A little power for a lot of light: How Adlershof wants to get in on the LED boom
Insiders all agree that LEDs (light emitting diodes) will supersede the classical forms of lighting over the medium term. According to ZVEI, the central association for the German electrical and electronics industry, this technology is on the verge of a breakthrough, and the market in Europe is predicted to grow to about €1.9bn by 2015, over six times its present volume.
“There is indeed a vast market potential for LED illumination,” explained Jürgen Oettner, Managing Director of the new Adlershof company LEDs UP, “and because light is needed in virtually all areas of life there is a promise of excellent sales opportunities.” Together with his partner Ali Ates, a highly creative developer, the experienced sales specialist intends to secure his share of the LED segment with fluorescent LED tubes and customised LED lighting. At present there are twelve other providers in Germany with a winning chance in the race for the most lucrative customers.
The company intends to specialise in individual LED solutions that are developed specifically for the customer’s needs and in line with the requirements on the sector. For Ali Ates, this represents a huge advantage for LEDs UP over the major providers, who are concentrating on the mass market with its greater economic potential and ignoring the minor niches. LEDs UP focuses on small runs of 200 to 300 units for workplaces requiring a special form of lighting that normal lamps cannot produce. On the other hand, the LEDs UP duo see themselves as perfectly capable of producing unique solutions when the customer is prepared to bear the higher costs.
In the early stages of its operations, LEDs UP will of course be catering to the mass market for fluorescent LED tubes. The selling points for fluorescent LED tubes are many and compelling: they consume about 70% less electricity than conventional fluorescent tubes, they last four times longer, they contain zero pollutants for the protection of the environment, and they produce a more homogeneous light without any of the conventional flickering. Despite their relatively high price, fluorescent LED tubes save about €32 of electricity a year, paying back the difference after only twelve to eighteen months – a rate of return unmatched even by energy saving lamps.
“We intend to convince our customers with quality. So we’ll be producing exclusively in Germany and subjecting our products to strict quality control,” stressed Jürgen Oettner. For the next five jobs they are planning, Oettner and Ates also intend to take on the physically disabled following their good experiences in the past. There will be two production processes: soldering and heat sealing. For quality control, the completed fluorescent LED tubes are placed in a so called Ulbricht chamber, where all parameters are read out and analysed on a PC for compliance within the tolerances. Before delivery to the customer, every LED tube must then prove itself in an additional 24 hour endurance test.
by Ariane Steffen
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