PHILPS lighting transformation, the Internet of things, the future is not just selling lights

In the 2017 PHILPS lighting innovation, PHILPS lighting CEO Hong Anli (Eric Rondolat), chief Innovation Officer Qiu Ronghong, Greater China President Wang Yun lined up, declaring this with 125 years of history of the old enterprises, to lighting company to the "Internet of things" (lighting company for the IoT) forward.

Hong Anli said, LED energy saving and wisdom of the Internet, so that the light transmission of information, PHILPS lighting is the two major directions in 2017.

The PHILPS CEO Anli flood lighting, let light pass the message to rewrite the definition of "lighting". (supplied by PHILPS lighting)

From selling light to selling "light", it means that PHILPS lighting has to sell from products to systems and services. Through the LED lights to build interconnected road of wisdom, public space, home life, sustainable development of urban agriculture, is the four major goals of the future.

The question is, can selling light really make money?

Price war heating up, profit pressure

"We're also thinking about knowing what we want to do, not what we should do, but knowing why we're doing it," Hong Anli said.

For PHILPS lighting, 2016 is an important watershed in transition. The first is PHILPS's plans to suspend the merger and sale of its Lumileds and car lighting departments. In May last year, the lighting industry was split up into an independent company and listed on the Holland Amsterdam. At present, the parent company PHILPS stake of about 55%.

Spread out PHILPS lighting last year's earnings, transformation pressure also jump on paper.

In 2016, PHILPS's overall sales growth (comparable) was down by the year before. Net profit fell from 240 million euros in 2015 to 185 million euros. Adjusted profit before tax, depreciation and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) increased from 547 million euros in the previous year to 645 million euros.

Among them, LED and home sector comparable sales, respectively, compared to the previous year growth of 16% and 11%. Two larger revenue groups, covering commercial, building, hospital, industrial, outdoor and other professional departments, a slight drop of 0.5%, to non LED products based lighting department is greatly reduced by 15.8%.

The profitability of PHILPS lighting

As more and more LED manufacturers invest, the price war is heating up, and the professional and home departments have become the two major focus of the PHILPS lighting transformation.

An old piano factory, which has been abandoned for ten years, stands between the fence and the construction site in Yangpu District, Shanghai. Two years ago, the piano factory was converted into the E green Creative Industry Park, and the PHILPS lighting system was integrated into it as one of the green, low-carbon applications.

In the office, as soon as the person leaves the seat area, the system detects no movement within five minutes, and the lights turn off automatically. "On average, this floor will save about 70 kwh a day," said Zhou, who is in charge of investment.

But power saving is only part of it, and the future lighting system will be smarter and more customized.

Not just selling light bulbs, but also changing your home

At the Chinese Academy of Building Research in Beijing, it will further use PoE (Power, over, Ethernet, Ethernet power supply) intelligent networking lighting technology. The near - zero - power new building allows employees to set up light - Dark preferences through mobile apps.

Ubiquitous lighting is the heart of the Internet of things. "Intelligent wireless lighting systems with a wide range of sensors have been integrated into the message network of the entire building," said Wang Yun, President of PHILPS lighting greater china.

There is more than just information to integrate, as well as cross brand resources.

Home intelligent lighting system Hue, PHILPS lighting transformation is selling "light" bridge. Users can change their home lighting settings through mobile apps and via PHILPS lighting system backgrounds.

"We're selling more than just light bulbs, but lighting your home and lifestyle," says George Yianni, inventor of Hue and director of PHILPS lighting home networking lighting."

Last September, HUAWEI and PHILPS lighting signed a cooperation agreement to become home intelligent lighting system Hue friends (Friends of Hue), connecting OceanConnect networking platform. For example, once a surveillance camera finds a suspicious character, a red and blue warning light will be displayed with the Hue light bulb at home as well as the alarm.

In November, PHILPS lighting and millet formed a joint venture, the main smart home and networking LED lighting products. Now, Qiu Ronghong announced that PHILPS will work with the China Mobile Research Institute to work on IOT (Cellular) standards. PHILPS lighting is also in China Mobile's 5G joint innovation center, the establishment of intelligent Internet road lighting applications display.

From selling light to selling "light", PHILPS lighting can create a stable new profit model, but also need time to prove. But what is certain is that the definition of "lighting" is changing and will only become more and more unimaginable.

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