28 active system deployments in process with multiple customers, an increase from 22 systems last quarter, 9 systems in the second quarter of last year. Our rapid revenue growth was driven by progress on deployments with particular strength from physical installation at our customer sites.

目前，我們正在與多個客戶進行 28 個活動系統部署，較上季度的 22 個系統有所增加，去年第二季度為 9 個系統。我們收入的快速增長是由部署進展推動的，尤其是在客戶現場的物理安裝。

As Rick mentioned, we are gaining efficiency in our deployments by standardizing our systems, streamlining our deployment (technical difficulty) processes and realizing the benefits of outsourcing.

正如 Rick 提到的，我們通過標準化我們的系統、簡化我們的部署（技術難度）流程以及實現外包的好處來提高部署效率。

Our cash and equivalents, including marketable securities and restricted cash grew $17 million sequentially to $465 million due to favorable working capital performance. We believe we have more than enough -- more than adequate resources on hand to achieve our strong growth plans and remain very well capitalized to execute our strategy.

由於良好的營運資本表現，我們的現金和等價物（包括有價證券和限制性現金）連續增長 1700 萬美元，達到 4.65 億美元。我們相信，我們手頭有足夠的資源來實現我們強勁的增長計劃，並保持充足的資本來執行我們的戰略。

Recurring revenue continued to grow sequentially as deployments moved to production. We now have 9 systems operating at customer sites. Over time, as system completions cascade, recurring revenue should grow to have a much higher gross margin than systems revenue as well as become an increasing share of our revenue mix to provide powerful operating leverage to our business.

隨著部署轉向生產，經常性收入持續增長。我們現在有 9 個系統在客戶現場運行。隨著時間的推移，隨著系統的完成級聯，經常性收入應該會增長到比系統收入更高的毛利率，並且在我們的收入組合中所佔的份額越來越大，從而為我們的業務提供強大的運營槓桿。

Our second quarter adjusted gross margin increased 100 basis points sequentially. These results still reflect significant costs associated with lower margin innovation initiatives, the burden of elevated pass-through steel costs and costs associated with rapidly scaling our operations.

我們第二季度調整後的毛利率環比增長了 100 個基點。這些結果仍然反映出與利潤率較低的創新舉措相關的巨大成本、轉嫁鋼鐵成本上升的負擔以及與快速擴大業務規模相關的成本。

Adjusted system gross margin improved by 70 basis points sequentially after excluding $5.2 million of the $8.4 million in severance and restructuring charges that flowed through cost of goods sold.

扣除通過銷售成本流轉的 840 萬美元遣散費和重組費用中的 520 萬美元後，調整後的系統毛利率環比提高了 70 個基點。

This charge was related to discontinued manufacturing activities in Montreal where we were manufacturing robotic inbound and outbound cells and curtailed manufacturing capacity in Wilmington, Massachusetts, where we manufacture bots.

這筆費用與我們在蒙特利爾生產機器人入庫和出庫單元的停止生產活動以及我們在馬薩諸塞州威爾明頓生產機器人的生產能力的削減有關。

Our outsourcing success enables us to continue to drive strong deployment growth while also setting the stage for long-term cost savings and margin expansion.

我們的外包成功使我們能夠繼續推動強勁的部署增長，同時也為長期成本節約和利潤擴張奠定了基礎。

In the second quarter, operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, increased sequentially as we continue to invest in innovation that can drive sustained growth and margin expansion.

第二季度，隨著我們繼續投資於能夠推動持續增長和利潤率擴張的創新，運營費用（不包括股票薪酬）環比增長。

Finally, operating leverage improved as we achieved a 4% adjusted EBITDA loss rate compared to 8% last quarter and 27% last year. This was driven by our revenue growth and expanding gross margin.

最後，運營槓桿率有所改善，調整後 EBITDA 損失率達到 4%，而上季度為 8%，去年為 27%。這是由我們的收入增長和毛利率擴大推動的。

Turning to our outlook. For the third quarter of fiscal 2023, we expect revenue of between $245 million to $265 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of between $11 million and $8 million. We are through the midpoint of our fiscal 2023 and are excited about the second half as we continue to transform the supply chain. We are scaling our business and innovating rapidly to deliver for our customers.

轉向我們的展望。對於 2023 財年第三季度，我們預計收入在 2.45 億美元至 2.65 億美元之間，調整後 EBITDA 損失在 1100 萬美元至 800 萬美元之間。 2023 財年已過半，我們對下半年繼續進行供應鏈轉型感到興奮。我們正在擴展業務并快速創新，為客戶提供服務。

We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter to provide an update on our progress, and now welcome your questions.

我們期待下季度再次與您交談，以提供我們的最新進展，現在歡迎您提出問題。

Operator, will you please open the Q&A?

接線員，請打開問答好嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Andrew Kaplowitz of Citi.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自花旗銀行的安德魯·卡普洛維茨（Andrew Kaplowitz）。

Rick or Tom, can you give us more color into the transition outsourcing that you continue to see in terms of the restructuring charge you took? It looks like you expect to see maybe a slight improvement in losses and slightly lower revenue in Q3 than Q2. But are you experiencing in Q3 any of the impact of the restructuring? And when would you expect to see the full impact of the restructuring benefit, the streamlining of manufacturing, your P&L and how much benefit could you see?

里克（Rick）或湯姆（Tom），您能否為我們提供更多有關您在承擔的重組費用方面繼續看到的轉型外包的信息？看起來您預計第三季度的虧損可能會比第二季度略有改善，收入也會略有下降。但您在第三季度是否經歷了重組的影響？您預計何時會看到重組效益、生產流程簡化、損益表的全部影響以及您能看到多少效益？

Yes. So as you saw, we took an $8 million restructuring charge. This included both inventories and property, plant and equipment as well as $3 million related to people-related severance. So that's a little bit over 100 full-time employees, along with a little bit over 100 contractors. That was executed and planned for at the end of the quarter.

是的。正如您所看到的，我們承擔了 800 萬美元的重組費用。這包括庫存和財產、廠房和設備，以及與人員相關的遣散費相關的 300 萬美元。也就是說，全職員工超過 100 名，承包商也超過 100 名。該計劃已於本季度末執行併計劃。

However, we really begin seeing the benefit of those savings as we get into our fiscal third quarter. Again, those restructurings were associated with the discontinued cell manufacturing operations in Montreal and then the significant curtailment of bot manufacturing in Wilmington, Massachusetts. This falls on the heels, as Rick mentioned, with -- of our successful transition of the manufacture of all these goods to outsourced partners.

然而，當我們進入第三財季時，我們才真正開始看到這些節省的好處。同樣，這些重組與蒙特利爾的細胞製造業務的終止以及隨後馬薩諸塞州威爾明頓的機器人製造的大幅削減有關。正如里克提到的，這緊隨我們成功地將所有這些產品的製造轉移給外包合作夥伴之後。

And then I think last quarter, you talked about maybe being a little more predictable in your revenue ramp, but you'd just beat Q2 -- beat the street by $50 million, and now you're predicting $10 million lower in Q3 despite your deployments continue to rise. So did you just somehow pull forward any revenue in Q2? Or should we begin after Q3 to see more of a steady sequential increase? And I also noticed you didn't give us a backlog number, if it's possible to give us that?

然後我想上個季度，您談到收入增長可能會更加可預測，但您剛剛擊敗了第二季度——比市場高出 5000 萬美元，現在您預測第三季度將減少 1000 萬美元，儘管您部署繼續增加。那麼你是否以某種方式提前了第二季度的收入？或者我們應該在第三季度之後開始看到更多的穩定的連續增長？我還注意到你們沒有給我們積壓訂單數量，是否可以給我們？

Sure, Andy. So our backlog was $12.0 billion, same number as last quarter. So our contributions equaled the outflows in the period and that will match our remaining performance obligation that we expect to disclose when we file our 10-Q.

當然，安迪。因此，我們的積壓訂單為 120 億美元，與上季度相同。因此，我們的貢獻等於該期間的流出，這將與我們預計在提交 10-Q 時披露的剩餘履約義務相匹配。

Andy, I do think that our -- as we're growing scale here and deploying more systems, the revenue is becoming -- that quarterly variability is becoming smoother. However, we are still growing really fast, and we're ramping new outsourcing partners. So we clearly are still seeing some significant variability in terms of quarter-on-quarter growth.

安迪，我確實認為，隨著我們規模的擴大和部署更多系統，收入的季度變化正在變得更加平穩。然而，我們仍然在快速增長，並且我們正在增加新的外包合作夥伴。因此，我們顯然仍然看到季度環比增長存在一些顯著的變化。

Maybe to give a sense for how this translates out, we do expect to grow rapidly, and that's driven by the 28 systems in deployment. However, even as we look here into the second half, the strongest contribution in the second half is going to be driven from the 9 systems that were started in the second half of 2022, for example. So minor timing differences in one or 2 or 3 of those 9 systems can have meaningful differences in terms of the actual quarterly revenue growth that we post. So as we have more systems in concurrent deployment, we continue to expect that those sort of quarterly variabilities in revenue will begin to diminish over time.

也許為了讓大家了解這將如何轉化，我們確實期望快速增長，這是由部署中的 28 個系統推動的。然而，即使我們展望下半年，下半年最強勁的貢獻也將來自 2022 年下半年啟動的 9 個系統。因此，這 9 個系統中的 1 個、2 個或 3 個系統中的微小時間差異可能會對我們發布的實際季度收入增長產生有意義的差異。因此，隨著我們有更多的系統同時部署，我們繼續預計收入的季度變化將隨著時間的推移開始減少。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Matt Summerville of D.A. Davidson.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自地方檢察官馬特·薩默維爾 (Matt Summerville)。戴維森。

A couple of questions. First, Tom, can you maybe comment on, based on the successes you're having with outsourcing and (technical difficulty) just when you believe the company will be -- achieve EBITDA positivity on a sustainable basis? And then I have a follow-up.

有幾個問題。首先，湯姆，您能否根據您在外包方面所取得的成功以及（技術難度），當您相信公司將在可持續的基礎上實現 EBITDA 正值時發表評論？然後我有一個後續行動。

Yes. So we are certainly encouraged with the successes we're having with our outsourcing partners and continue to work that program. As I think Rick highlighted and I emphasized as well, we do believe that we'll begin to see benefits and leverage in the near to midterm. And we continue to believe that over the long term, that while certainly, it will help us achieve our primary goal in outsourcing, which was the ability to scale this business to a much greater scale that we think it will result in a higher long-term profitability as well.

是的。因此，我們當然對與外包合作夥伴取得的成功感到鼓舞，並繼續實施該計劃。正如我認為里克強調的那樣，我也強調過，我們確實相信我們將在近期到中期開始看到效益和槓桿作用。我們仍然相信，從長遠來看，這肯定會幫助我們實現外包的主要目標，即能夠將這項業務擴展到更大的規模，我們認為這將帶來更高的長期收益。長期盈利能力也是如此。

So we're not giving guidance, I think that consensus expectations in the street -- Many analysts are looking for profitability in Q4. So we're not looking forward to the full year. But what I can say is that we do believe that our operating leverage is quite high that, as we're able to scale revenue, we believe that we'll continue to benefit from expanding gross margins, and we'll continue to see OpEx growth be moderate. And in particular, in the near term, we think operating expense growth can be curtailed significantly through the benefits of the outsourcing restructuring plan we just put in place at the end of this last quarter.

因此，我們不會給出指導，我認為市場上的共識預期是——許多分析師都在尋找第四季度的盈利能力。所以我們並不期待全年。但我能說的是，我們確實相信我們的運營槓桿相當高，隨著我們能夠擴大收入，我們相信我們將繼續從不斷擴大的毛利率中受益，並且我們將繼續看到運營支出增長要適度。特別是，在短期內，我們認為通過我們在上季度末剛剛實施的外包重組計劃的好處，可以顯著抑制運營費用增長。

And then maybe as a follow-up, can you talk a little bit about maybe some of the progress you're making with BreakPack and SymBot and when you think those solutions will kind of be ready for game time, if you will?

然後，也許作為後續行動，您能談談您在 BreakPack 和 SymBot 方面取得的一些進展嗎？如果您願意的話，您認為這些解決方案將為遊戲時間做好準備嗎？

We're making -- so we're really pleased with the progress we've made on the SymBot. That was a big technology change for us. And though we are not realizing all the value that will come -- and it's going to come over time. There's some software that we're still releasing and some AI sourcing and predictive maintenance, all good things. So they'll be coming in the next year.

我們正在努力，因此我們對 SymBot 所取得的進展感到非常滿意。這對我們來說是一個重大的技術變革。儘管我們還沒有意識到即將到來的所有價值——但它會隨著時間的推移而實現。我們仍在發布一些軟件以及一些人工智能採購和預測性維護，這些都是好東西。所以他們明年就會來。

But we're really pleased with 2 things. One, we have a great new product; 2, we successfully managed to prototype it and then move it to outsourcing partners. So that will continue to improve. So that was a big deal in the last 6 months, and nobody should underestimate successfully outsourcing without blowing up your supply chain. So that's all I'll say about that. We're very happy with how it's gone.

但我們對兩件事感到非常滿意。第一，我們有一個很棒的新產品； 2、我們成功地對其進行了原型設計，然後將其轉移給外包合作夥伴。因此，這一點將繼續得到改善。因此，這是過去 6 個月中的一件大事，任何人都不應低估在不破壞供應鏈的情況下成功外包的能力。這就是我要說的全部內容。我們對它的消失感到非常高興。

On the BreakPack, we're -- I'm probably there 1 day a week, sometimes 2 days a week. That's going to be a great product for us. It's still rough. It's our first prototype. But we would expect in the next -- certainly in the next 6 months that we should see very good results out of that.

在 BreakPack 上，我們可能每週 1 天，有時每週 2 天。這對我們來說將是一個很棒的產品。仍然很粗糙。這是我們的第一個原型。但我們預計在接下來的時間裡——當然是在接下來的 6 個月裡，我們應該會看到非常好的結果。

I'll just add to that, Matt, that we're still actively field testing SymBot today, too. So we haven't announced the final general release of that product, but we have many of those units out actually running in live production environments today at multiple sites and multiple customers.

我想補充一點，Matt，我們今天仍然在積極地對 SymBot 進行現場測試。因此，我們還沒有宣布該產品的最終全面版本，但我們今天已經在多個站點和多個客戶的實時生產環境中實際運行了許多這樣的單元。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

The first one is on the bridge from the fiscal first quarter to the most recently completed fiscal second quarter. Revenue was up roughly $60 million sequentially. I think EBITDA improved about $5 million. Tom, I know you called out a number of pass-throughs that were impacting that such as steel. Could you elaborate a little bit more on how much that was impacting both revenue and EBITDA sequentially and any other key puts and takes?

第一個是從第一財季到最近完成的第二財季的橋樑。收入比上一季度增長了約 6000 萬美元。我認為 EBITDA 提高了約 500 萬美元。湯姆，我知道你提到了一些影響這一點的傳遞，例如鋼鐵。您能否詳細說明一下這對收入和 EBITDA 以及其他關鍵看跌期權的影響有多大？

Yes. So you're right, we did see gross margin, in particular, improve by about 100 basis points sequentially. So let me address it maybe in 2 points as far as the gross margin, then I'll talk about OpEx.

是的。所以你是對的，我們確實看到毛利率環比提高了約 100 個基點。因此，讓我用兩點來討論毛利率，然後我將討論運營支出。

There's a few factors that benefited the expansion in gross margin. First, recurring revenue margins are improving and recurring revenue is increasing as new deployments are water falling in. Steel, while it's still significantly above the 10-year average was actually a modest sequential benefit. So that actually was a part of the 100 basis point expansion as well.

有幾個因素有利於毛利率的擴大。首先，經常性收入利潤率正在改善，並且隨著新部署的不斷投入，經常性收入也在增加。鋼鐵雖然仍遠高於 10 年平均水平，但實際上是一個適度的連續效益。所以這實際上也是 100 個基點擴張的一部分。

And finally, while we're still experiencing several hundred basis points of impact from rapid growth and innovation projects in our gross margin that are actually a headwind we've talked about consistently, quarter-on-quarter, those are dimension as well. So all 3 of those factors were directionally moving in the right way.

最後，雖然我們的毛利率仍然受到快速增長和創新項目數百個基點的影響，這實際上是我們一直在談論的季度環比的逆風，但這些也是維度。所以這三個因素都在朝著正確的方向發展。

OpEx increased by about $7 million, which is -- which goes counter to the overall EBITDA contribution margin. And as we think about OpEx, a couple of factors there. First, the restructuring plans we put in place really didn't have a material financial impact in the fiscal second quarter. Those will begin benefiting us in earnest in 3Q. Also, if you recall, when we talked about the second quarter, we had a lot less project and other variable work in the quarter. We had some more of that -- just project and variable type of activity in the fiscal second quarter.

OpEx 增加了約 700 萬美元，這與整體 EBITDA 貢獻率背道而馳。當我們考慮運營支出時，有幾個因素。首先，我們實施的重組計劃確實沒有對第二財季的財務產生重大影響。這些將在第三季度開始讓我們真正受益。另外，如果您還記得，當我們談論第二季度時，我們在該季度的項目和其他可變工作少了很多。我們還有更多這樣的事情——只是在第二財季進行了項目和可變類型的活動。

We're also continuing the long-term plan to upgrade, transform our talent overall. And so we are seeing a little bit higher average cost per employee. In particular, as we look at the transformation of our workforce, we've had a material shift towards technical talent and that was particularly strong in the second quarter. So those are the things that we think will materially benefit over the long run.

我們還在繼續實施整體人才升級、轉型的長期計劃。因此，我們發現每位員工的平均成本略高。特別是，當我們審視員工隊伍的轉型時，我們發現技術人才發生了重大轉變，這種轉變在第二季度尤其強勁。因此，從長遠來看，這些是我們認為會帶來實質性好處的事情。

And while we're not disclosing headcount numbers in detail, net, we actually saw an over 20 headcount increase in our engineering force despite the total company in terms of our full-time employees being down 20 head counts, for example.

雖然我們沒有詳細披露淨員工人數，但我們的工程人員實際上增加了 20 多人，儘管全公司的全職員工數量減少了 20 人。

The second one is on the backlog. Thank you for giving the update on where it stands in total. Could you comment any more on the composition of it in terms of what kind of gross margin you might think is embedded in the backlog relative to where you're running? And when you think about the backlog, how much is coming from hardware relative to subscription elements and software?

第二個是積壓的。感謝您提供有關總體情況的最新信息。您能否就您可能認為相對於您正在運行的積壓訂單中包含的毛利率而言，對它的構成進行更多評論？當您考慮積壓時，相對於訂閱元素和軟件，有多少來自硬件？

Sure. And as you know, Mark, our backlog disclosure we tied to our accounting remaining performance obligation disclosure. So therefore, our backlog only includes contractual commitments, which means it's heavily populated by systems revenue as some of our recurring revenue sources will have annual or only partial 10, 15 year type of contributions.

當然。正如你所知，馬克，我們的積壓披露與我們的會計剩餘履約義務披露相關聯。因此，我們的積壓工作僅包括合同承諾，這意味著系統收入佔了很大一部分，因為我們的一些經常性收入來源將每年或僅部分 10 年、15 年類型的貢獻。

And first -- the first part of your question, Mark?

首先 - 你問題的第一部分，馬克？

The -- Anything you can share on the gross margin embedded in the backlog relative to where the company is currently running, if you're able to comment there?

- 如果您能發表評論，您可以分享一下積壓訂單中相對於公司當前運營情況的毛利率嗎？

Yes. So overall, gross margin is 18.3%. We continue to expect the structural gross margins implicit in that backlog are much closer to 30%. And the difference between that 18% and the high 20s percent is really the 3 factors that I talked about in -- relative to your first question, in particular, the biggest of which is the financial impact in our COGS of our rapid growth and our shift to outsourcing, along with our innovation projects that are heavily weighted in upfront revenues in that backlog.

是的。總體而言，毛利率為18.3%。我們繼續預計積壓訂單中隱含的結構性毛利率將更接近 30%。 18% 和 20% 的高百分比之間的差異實際上是我談到的 3 個因素 - 相對於你的第一個問題，特別是，其中最大的是我們的快速增長和我們的 COGS 的財務影響。轉向外包，以及我們的創新項目，這些項目在積壓的預付款收入中佔很大比重。

That close to 30% structural gross margin is structural for the systems revenue only. As we think about structural gross margins for the recurring component of that backlog, we see them well north of 50% into the 60% range. So you blend those 2 together to get something that's in the mid to high 40 -- high 30s.

接近 30% 的結構性毛利率僅對系統收入而言是結構性的。當我們考慮積壓訂單中經常性部分的結構性毛利率時，我們發現它們遠遠超出了 50% 到 60% 的範圍。因此，您將這 2 個混合在一起，得到 40 到 30 左右的中高值。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Nicole DeBlase of Deutsche Bank.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Nicole DeBlase。

Maybe just starting on the restructuring. So with the continued focus on outsourcing, should we expect more of these restructuring charges to come? Or do you think this was more of a one-off? And any color at all on quantifying the benefit that we should see from what you spent in the quarter over the next several quarters?

也許重組才剛剛開始。那麼，隨著對外包的持續關注，我們是否應該預期會出現更多的重組費用？或者你認為這更像是一次性的？對於量化我們應該從您在本季度的支出中看到的未來​​幾個季度的收益有什麼看法嗎？

Yes. So as I said in my prepared remarks, we -- the restructuring includes the complete discontinuation of manufacturing of our cells in Montreal and a significant curtailment in Wilmington. So while we don't have any others to talk about today, that's a significant portion of the manufacturing activity we had to date. Obviously, we're continuing to advance our outsourcing initiatives across the range of things that we do. So there may be more in the future, but we'll talk about those as it's time to talk about them.

是的。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們的重組包括完全停止蒙特利爾的電池生產以及威爾明頓的大幅削減。因此，雖然我們今天沒有其他話題可談，但這是我們迄今為止的製造活動的重要組成部分。顯然，我們正在繼續在我們所做的一系列事情上推進我們的外包計劃。所以將來可能會有更多，但我們會在到了討論它們的時候再討論它們。

And then just shifting to the steel dynamics. So steel inflation has continued to tick a bit higher year-to-date. Is the expectation that this quarter is kind of the maximum benefit that you should see from steel? You talked about it being a sequential good guy. Like does it then turn into a sequential bad guy in the second half of the year?

然後轉向鋼鐵動力。因此，今年迄今為止，鋼鐵通脹繼續小幅走高。本季度的預期是您應該從鋼鐵中看到的最大收益嗎？你說這是一個連續的好人。就像下半年它會變成一個連續的壞人嗎？

Yes. And you're right, if you pulled the steel chart, it's shown quite a bit of volatility. So no, based on what we've seen to date, our steel purchases tend to be dollar weighted in the 10 to 12 months prior to actual installation where the revenue is concentrated, the installation phase. So we would actually expect the max benefit quarter to be our fiscal Q4 before you begin to see some of the uptick that we've seen recently create some headwinds.

是的。你是對的，如果你拉一下鋼鐵圖表，它會顯示出相當大的波動性。所以不，根據我們迄今為止所看到的情況，我們的鋼材採購往往是在實際安裝之前的 10 到 12 個月內以美元加權，這是收入集中的安裝階段。因此，在您開始看到我們最近看到的一些上升帶來一些阻力之前，我們實際上預計最大收益季度是我們的第四財季。

So it is hard to predict where these things are going to go because of the nature, which is one of the fortunate things that our business model allows us to pass these costs on to -- largely passing costs on to our customers, and we'd be making our profit dollars very predictably even though it does have a gross margin impact in terms of what we report on a percentage basis.

因此，由於性質的原因，很難預測這些事情將走向何方，這是幸運的事情之一，我們的商業模式允許我們將這些成本轉嫁給我們——主要將成本轉嫁給我們的客戶，而我們”儘管就我們按百分比報告的內容而言，它確實對毛利率產生了影響，但我們的利潤將非常可預測。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Jim Ricchiuti of Needham.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自李約瑟的吉姆·里基烏蒂（Jim Ricchiuti）。

A question on gross margins. If -- you cited several factors that could be more about a tailwind to gross margins. But I'm also trying to understand where exactly you are in the ramp-up of your outsourcing partners. If you're making enough progress in the early days of this, that we're going to continue to see that -- the benefit in the next 1 to 2 quarters? Or is there still additional costs that you're incurring as you ramp these outsource inputs?

關於毛利率的問題。如果——你列舉了幾個可能更多地促進毛利率的因素。但我也試圖了解您在外包合作夥伴的發展過程中到底處於什麼階段。如果您在早期取得了足夠的進展，我們將繼續看到 - 在接下來的 1 到 2 個季度中受益？或者在增加這些外包投入時是否還會產生額外成本？

Yes. We do see more tailwinds as we look forward. Now we are still -- we still do have a lot of work to do with our outsourcing partners. So while we have significant outsourcing happening across our entire value chain, we're still working on acquiring more partners across each of those, so manufacturing and (technical difficulty).

是的。展望未來，我們確實看到了更多的順風車。現在我們仍然——我們仍然需要與我們的外包合作夥伴一起做很多工作。因此，雖然我們在整個價值鏈上進行了大量的外包，但我們仍在努力在每個價值鏈上獲得更多的合作夥伴，因此在製造和（技術難度）方面。

We also expect (technical difficulty) with these partners in terms of collaboration and communication that's going to benefit our mutual operations together over time. And so this is something that we think will provide opportunity to improve our efficiency over a multi-quarter time frame rather than just a multi-week time frame.

我們還期望與這些合作夥伴在協作和溝通方面遇到（技術困難），隨著時間的推移，這將有利於我們的共同運營。因此，我們認為這將提供機會在多個季度的時間範圍內（而不僅僅是多個星期的時間範圍內）提高我們的效率。

And then there's just some near-term benefits that, now that we have the confidence and the capacity up and running with these partners, we're able to do things like discontinue our own operations that provides some immediate benefits. So I'd say it's a mix, Jim, but we clearly have a significant road map of opportunity over many quarters.

然後還有一些近期的好處，既然我們有信心、有能力與這些合作夥伴一起運行，我們就能夠做一些事情，比如停止我們自己的業務，從而帶來一些直接的好處。所以我想說這是一個混合體，吉姆，但我們顯然在許多方面都有一個重要的機會路線圖。

And I don't know if you want to comment on this, but what I'm thinking -- also trying to understand is the rating which you're scaling. How many system deployments would you anticipate advancing in the current quarter?

我不知道你是否想對此發表評論，但我在想 - 也試圖理解你正在縮放的評級。您預計本季度將推進多少系統部署？

Is the question, how many do we anticipate initiating in this current quarter?

問題是，我們預計在本季度啟動多少？

Initiating. I'm sorry, yes. That's right.

發起。對不起，是的。這是正確的。

Yes. So we initiated 7 system deployments in the last quarter we just reported, in our fiscal second quarter. We don't tend to guide for the one quarter forward. I do think that there can be quarter-on-quarter variability in those numbers. So as we think about multiple quarters over time, we look to grow that number. But Jim, you should assume that there will be some ups and downs in terms of quarters. And we feel like the 7 we did this quarter and the 6 we did last quarter is an exceptionally strong quarter relative to our growth plans.

是的。因此，我們在剛剛報告的第二財季的最後一個季度啟動了 7 個系統部署。我們不傾向於指導四分之一的未來。我確實認為這些數字可能存在季度變化。因此，當我們考慮隨著時間的推移的多個季度時，我們希望增加這個數字。但是吉姆，你應該假設季度會出現一些起伏。我們覺得本季度的第 7 個季度和上個季度的第 6 個季度相對於我們的增長計劃而言是異常強勁的季度。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Mike Latimore of Northland Capital.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自 Northland Capital 的 Mike Latimore。

Just in terms of supply availability, is that improving? Is there further improvements that could occur? Can you just give some turn around that?

僅就供應情況而言，情況是否有所改善？是否還有可能發生進一步的改進？你能扭轉一下嗎？

Yes. We do continue to believe that the supply chain environment is improving. It is still not a normal supply chain environment. So we are still clearly battling things that would have been atypical pre-COVID in terms of canceled orders and things like that.

是的。我們仍然相信供應鏈環境正在改善。這仍然不是一個正常的供應鏈環境。因此，我們顯然仍在與新冠疫情之前非典型的事情作鬥爭，比如取消訂單等。

In addition to perhaps supply chain environment getting better, we are a much more formidable buyer. So we're getting the attention of suppliers, we're getting attention of partners. And so those we think as well are continuing to improve our ability to execute.

也許除了供應鏈環境變得更好之外，我們還是一個更強大的買家。因此，我們正在引起供應商的注意，我們正在引起合作夥伴的注意。因此，我們認為這些人也在繼續提高我們的執行能力。

And then in terms of the future plans on outsourcing, is the main focus here adding more partners to current sort of functional categories? Or are there other functions you're looking that you will eventually outsource?

那麼就未來的外包計劃而言，主要重點是在當前的功能類別中增加更多的合作夥伴嗎？或者您正在尋找最終將外包的其他功能嗎？

No, it's -- we've pretty much picked the partners though. So we have partners that will help us install sites, partners that will help us build the SymBots, partners that will help us build the cells. So we've pretty well executed our strategy on outsourcing and that partners will get better, they'll continue to help us innovate. But we've done -- we're pretty much -- these last 2 quarters were big quarters for us in getting this job done. So we've got the functions covered, Mike, and now our goal is to deepen the bench and broaden the bench of partners.

不，我們幾乎已經選擇了合作夥伴。因此，我們有合作夥伴幫助我們安裝站點，有合作夥伴幫助我們構建 SymBot，還有合作夥伴幫助我們構建單元。因此，我們已經很好地執行了我們的外包戰略，合作夥伴將會變得更好，他們將繼續幫助我們創新。但我們已經完成了——我們幾乎完成了——過去兩個季度對我們來說是完成這項工作的重要季度。邁克，我們已經涵蓋了這些職能，現在我們的目標是深化替補席並擴大合作夥伴的替補席。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Greg Palm of Craig-Hallum.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 Greg Palm。

I wanted to follow up on the outsourced commentary now that you're several more months into that. Can you just comment on how that's translating the speed cost as you've shifted more of that to partners? And I guess I'm asking relative to maybe what your earlier or prior expectations was?

我想跟進外包評論，因為你已經幾個月了。您能否評論一下，隨著您將更多速度成本轉移給合作夥伴，這將如何轉化速度成本？我想我問的是相對於您之前或之前的期望是什麼？

Greg, it has enabled us to continue to execute to our plan. So we are seeing our targeted deployments set with a little bit faster time frame than we were executing to the systems that we're just completing, for example. And as we've engaged with these partners and talk about the kind of structural improvements, both in terms of processes and collaboration but also in terms of technology, we are further encouraged that the opportunity to compress deployment time frame is real, tangible and something that we're going to work on together over the coming multiple quarters to years.

格雷格，它使我們能夠繼續執行我們的計劃。因此，我們看到我們的目標部署設置的時間框架比我們剛剛完成的系統執行的時間框架要快一些。當我們與這些合作夥伴接觸並討論流程和協作以及技術方面的結構改進時，我們進一步感到鼓舞的是，壓縮部署時間框架的機會是真實的、有形的。我們將在未來幾個季度甚至幾年內共同努力。

And then just following up on an earlier question about EBITDA profitability, Tom, you commented on, I guess, consensus estimates for Q4. And I guess my question is, were you effectively blessing those? Or what was the rationale for commenting on those directly?

然後，在跟進之前有關 EBITDA 盈利能力的問題時，湯姆，我猜您評論了第四季度的共識估計。我想我的問題是，你是否有效地祝福了這些？或者直接評論這些的理由是什麼？

Yes. No, we're not providing full year guidance, but I just wanted to set context for it. So what we will say is as the revenue is able to scale, we believe that we're in a strong position to have high operating leverage.

是的。不，我們不提供全年指導，但我只是想為其設定背景。因此，我們要說的是，隨著收入能夠擴大，我們相信我們處於擁有高運營槓桿的有利地位。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Joe Giordano of Cowen.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen 的 Joe Giordano。

Rick, just given your comments about BreakPack and you're making good progress there, planning over the next 6 months, how should we think about like R&D levels post 2023? Like could we see a step down in spend now that you've kind of gone through SymBot and you're going through BreakPack to a large extent now? Like how should we think about the required levels to keep the organization on the cutting edge?

Rick，剛剛給出了您對 BreakPack 的評論，並且您在未來 6 個月的計劃中取得了良好的進展，我們應該如何考慮 2023 年之後的研發水平？既然您已經使用了 SymBot 並且現在在很大程度上使用了 BreakPack，那麼我們是否可以看到支出有所下降？比如我們應該如何考慮保持組織處於領先地位所需的水平？

Yes. I don't think you'll see a reduction in R&D. I think we'll look to pull money out by just being more efficient with the organization. But we're going to continue to fund R&D simply because we have a lot of great products that we haven't talked about that are in the works that are going to help us a lot. And so this is just a great innovative lab here and we continue to recruit really great talent. So the answer to your question is no, I don't think you should expect R&D to drop.

是的。我認為研發不會減少。我認為我們會通過提高組織效率來籌集資金。但我們將繼續資助研發，因為我們有很多我們尚未談論的優秀產品正在開發中，這將對我們有很大幫助。因此，這只是一個偉大的創新實驗室，我們將繼續招募真正優秀的人才。所以你的問題的答案是否定的，我認為你不應該期望研發會下降。

I'll add to that, Joe. You're right that BreakPack, along with SymBot, are very significant projects in our innovation budget. So as we complete those projects, we have a big war chest to do some of the other things that we haven't talked about yet that Rick mentioned, looking forward.

我要補充一點，喬。你說得對，BreakPack 和 SymBot 都是我們創新預算中非常重要的項目。因此，當我們完成這些項目時，我們就有了一個巨大的資金來去做里克提到的我們還沒有討論過的其他一些事情，期待著。

And then like how should I think about ancillary things? Like when you're -- okay, so the final output of SymBot, you have a pallet and then you talked about how to get that pallet onto a truck. Is it forklift drivers? Is it automated forklift? Like when do you -- how do you evaluate like what stuff we should provide and what stuff we should have a preferred partner like if it was an autonomous forklift or something like that? Like not just that application, but just in general, how do you go about evaluating what stuff should be Symbotic and what stuff should be partners of SymBot?

然後我應該如何考慮附屬的事情？就像當你——好吧，SymBot 的最終輸出是，你有一個托盤，然後你討論瞭如何將該托盤搬到卡車上。是叉車司機嗎？是自動叉車嗎？比如你什麼時候——你如何評估我們應該提供什麼東西，以及我們應該有一個首選合作夥伴，比如自動叉車或類似的東西？不僅像那個應用程序，而且一般來說，您如何評估哪些東西應該是 Symbotic 以及哪些東西應該是 SymBot 的合作夥伴？

Yes. So the way to evaluate it is, we're trying to encourage people to be good partners to Symbotic because we want to control all the software that we can within a warehouse. So if we can find a partner that has AGV or AMR, and we can interface our software with their software and load the truck, the customer wins, we create more value. That's a good thing. The things that we're really innovating on that we had to -- that's kind of -- the culture of the company from SymBot from day 1 is a lot of the stuff that we innovated in Symbotics -- I mean I looked for partners. I couldn't find anybody, so I had to do it myself.

是的。因此，評估它的方法是，我們試圖鼓勵人們成為 Symbotic 的良好合作夥伴，因為我們希望控制倉庫內的所有軟件。因此，如果我們能找到擁有 AGV 或 AMR 的合作夥伴，並且我們可以將我們的軟件與他們的軟件連接並裝載卡車，那麼客戶就會獲勝，我們就能創造更多價值。這是好事。我們真正需要創新的東西——從第一天開始，SymBot 公司的文化就是我們在 Symbotics 中創新的很多東西——我的意思是我在尋找合作夥伴。我找不到人，所以我只能自己做。

And so I think the real value add is there's a lot of things that we are working on that nobody makes a product that would meet our standards. And so those are the things that we'll continue to innovate on. And obviously, I'm not going to tell you what they are, but there are some really interesting products that would allow us to create some really interesting systems.

所以我認為真正的增值是我們正在做很多事情，但沒有人生產出符合我們標準的產品。這些就是我們將繼續創新的事情。顯然，我不會告訴你它們是什麼，但有一些非常有趣的產品可以讓我們創建一些非常有趣的系統。

And then last for me, just to clean up. Are there any lockups left at this point? The stock has been over $12 for the required time now. I'm just curious if any -- if there are any lockup remaining inclusive of like you guys on the senior team?

最後對我來說，只是為了清理。此時還有鎖定嗎？目前該股在規定時間內已超過 12 美元。我只是好奇是否有——是否還有像你們這樣的高級團隊成員被鎖定？

There are. So some of the affiliated shares are still locked, but everything is unlocked, saved for Board members, Rick and family trusts and myself, and where our lockup is in effect until 1 year post the public listing.

有。因此，一些附屬股票仍然被鎖定，但一切都已解鎖，為董事會成員、Rick 和家族信託以及我自己保留，並且我們的鎖定有效期直至公開上市後一年。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Rob Mason of R. W. Baird.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自 R. W. Baird 的 Rob Mason。

I wanted to ask a question just to clarify on the backlog. You noted that it was flat quarter-to-quarter. And clearly, you booked $267 million in revenue. So is -- I'm just curious what the offset was? Was there a new customer in there? Or did you add additional systems out of -- from existing customers? What would account for it holding flat?

我想問一個問題只是為了澄清積壓的情況。您注意到季度環比持平。顯然，您預訂了 2.67 億美元的收入。我只是好奇偏移量是多少？那裡有新顧客嗎？或者您是否從現有客戶中添加了額外的系統？是什麼導致它持平？

Yes. So no new customers booked in the quarter. What we're seeing is a higher variable consideration than what we contemplated when we entered the period.

是的。因此本季度沒有新客戶預訂。我們所看到的可變考慮因素比我們進入該時期時預期的要高。

And that variable consideration relates to -- is that productivity or...?

這種可變考慮因素涉及——是生產力還是……？

It relates to the business that's now under deployment and execution. So the variable component is higher than what it was when we -- before we had that component added to the started deployments.

它與現在正在部署和執行的業務相關。因此，可變組件比我們將該組件添加到已啟動的部署之前的水平要高。

And just as a follow-up, you've brought on a lot of partners, as you've outlined here over the last 2 quarters. Has any of your partners -- have you observed them basically start to finish on projects or deployments to be able to assess the time line that they're working on -- working from initial start? I guess, you just speak about their ability to commission and get projects over the finish line, how you feel about that in the time frame?

正如您在過去兩個季度中所概述的那樣，作為後續行動，您已經引入了很多合作夥伴。您是否有任何合作夥伴——您是否觀察到他們基本上開始完成項目或部署，以便能夠評估他們正在處理的時間線——從最初開始工作？我想，您剛剛談到了他們委託和完成項目的能力，您對此在時間範圍內有何感受？

Yes. And this highlights something. So while we did -- we made comments about 1 year ago that we wanted to put our foot on the gas and our outsourcing initiatives, and we did so. And since then, are now have fully outsourced across our value chain, most of what we do. That wasn't the starting of our outsourcing initiatives. So we've had some significant components outsourced from the start such as our lift systems, for example. So our experience in those first waves have gone from start to finish with a high degree of success and teamwork with those partners. So this latest wave, we have completed an extensive part, I'd say, of the outsourcing life cycle with them, but we do have a long demonstrated track record of being successful with outsourcing from start to finish and then for 1 year or 2 to follow that.

是的。這凸顯了一些事情。因此，雖然我們這樣做了，但大約一年前我們發表了評論，表示我們希望將精力放在天然氣和外包計劃上，我們也這樣做了。從那時起，我們所做的大部分工作現在已經在我們的價值鏈中完全外包。這並不是我們外包計劃的開始。因此，我們從一開始就外包了一些重要的組件，例如我們的電梯系統。因此，我們在第一波浪潮中的經驗自始至終都取得了高度成功，並與這些合作夥伴進行了團隊合作。因此，我想說，在最新一波浪潮中，我們已經與他們一起完成了外包生命週期的很大一部分，但我們確實擁有長期的成功外包記錄，從開始到結束，然後持續一到兩年遵循這一點。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Derek Soderberg of Cantor.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自 Cantor 的德里克·索德伯格 (Derek Soderberg)。

Sort of related to the question just asked. Just as regarded -- just looking at the system deployments initiated this quarter, is the expectation that those deployments today will sort of reach live production faster than maybe those initiated 6 to 12 months ago? Just curious if you can update us on your progress shrinking, those deployment time lines and if you can quantify any of that progress, that would be great?

有點與剛才提出的問題相關。正如所考慮的那樣，僅查看本季度啟動的系統部署，是否預計今天的這些部署將比 6 到 12 個月前啟動的部署更快地實現實時生產？只是好奇您是否可以向我們更新您的進度縮減、部署時間線以及如果您可以量化其中任何進展，那就太好了？

Yes. Just to give you a sense, Derek, so as the supply chain environment got tighter, looking backwards, we actually extended the time frame a bit. So we got an earlier start on procurement. Since that time frame, we've been able to pull in a couple of months. Part of that is related to partners, and part of that is just the efficiencies that we're able to gain and get in the systems out in the field. So short answer to your question is yes, that the systems we're initiating in this period, we're targeting a shorter deployment than the ones we initiated, say, 6 or 12 months ago.

是的。只是為了給你一個感覺，德里克，隨著供應鏈環境變得更加緊張，回顧過去，我們實際上延長了一點時間框架。所以我們的採購工作起步較早。從那時起，我們已經能夠拉幾個月了。其中一部分與合作夥伴有關，一部分與我們能夠在現場系統中獲得和獲得的效率有關。對你的問題的簡單回答是肯定的，我們在此期間啟動的系統的目標是比我們在 6 或 12 個月前啟動的系統部署時間更短。

And then I was wondering if you could talk a bit about your ability to add another large customer this year. A lot of progress on concurrent deployment. It sounds like you're happy with the outsourcing partners. Do you think you guys have the ability to add sort of another, say, multibillion-dollar customer this year? And are those -- some agreements -- are you actually actively pursuing those agreements right now?

然後我想知道您是否可以談談您今年增加另一個大客戶的能力。並發部署方面取得了很大進展。聽起來您對外包合作夥伴很滿意。你們認為今年你們有能力再增加一個價值數十億美元的客戶嗎？那些——一些協議——你現在真的在積極尋求這些協議嗎？

Yes. So as you know, we added UNFI as a customer and discussed that last period. Our business plan continues to be here in the near term to add new customers by the ones or 2 per year. So we are continuing to evaluate. We didn't add one in this quarter, we're reporting now, but we are continuing to look at that and do expect that here in the near term, one to 2 customers per year.

是的。如您所知，我們將 UNFI 添加為客戶並討論了上一時期的情況。我們的業務計劃在短期內繼續實施，每年增加 1 至 2 個新客戶。所以我們正在繼續評估。我們在本季度沒有增加客戶，我們現在正在報告，但我們正在繼續關注這一點，並預計在短期內每年會增加一到 2 個客戶。

One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Snyder of UBS.

稍等一會兒。我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的克里斯·斯奈德。

When we see the implied improvement in fiscal Q3 margins, is this primarily driven by better gross margin? And with that, how far do you think the business is from hitting that 30% target gross margin level for systems? Because it seems like price cost pressure is going away over the next couple of quarters. But I'm not sure if a higher level of scale is needed to get to that number?

當我們看到第三財季利潤率的隱含改善時，這主要是由更好的毛利率推動的嗎？那麼，您認為該業務距離達到系統 30% 的目標毛利率水平還有多遠？因為價格成本壓力似乎將在未來幾個季度消失。但我不確定是否需要更高的規模才能達到這個數字？

Yes. So we think that we'll continue to see gross margin expansion as we look forward over quarters. And that is consistent to improving gross margin, is implicit in our outlook, but we also do expect that we'll see some efficiencies in our OpEx primarily from the benefit of the restructuring program that I discussed in my prepared remarks. So that's the real fundamental basis we're seeing the bit of operating leverage on slightly lower revenues implicit in our guide.

是的。因此，我們認為，展望未來幾個季度，毛利率將繼續增長。這與毛利率的提高是一致的，隱含在我們的前景中，但我們也確實預計，我們的運營支出將獲得一些效率，這主要得益於我在準備好的發言中討論的重組計劃的好處。因此，這是我們在指南中隱含的收入略低的情況下看到的運營槓桿的真正基本基礎。

Thinking about structural gross margins, we think that, that's an effort that will take us several quarters to a couple of years to really get the benefit. Here in the near term what we're focused in on is driving strong long-term profitability. And so we think that we can drive the greatest present value of our business by achieving scale and getting -- and then penetrating the market. And while we're doing that, we're focused on smart execution and ramping profitability over the course. So we want that balanced approach of maximizing long-term profitability and scale while being -- executing with expanding margins.

考慮到結構性毛利率，我們認為，這一努力將需要我們幾個季度到幾年的時間才能真正獲得收益。短期內我們的重點是推動強勁的長期盈利能力。因此，我們認為，我們可以通過實現規模化、然後滲透市場來推動業務的最大現值。在我們這樣做的同時，我們專注於智能執行和提高盈利能力。因此，我們希望採取一種平衡的方法，在實現長期盈利能力和規模最大化的同時，擴大利潤率。

And then for a follow up, maybe something a little bit higher level. You guys have quite the blue chip customer base. So with that, I was just wondering, is there any color or commentary you could provide around the level of existing automation within these customer facilities? Just given that they're big customers, I would imagine there's some level of automation in there. So just trying to get a sense for kind of the rate of change on the upgrade?

然後是後續行動，也許是更高層次的事情。你們擁有相當不錯的藍籌客戶群。因此，我只是想知道，您是否可以針對這些客戶設施中現有的自動化水平提供任何顏色或評論？鑑於他們是大客戶，我想那裡有一定程度的自動化。那麼只是想了解一下升級的變化率嗎？

Yes, Rick can comment to it. At a high level for these large customers, every distribution center we go into is fully mechanized with conveyance based automation. So generally, we go in and we're replacing a highly functioning world-class conveyance system.

是的，瑞克可以對此發表評論。對於這些大客戶來說，我們進入的每個配送中心都是完全機械化的，具有基於運輸的自動化。一般來說，我們會更換一個功能強大的世界級運輸系統。

Most -- I mean, most of the systems we're replacing are 20 years old. And so most of the customers we have look at everything in the world. And so they have had some type of automation. What, of course, is exciting for us is that we believe we're the next generation of that automation. And these systems have a long life once installed. So the focus has really been making sure these customers are just rightly happy with what we're selling and then we think we can sell a lot more.

大多數——我的意思是，我們要更換的大多數係統都有 20 年的歷史了。因此，我們的大多數客戶都會關注世界上的一切。所以他們有某種類型的自動化。當然，令我們興奮的是我們相信我們是下一代自動化技術。這些系統一旦安裝，使用壽命很長。因此，重點實際上是確保這些客戶對我們所銷售的產品感到滿意，然後我們認為我們可以銷售更多產品。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Jeff Evanson for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回傑夫·埃文森（Jeff Evanson）以供結束髮言。

Thank you, Valerie, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call this afternoon. We appreciate your interest in Symbotic and we look forward to seeing you at our Investor Day on May 18 in Tampa or when we're out visiting with investors. Thank you. Have a good day.

謝謝瓦萊麗，也謝謝大家今天下午加入我們的電話會議。感謝您對 Symbotic 的興趣，我們期待在 5 月 18 日坦帕投資者日或我們外出拜訪投資者時見到您。謝謝。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。祝你有美好的一天。