INTERVIEW | Connected lighting supply chain gets a signal boost across regional markets via expanded Inventronics business
After an initial introduction at the HKTDC Hong Kong International Lighting Fair last fall, LEDs Magazine sat down with Inventronics’ Naveen Tumula, VP, head of Idea to Market, and Peter Resca, global marketing director, during LEDucation 2024 in March. Tumula and Resca provided insights into the lighting and controls system components developer’s supply chain, growth areas, and a strategy for serving a greater global customer base by focusing on open standards for interoperability within a connected lighting ecosystem. With the post-acquisition integration of Osram’s Digital Systems business, which encompasses the Eurasia region, Inventronics looks toward supporting a maturing intelligent lighting market with a complementary lineup of drivers, light engines, and connected lighting components.
LEDs Magazine: How has the Osram Digital Systems Eurasia integration affected Inventronics’ supply chain and manufacturing outlook?
Naveen Tumula: If you look at our supply chain strategy — at a finished product level where we sell an LED driver, an LED module, or a control system to our end users and OEMs — we have expanded with the acquisition of Osram Digital Systems Eurasia by Inventronics. We were able to procure a manufacturing location in Europe, and we have extended our base of contract manufacturing and ODM capabilities within China. Inventronics Classic had its primary manufacturing location in Tonglu, China, with satellite factories in Mexico and India. The addition of the Osram Digital Systems Eurasia manufacturing capabilities brings the production closer to E.U. customers, and utilization of multiple locations reduces the risk for our customers.
In terms of supplier access, that scale has improved by roughly 70 to 80% with the acquisition of Osram Digital Systems Eurasia, because Inventronics originally had, for example, ICs, passive and active components , and mechanical suppliers — many of them in China. With the acquisition, we now have expanded our access to India and Europe suppliers. At both the finished product and the component level, it’s a significant add-on in capability.
LEDs: Let’s talk a bit more about recent activity. From late 2023 to now, have you seen a recovery in the supply chain?
Peter Resca: A lot of the factors we reflected on [in the fall of 2023] continue to hold true. Much of the inventory in the supply chain at the finished goods level has flushed itself out to normalize or even fall below normal levels. We have started to see reorders and pickup in finished goods activity. We also continue to introduce new products and see new markets emerging. In particular, we’re leveraging the technical expertise we acquired from the Osram Digital Systems Eurasia business, and continue to look at how to bring and enhance that to markets like North America. That’s a growth driver, although Q1 has taken off a bit slower in 2024 than we anticipated.
LEDs: As far as products and market trends, what is resonating most with your customers now that they’ve worked through that previous inventory? What are they looking for?
Tumula: Let’s talk about specific regions, because it’s a bit different by location. In Europe, unlike North America, there is significant share of DALI [Digital Addressable Lighting Interface] and wireless solutions. That is already approaching close to 30–35% of the lighting market share. Wireless [control technology] has shown significant growth since last year; within the connected business, wireless is about 30% of the revenue. North America is still predominantly a 0–10V [systems] market, but significant requests are coming in for DALI and D4i, and we still believe that by the end of 2024–2025, the digitization percentage of the North American market will be slightly high single-digits to low double-digits.
LEDs: Do you have products coming out that will be addressing those demands — such as but not limited to moving from 0–10V in the North American market — this year?
Tumula: We are enhancing our portfolio offering for the North American market, which was predominantly for the outdoor lighting market. We’re extending our indoor portfolio offering with the Osram portfolio acquisition, which will support the indoor market with DALI drivers, wireless-enabled drivers, and D4i-enabled sensors. All of these will be coming by the end of this year to address the North American market for lighting control systems. What does it mean? We should be able to digitize and increase the percentage of digital spend for the North American market.
One thing to note regarding the European market is that Inventronics is the first to extend the runway for DALI becoming DALI wireless (DALI+). We were the first company to acquire the certification, and we launched it at Light + Building in Frankfurt this year. [At the time of this interview], we are the only company listed with DALI+ certified drivers. We are trying to establish authority in this area with Osram and Inventronics, and we anticipate DALI+ to take over between two and three years from now following a significant shift from a wired to a wireless data architecture in the lighting industry. By the end of 2027, we anticipate that DALI wireless — in terms of growth percentage (CAGR) — will surpass the DALI wired technology adoption.
Resca: To expand on that, in the North American market, which didn’t have an embedded wired DALI ecosystem, it will likely just go right to that wireless environment. We see many of our customers and partners that have different control systems offerings utilizing that open standard, to leverage that protocol no matter the wireless communication system involved. The interoperability of the DALI ecosystem appeals to people. When we talk about the supply chain and the constraints that we’ve lived through over the past few years, interoperability, open standards, and adoption to scale are all parts of the solution — and Inventronics can support all of that.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks to Nancy Huang, CEO of the Inventronics LED business unit, for her introduction to and feedback on the Osram Digital Systems Eurasia and Inventronics integration.
CARRIE MEADOWS is editor-in-chief of LEDs Magazine, with 20-plus years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.
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Carrie Meadows | Editor-in-Chief, LEDs Magazine
Carrie Meadows has more than 20 years of experience in the publishing and media industry. She worked with the PennWell Technology Group for more than 17 years, having been part of the editorial staff at Solid State Technology, Microlithography World, Lightwave, Portable Design, CleanRooms, Laser Focus World, and Vision Systems Design before the group was acquired by current parent company Endeavor Business Media.
Meadows has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards, and has volunteered as a judge on several B2B editorial awards committees. She received a BA in English literature from Saint Anselm College, and earned thesis honors in the college's Geisel Library. Without the patience to sit down and write a book of her own, she has gladly undertaken the role of editor for the writings of friends and family.
Meadows enjoys living in the beautiful but sometimes unpredictable four seasons of the New England region, volunteering with an animal shelter, reading (of course), and walking with friends and extended "dog family" in her spare time.
