Zumtobel Group forms single LED organisation

With effect from May 1, the beginning of its 2008/09 financial year, the Zumtobel Group will be concentrating its existing LED activities in a single unit. The Austria-based, billion-Euro lighting company says that this will create a flexible and efficient platform for its planned dynamic growth in the LED sector.

The new Zumtobel LED Division will bundle the activities of the existing LED start-ups Ledon Lighting (based in Lustenau, Austria), Lexedis Lighting (Jennersdorf) and TridonicAtco Optoelectronics (both based in Jennersdorf, Austria), forming an expert unit within the Group with integration of all fundamental LED technologies.

As well as driving forward development in the LED field with a focus on applications, Zumtobel says the new division will provide optimum support for the other Group brands, as well as marketing its capabilities in new fields of business and to new customers under the Ledon brand.

"Through our existing start-ups we have already been able to secure the highly dynamic expansion of our LED activities to a current level of annual sales of EUR 35 million," said Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig.

"The new structures will enable us to focus even more closely on LEDs as the technology of the future and help us optimise the internal process integration of LED technology over the entire value chain. All of which will boost progress towards our medium-term goal of more than EUR 100 million in LED sales."

The Group's strategic focus in the LED sector is on high-performance white LED light sources for general-purpose lighting, as well as the use of LED technology in OEM and project business, as already implemented at the Stadion Center mall in Vienna and the BMW museum in Munich.

Under the Ledon brand, the new Zumtobel LED Division will also be opening up new fields of application for LED technology, such as furniture and showcase lighting, medical technology and light-controlled communication elements. The new division will be headed up by Roland Michal, who is succeeded as COO of TridonicAtco by Rüdiger Kofahl. At the beginning of April, the Zumtobel LED Division will be presenting its portfolio under the Ledon brand at the international Light+Building fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

From May 1, 2008 the Group, which posted revenues of EUR 1.234 billion for its 2006/07 financial year, will comprise three divisions: the Zumtobel Lighting Division deals with the luminaire business and includes the Thorn and Zumtobel brands; the Zumtobel Components Division (TridonicAtco) handles the lighting components business; and the Zumtobel LED Division supports the LED activities of the other Group brands, as well as opening up new customer segments through the Ledon brand.