Q&A
- Focus on LED lighting ‘This market is completely different’
Bruce Lynch, EBV’s new Vertical Segment Director for EMEA talks to CIE about the key trends he sees currently affecting the LED lighting market
In the past few years EBV has become increasingly involved in the LED lighting segment of the distribution market. In light of growing market volumes and in response to market trends which point to much higher growth rates in the coming years, the company has set up a team of lighting experts to address the needs of this fast growing market. Taking up the role of team leader is Bruce Lynch.
CIE: In your opinion, what are the decisive factors in determining a distributor’s success in the LED lighting market?
Bruce Lynch: In my opinion, there are three decisive factors in this field. First and foremost, the people, then the manufacturers’ line card and finally the ‘ecosystem’. Let me deal with this in more detail, taking each point separately.
The first factor is that the lighting market is completely different to the traditional semiconductor markets. It is not sufficient merely to maintain the supply chain; experts are called for. That’s why, about three years ago, EBV looked to set up a team to deal exclusively with the issue of lighting. There is now a total of 16 people in the team in EMEA providing on-site help to customers.
share of around 32% in the field of optoelectronic components. With regards to LEDs, we are quite well positioned with the products from the ‘smaller than 0.5 W’ class. In the ‘0.5 W and higher’ class, we have not yet reached the point we would like to reach. This is why we are focusing on this area, known as ‘High Brightness - High Power’, an area in which exponential growth is also expected. And lighting will make a decisive contribution to us achieving this objective.
CIE: What sets EBV apart from other distributors, at least in terms of activities in the field of LED lighting?
The second factor concerns suppliers. EBV can look back on long-standing relationships with the major LED suppliers such as OSRAM and AVAGO. We have also recently begun working together very closely with the LED manufacturers Everlight and Luminus. In addition to which, the company enjoys relationships with a number of leading suppliers of optic products and driver ICs.
And thirdly, EBV has set up an ‘ecosystem’ which gives our customers access to what we describe as Premium Lighting Partner services. Thanks to their expertise, these partners can help the manufacturers of lighting equipment bring their concepts and designs to the market just that bit quicker.
CIE: What motivated EBV to proceed so aggressively in what is, after all, an obviously difficult LED lighting market?
BL: I’ll answer that by referring to some figures that were published by an independent market research company. Their investigation focused on the high brightness LED market and their findings showed that the market volume in 2009 amounted to 5.3 billion dollars. For 2014, the forecast is 20.5 billion dollars, i.e. that is an almost 500% increase within five years. These are very attractive growth rates and the reason why we are focusing on the high power LED segment.
CIE: What is your current position in this market? EBV already has a
significant share of the optoelectronics market: figures suggest between 32% and 35%.
BL: Yes, according to DMASS, we enjoy a market
BL: The major difference is that we respond to the particular concerns of this market. I believe that explaining the technology of LED lighting to the customers and familiarising them with it will be decisive. This is why we work very closely with our customers. The traditional manufacturers of lighting equipment generally have a concept, and we advise them on how to transform this into a marketable product as quickly as possible. The important thing is that we offer a single point of contact, i.e. we act as a central point of contact. This means that we have contact with the LED and IC manufacturers, and we can also assist customers during the development phase by providing the necessary expertise. This is what distinguishes us from conventional distributors: instead of
focusing on individual design-wins of components, we try to offer an optimum solution.
And then we can take a look at what is on the bill of material, i.e. the parts list. And we try to increase the EBV share on this parts list. When working together with us, the customer has the advantage that they can launch their product on the market that little bit quicker.
Naturally, our day-to-day business, to put it like that, involves offering customers individual solutions for the supply chain, for supplying them with components. And our customers must be able to rely on us being able to act as their supplier when they increase their production.
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