Nov 28 2014
Based on its recent analysis of the lighting market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Philips Lighting with the 2014 European Frost & Sullivan Lighting Company of the Year Award. Philips Lighting ensures that its concepts, innovations and technologies are geared towards providing the ultimate lighting experience.
This customer-led business strategy, along with a clear first-mover advantage in various lighting segments has helped Philips gain a competitive edge over its competitors.
"Philips Lighting's best practices include the establishment of a central strategy team that tracks all current and Mega Trends, while working with each of the company's business and market groups to capture customer insights and market needs," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Balaji Anand Sagar. "The company applies advanced lean manufacturing principles to improve its production processes and consistently exceed market expectations."
Some of the Mega Trends that underline Philips Lighting's strategy and product development efforts are 'urbanisation – the world needs more light', 'the world needs more energy-efficient light', and 'the world needs more digital light'. These and other major trends such as the Internet of things (IOT) have driven the company's overall positioning as a diversified health and well-being company focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation.
Philips Lighting's connected lighting systems can provide facility managers with real-time information on energy consumption. Only this year the company introduced the first commercially available connected office lighting system using power-over-Ethernet, where workers can use their smart phone to personalize their office lighting. The system has commanded the market's attention as it is easy to install, incurs low operational expenditure, and influences users' productivity.
For the home sphere, the company has met with success with its flagship connected lighting system, Philips Hue. The system can be used to create personalised lighting effects from a palette of over 16 million colours to suit the desired ambience and mood of users. As a connected lighting solution, it can access Internet-based information, provide notifications, and be controlled through a smart phone, tablet or Hue Tap, which is a wireless switch that pre-sets users' favourite light settings.
"Intentionally designed with an open architecture and supplemented with software developer kits, Hue triggered the development of more than 200 third-party apps for the product," noted Frost & Sullivan Partner and Energy Director John Raspin. "Though there are other wireless lighting systems similar to Hue available in the market, none of them offer the richness of apps and such a comprehensive hardware and software ecosystem."
Earlier this year, Philips Lighting added the three-dimensional (3D) printed Hue luminaire to its portfolio – the first ever 3D printed Web-enabled luminaire with Hue integrated into it.
The company's LED (light-emitting diode)-based connected lighting systems produce high-quality light, have a longer lifetime than conventional lighting systems, and offer enriched functionality.
To improve city lighting management, Philips Lighting developed CityTouch, remote street lighting management software which enables city authorities to remotely control networked LED street lighting. When combined with LED lighting and controls, the Philips CityTouch system offers up to 70 percent energy savings over traditional street lighting.
Integral to Philips Lighting's success has been its firm four-pillar strategy. To lead the technological revolution with constant innovation in LED and win in the consumer market have been among the company's prime aspirational ideals. Additionally, to drive innovation in professional lighting systems and services by offering intelligent connected lighting technologies and new business models such as lighting as a service, has been a core tenet of its business strategy. Finally, the internal business improvement programme, 'Accelerate!' has ensured the application of best-in-class manufacturing techniques and operational excellence, and fuelled the company's growth in the lighting industry.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The award recognises a high degree of innovation with products and technologies and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
About Royal Philips:
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2013 sales of EUR 23.3 billion and employs approximately 115,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
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