Innovation and Hi-Tech Are Market Niches

With more than 90% of Taiwan's lighting makers moving their production lines to mainland China, those that stay in Taiwan have to either diversify their operations or rack their brains to develop high-end products to survive. Outdoor lamp manufacturers seem to be facing the greatest challenges, as the manufacturing of such products is more complicated. Most lamp makers in this line have applied advanced technologies to create special functions and improve quality.

Outdoor lamps are used in harsher environments than indoor items--ever-changing weather including rain, wind, and snow. Today design, even for traditionally plain and simple outdoor lamps and even for what might seem as items of straightforward use as street lamps--is becoming more and more important. In the search for novelty and more attractive appearances, outdoor-lamp makers have in recent years turned increasingly to electronic technologies in the design area.

Operating in the Infrared

Georlin Technology Co., formerly Lioeng Prosperity Co., mainly produces infrared-ray sensor lights. Established in 1971, Lioeng initially made anti-theft products and household-safety systems, then in 1975 started to develop motion detectors for lighting products, particularly for outdoor lamps. About two years ago the company renamed itself Georlin.

"Some 17 or 18 years ago, most of Taiwan's sensor modules were imported from Japan, and were very expensive," points out Chuan Yin-bing, general manager of the company. "Later on, modules made in Germany and South Korea were introduced into Taiwan, breaking Japan's monopoly and gradually lowering prices. Compared to NT$2,000 quoted some 20 years ago for a sensor (US$58 at US$1 = NT$34.5 at today's rates), prices today have plunged to NT$20-30 (US$0.58-0.87) per piece."

Motion detectors are nowadays widely used in Western countries, especially for lighting products. Chuan says, "Public lighting facilities in many Western countries have long been installed with motion detectors or sensors, which help safeguard public areas and buildings. Today some countries in Asia have followed or intend to follow suit, and thus the market has great potential."

With the popularity of such lighting products, Georlin has enjoyed solid returns. The company previously exported 100% of its lighting products; however, with competition from mainland China rivals in the global market increasing, the company started four years ago to diversify its sales channels in the domestic market. Currently the company sells half of its output abroad and half at home.

In addition to the production of lighting sensors, Georlin has also developed a full range of sensor-controlled outdoor lamps. Its anti-theft halogen outdoor lamps with infrared-ray sensor devices have proven popular with consumers in both the domestic and foreign markets.

Some eight years ago the firm made a foray into fabricating outdoor lamps in mainland China in an attempt to lower manufacturing costs. However, the operational environment was found to be not so good as expected. After several years the company decided to bring operations back to Taiwan.

"The competitive environment is unfair toward Taiwanese lighting makers in the mainland," Chuan complains. "Most export-oriented local lighting makers in the mainland receive government subsidies, and a cut-throat policy is adopted by state-run manufacturers. Moreover, the worst experience was our lamps being duplicated by the copycats there."

The move back has been fortuitous. "Generally speaking, the quality of Taiwan-made outdoor lamps is better than that of mainland makers. Because of this, our clients in the U.S. and Europe insist on purchasing our lamps," he says proudly. Georlin's outdoor lamps have been approved by Germany's TUV and UL in the U.S.

Correct choice of materials is important for outdoor lamps, Chuna states. "The materials should be weatherproof, anti-erosion, and anti-rust. To protect the lamps, we often place extra covers or shelters on the top of our outdoor lamps." Georlin's outdoor lamps are mainly garden lamps and porch lamps. Most are installed with a couple of sensors, one of which tests the luminance of the environment and the other the temperature of nearby moving objects.


Today the company's outdoor lamps are primarily designed around halogen bulbs. But in the near future light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs will also be used, since LEDs last longer and save more electricity although they are relatively more expensive.

The company is now heavily promoting its newly developed 'Edison 007' automatic infrared-ray lamp, which features a world-standard lampholder, the so-called R-27 socket, and can be universally used. In addition, the lamp is installed with a wide-angle sensor so that it can handle a larger space.

Beyond lighting products, Georlin is also applying its sensor devices to other high-tech electronic products, such as digital cameras and digital video recorders (DVRs). Computers and cellphones will shortly be added to the lineup.

Georlin's major export outlet has long been the United States, taking a lion's share of 70%-80%, while Japan and Europe together have made up the remaining 20%-30%. Chuan believes there is much room for the company to expand export channels, not to mention the solid potential of the home market.

Moving Into the Lights

Established in 1987, Fastoso Taiwan Corp. was a trading firm in the beginning and transformed into a manufacturer of outdoor lamps in 1992. "I never expected that I would become involved in lighting manufacturing, and this can be traced back to the year when an Australian client asked me to find manufacturers who can turn out low-voltage aluminum die-casting garden lamps. I could not find any manufacturer that turned out such lamps in Taiwan at that time," recalls Joey Mao, president of the company.

Since no lighting makers fabricated such outdoor lamps on the island, the Australian client encouraged Mao to cooperate with him to build a plant to turn out the lamps. Mao agreed, believing there should be good business opportunities in it because of the lack of competition. "Up to years ago, aluminum garden lamps were still a small category among lighting products and hardly any lighting manufacturers in Taiwan paid attention to outdoor lamps because they were all focused on extant lines, mainly domestic lamps," Mao explains.

In the beginning Mao experienced some difficulty turning his firm into a manufacturer from a trader. But his team worked very hard to learn manufacturing processes, and succeeded. "When there is a will there is a way," he affirms. "Since we'd decided to become involved in the line, we promised ourselves to give our best." About six years ago, the Australian partner withdrew from the venture, and Mao has since taken over the entire company by himself.

Mao entered the lighting industry with the manufacture of sub-12-volt lamps. "It is safer to start with low-power lamps because fewer safety problems are involved and the lamps are more compact," he says. Today Fastoso has branched into the production of high-power halide lamps and power-saving lamps, and has developed a wide range of lighting products from path lamps, garden lamps, and outdoor wall lamps to underwater pool lamps and well floodlights.

"In terms of technology, the manufacture of outdoor lamps is harder than that of indoor lamps, because with the former more non-lighting factors must be taken into consideration, especially the weather," Mao states. "Usually it takes us at least half a year to develop a small or medium-sized outdoor lamp; the time for large-sized models is longer."

Fastoso exports its lamps to some 40 countries around the world, mainly to North America and Europe. Currently the company can turn out an average of some 2,000 small-sized outdoor lamps per day. "The materials used in our lamps are mainly die-casting aluminum, copper, and stainless steel. Aluminum is used in most areas, while copper is not suitable for items to be used in hot-springs and seashore areas," Mao points out.

In the future lighting manufacturers have to develop more energy-saving, environment-friendly, and human-oriented lighting products to meet world trends, Mao remarks. He believes that trust from customers is the guarantee for the success of a company, and so insists that Fastoso has to continually upgrade its product quality.

The Will to Win

Established in 1987, Willtron Enterprise Co. started as a manufacturer of electric control devices for Christmas lights, later involving itself in the production of lamp sets, mainly commercial decoration lights.

Like many domestic lighting makers, Willtron has moved its production line to mainland China--more than 10 years ago--and has fared well there. Tsai Tsu-ming, manager of the company, notes that it is not easy for Taiwan's lighting manufacturer to operate in the mainland. Willtron has gone through a lot of difficulties to establish a solid foothold there.

Thanks to the development of the light emitting diode (LED), Willtron has in recent years largely applied LED to its decorative lamps instead of traditional tungsten and halogen bulbs. LED, taking the advantages of energy saving, longevity, no radiation, no flickering and very low temperature, is very suitable for outdoor lighting decoration. Today it has been broadly used in surface designs of buildings in many modern cities, which can help create colorful night scenes. Some LED lamps installed in fountains can create marvelous water dancing effect with IC control devices.

In the year 2000 the company enjoyed booming businesses as many countries in the world were celebrating the millennium year, applying lighting products to the decoration of buildings and as theme designs to many activities. During the year Willtron's shipment of decorative lamps increased multiply, particularly to neighboring Hong Kong.

The increasing popularity of LED in lighting products has encouraged Willtron to put more and more efforts in the development of LED lamps, which now account for 80%-90% of the company's output. The company produces mainly high-end outdoor lamps, so it focuses its markets on Japan and Europe where consumers usually demand delicate high-quality lighting products. "In the early stage we took the U.S. as our major export outlet, but now we have to gradually give up the market there because we are no longer suitable for turning out massive products in low prices to meet the market need there," Tsai says.

Today the mainland is Taiwan's strong rival in the U.S. market. "Although we have moved all of our production lines to the mainland, we still can not compete with the mainland's manufacturers in low-end products market, therefore we have to turn our target to high-end level markets," Tsai interprets. "If a Taiwanese company can not continue developing new products, it will soon be outpaced by its counterparts in the mainland. So, no matter how fast the mainland followers can catch up, Taiwanese makers have to try their best to keep ahead. The competition is a never-ending race."

Willtron keeps its R&D operations in Taiwan, and takes the mainland as its manufacturing base. In addition, it has an office in Hong Kong in charge of shipment and trading process. The company has a six-person R&D team in Taiwan, and its workforce in the mainland is around 200-300 persons. Willtron, with complementary operations on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, can generate 1-2 containers of high-end lamps and 5-10 containers of low-end lighting products each month. All of the company's lamps are waterproof, anti-ultraviolet ray, and available to both low and high temperatures.

Apart from decorative outdoor lamps, Willtron started this year to produce engineering outdoor lamps for industrial use, featuring energy saving, environmental protection and recycling. So far the company has received trial orders for the lamps.

Nothing But a Professional

Unexpectedly becoming involved in the lighting industry about nine years ago, Hsiao Su-wan, general manager of T.H. Lighting Enterprise Co., has today become a professional manufacturer of outdoor lamps. Being a woman, Hsiao never thought that she would be engaged in this male-dominated industry.

In 1996 Hsiao took over the then financially troubled company and has become the sole owner in charge of the company's operations from design and manufacture to marketing. "In the beginning, I worked very hard to help settle everything down in the company office and the plant as well. The massive workload always kept me late in the office or the factory. Quite often I was so busy that could not go home until midnight," Hsiao states.

"It took me about three years to get the company on the right track. If I did not have a strong will and perseverance, I might have given up. In fact, the special love in lamps has encouraged me to bravely swim in the lighting pool, and will not get drowned. Today the company runs well, but still has a long way to go for further development," she adds.

T. H. is able to offer a wide range of outdoor lamps, namely, garden lamps, street lamps, tunnel lighting, highway lighting, sport field lighting, under-water lighting, LED decorative lighting, etc. The bodies of the lamps are mostly made of cast and spun-formed aluminum, and bulbs are mainly energy-saving, low-voltage halides. The lamps, featuring compact streamlined design, have won great praises among buyers.

"We usually signed contracts with our clients to help them establish lighting environment. For instance, we design, manufacture and install lamps for our clients in such areas as parks, school playgrounds, sport fields, and highways. So, most of our clients are government units," Hsiao states.

"Such outdoor lamps need more advanced engineering technology and sophisticated manufacturing skills. As a lighting planner, the company has to offer integrated services to its clients and play multiple role of being manufacturer, designer, and even engineer," Hsiao remarks.

T.H. has been a professional outdoor lamp maker for the domestic market, but it now intends to expand its sales to overseas markets. Its initial targets are the United States and Europe.