ALT Aims to Rank Among World's Top-5 LED Lighting Makers by 2014

CEO believes industrial shakeup has neared the end

Aeon Lighting Technology Inc. (ALT) pledges to vault from 20th to be among the top-five LED lighting makers globally in two years.

“This year is crucial because many Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers have given up, which makes me believe industrial shakeup is nearing the end. Also I believe the company's determined pursuit of excellence will help push us ahead in the race,” stresses chief executive officer, James Liang.

A market-strategist, Liang points out the company's priority for this year is to enhance global presence, including capacity expansion, development of the Japanese market, cooperation with solar-panel makers on solar-powered outdoor lights, increasing revenue by contract manufacturing and more new product rollouts.

The company is boosting capacity at its second factory to double total output from the current 120,000 MR16-lamp-equivalents monthly to handle swarming orders, according to Liang. “We estimate the added capacity to raise the two factories' combined revenue to US$30-35 million a year once online in the third quarter this year,” Liang estimates.

Aeon mainly offers branded MR16, streetlight and several big luminaires, also contract produces light bulb and several big luminaires. According to Liang, this year contract production will rise to account for at least a quarter of revenue.

Niche solar-powered streetlights and landscape lights will also help to drive revenues to around 10% of the total this year. “Although solar-powered outdoor LED lights remain low in market share at this stage, niche items are growing strongly,” Liang says.

The maker opened a branch office in Tokyo in February 2012 to build presence there, also allying with distributors in 183 countries. “We have been vigorously stepping up global presence while expanding manufacturing in Taiwan,” Liang states.

New Products
Since the beginning of this year, ALT has released a slew of new products at trade shows. In the LIGHTFAIR 2012 of Las Vegas, staged May 9-11, the company rolled out its Asteria-series MR16 lamps, reportedly the brightest of their kind employing unique cooling design, with the 50W-halogen replacement saving 85% energy compared with incandescent.

A T8 light tube the company displayed at an architectural lighting fair featured single electrode and operates in sub-40C to be ideal for frozen-food industry, with the spotlights shown delivering CRI of 95, close to daylight of CRI 100.

The F03 shatter-proof lamps with CREE XML chips are designed for security-challenged areas in Latin America, as well as petrochemical and oil refineries, with the lamps saving 75% energy compared to generic types.

At Photonics Festival Taipei 2012 in July, Aeon promoted a 10W A55 bulb to replace incandescent bulbs rated 60W to 100W. Dimmable, flicker-free and with even light, this lamp, as identified by the maker, has five design focuses: security, high brightness, dimming efficiency, high CRI and usefulness.

To meet demand for high CRI in the F&B, healthcare, apparel, and fresh-food industries, ALT has introduced from Japan LED chip technology promising CRI close to 98 that will be released in luminaires soon.

Aeon has penetrated with its Metis candle-shapes LED bulbs the Southeast Asian markets of hospitality, jewelry showcasing, having won orders from several five-star hotels.

Metis bulbs were introduced in March 2011 and achieve 93-lumen-per-watt, far outperforming average, low-power versions, with unique fin-type cooling and power-input design assuring longevity and power efficiency, and a guide to achieve uniform light across wider area than competing products.

ALT executives say that candle-shaped LED bulbs are ubiquitous as commercial lighting, especially in the hospitality trade, whose operators don't shut off light and choose LED bulbs as replacement of tungsten bulbs to save energy.

Aeon has also launched globally its A19/G19 horticultural lamps, having entered the Japanese market.

Global Partnerships
ALT's global presence building involves cooperation with international chipmakers. In May 2011, the company entered into agreement with Cree Inc., which pledged to prioritize supply ALT with the latest MT-G chips to help lead markets.

MT-G chip achieves 80-plus lumens per watt to be the world's brightest LED chip released in February 2011, with which ALT installed in MR16 lamps delivering 620 lumens of natural white light to replace 50W halogen lamps.

Liang points out that partnering with international players underlines the company's promise of product quality and design.

Patented Designs
Inheriting unorthodox cooling technologies from parent company, server maker Super Micro Computer Inc. of the United States, Aeon has introduced some 100 patented designs, with 2,190 products in 18 categories that are proven toxic-free by the RoHS inspection system, as well as being the first Taiwanese LED-lighting manufacturer to receive the Taiwan government-regulated CNS certification for LED streetlight.

Liang points out that LED will emerge as mainstream lighting of the future to provide huge business opportunity. “But acceptance of such lamps has been slow due to inconsistent quality amid rising competition. So Aeon has been vigorously developing, researching the lighting technology, applying for international security approvals, proving product quality and building brand recognition to enhance marketing.”

The company tests each item for eight hours during production in addition to thousands of hours of testing during R&D, and offers a three-year warranty, bettering most rivals.

While trying to upgrade product quality and efficiency with intensive investment in R&D and innovative designs, the company works hard to reduce product prices to achieve affordability. Not long ago, the company cut prices of all its products by 40% to reflect cost cutting due to improved processing that landed considerable orders from Japan and Europe. “We offer excellent value for money,” Liang stresses.

Liang has always pursued making affordable LED lighting since its establishment five years ago. “We invested US$3.5 million because of our belief in LED lighting as clean technology that contributes to sustainability, a goal only achievable by popularizing such lighting via offering truly affordable products. But such is a worthwhile goal especially when extreme weather is becoming a trend,” Liang says.