Zumtobel Group Enters the LED Lamp Business - LEDON Lamp GmbH Founded

The Austrian lighting company Zumtobel Group, which specialises in professional light fittings, lighting solutions and lighting components, is set to enter the lamp business. To this end, the Group has founded a subsidiary, LEDON Lamp GmbH, based in Dornbirn in the Vorarlberg region of Austria. The new company will promote the sale of a broad portfolio of innovative LED lamps. The product range will focus on “retrofit” lamps – innovative LED lamps designed to look like and replace all conventional incandescent light bulbs (e.g. with E14 or E27 screw caps). Sales of these high-tech LED lamps will be via retail outlets (e.g. DIY stores) and sales partners across Europe. LEDON Lamp GmbH is headed up by Detlef Mikulsky and Peter Petz.

“LEDs are where the future lies. We have built up a leading level of expertise in this technology and we’ll be making use of this knowledge to supply high-quality light bulbs to consumers, which is a first in our corporate history. We are convinced that these LED lamps will make a breakthrough in the market. With their high energy efficiency and outstanding light quality, they are already superior to conventional energy-saving lamps, which have never really appealed to the consumer. With our decision to enter the lamp market at this point, we are ideally positioned to profit from this dynamic business,” explained Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig.

Leading LED technology from Austria:
The LED technology for these future-oriented lamps originates in Jennersdorf in the Burgenland region of Austria, where Zumtobel Group subsidiary LEDON Lighting Jennersdorf GmbH is based. Founded in 2001, the company has established itself as a leading source of expertise in the development and production of high-performance LED light sources. LEDON Lighting mainly supplies the Zumtobel Group brands with LED modules and components. The core competency of LEDON Lighting is high quality white light from LEDs, an expertise with respect to warm-white LEDs and stable, homogenous colour distribution. LEDON Lighting began production of LED modules for use in retrofit lamps as early as 2008. In this sector, the company already ranks among the world’s leading suppliers.

Co-operation with Lemnis Lighting B.V.:
With the common goal of driving the dynamic development of the market for high quality and affordable energy-saving LED lamps, the Zumtobel Group has concluded a development partnership agreement with the Dutch company Lemnis Lighting B.V. Lemnis Lighting specialises in sustainable LED-based lighting solutions and markets various LED retrofit lamps under its renowned Pharox brand name. In line with the agreement, Lemnis and LEDON will jointly develop a full-line portfolio of technologically advanced and high quality LED-based lamps for residential and professional use. This portfolio of LED lamps, which are designed to replace not only conventional light bulbs but also halogen spots, is to be marketed by both companies under the LEDON and Pharox brands. In conjunction with the product developments already ongoing at LEDON Lamp, Lemnis Lighting is to contribute its existing lamp range to the joint portfolio. The combined capabilities of the Zumtobel Group and Lemnis Lighting will provide a wide product base for LEDON Lamp’s market entry as well as significantly increases the Lemnis Lighting product portfolio in the short term. Under the terms of the agreement, Zumtobel Group companies are also defined as a preferred supplier for Lemnis Lighting.

Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig expressed his delight at the agreement: “LEDON and Lemnis are the perfect partners to drive the breakthrough of the LED lamp. Our joint strategic goal is to build up a significant volume of business in the lamp market.”

Lemnis Lighting CEO Remko Gaastra highlighted the importance: “Lemnis Lighting is very pleased to announce the development partnership with the Zumtobel Group as a key driver for its rapidly increasing product portfolio. It is a further step in our strategy to form strong partnerships with key players in the industry to enable fast technology and product development in order to provide our customers with high quality LED lamps as a genuine alternative to incandescents and CFLs. This partnership further enhances Lemnis Lighting’s leading position in LED lamps and we are proud that our strong relationship with the Zumtobel Group is taking a further step forward.”