Defence electronics giant Aselsan

Philips has led the world in lighting technology since it was founded in 1891 by Anton and Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company began by manufacturing carbon-filament lamps, and by the turn of the century had become one of the largest producers in Europe. Stimulated by the growing industrial revolution in Europe, Philips set up its first research laboratory which was responsible for ground-breaking innovations such as X-ray and radio technology.

Over the years Philips has continued to be responsible for many innovative technological breakthroughs that have enriched people’s everyday lives worldwide.

Today Philips is an innovative global leader in its many business disciplines, and employs more than 120,000 people in over 60 countries. The company is also a global leader in energy-efficient lighting solutions in areas such as road lighting, office and industrial applications as well as in hospitality and home environments. Currently Philips employs more than 53,000 people in its lighting sector and remains committed to creating a sustainable future with exciting, new lighting technologies. Leading the world in LED technology

Philips Lighting is the leading provider of lighting solutions and applications for both the professional and consumer markets. The company addresses lighting needs across the full spectrum of living environments from homes, shops, offices, schools factories and hospitals, to residential areas, sports arenas and street lighting. In addition Philips Lighting delivers light-inspired visual enhancements through architectural and city beautification projects. The company’s lighting is also used for specific applications, including horticulture, refrigeration lighting and signage, as well as heating, water purification and healthcare applications.

The company is known for its innovative lighting solutions, and regularly introduces new products. For example, at the Euroshop 2014 show, it presented a new LED lighting solution that offers brands bespoke light signatures to help project their brand image and differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market.

Philips’ Customised Light offers brands complete freedom to choose throughout the whole light spectrum and determine the exact light signature – or color tone – of light that best represents their identity. Brands want different things from their interior lighting in order to convey different messages to their customers, whether intimacy, value for money or luxury. The light signature will still offer the perfect light for merchandise, meaning that whites are intense and bright whilst colors are vivid and rich.

Recent partnerships

In February 2014, Philips Lighting announced the establishment of a joint partnership with Ericsson to launch an innovative new connected LED street lighting model. The partnership solves two major issues that cities are facing today: providing citizens with improved network performance in dense urban areas as well as high-quality public lighting that is energy efficient.

Philips and Ericsson combine the benefits of mobile connectivity and LED lighting in a ‘lighting-as-a-service’ model for cities. It allows city authorities to offer space within their connected lighting poles to network service providers for mobile broadband infrastructure.

Philips will now offer cities LED street lighting that can include mobile telecoms equipment from Ericsson. Mobile operators working with Ericsson for mobile broadband infrastructure will be able to rent space in the poles. In this way, mobile network operators will be able to improve data coverage and capacity for citizens, resulting in enhanced mobile broadband services. The model also accelerates the payback time for city infrastructure, by making the up-front costs of installing and managing these systems more affordable, so reducing the strain on city budgets.

Philips LED street lighting can generate energy savings of 50 to 70 per cent, with savings reaching 80 per cent when coupled with smart controls – as validated by a study conducted by The Climate Group in 12 of the world’s largest cities.

Also in February, Philips announced a partnership with Desso – the global leader in carpets – to develop solutions that combine LED lighting with light transmissive carpet. This innovation will further unlock the potential of LED integration into surfaces and adds a new dimension to interior design and space planning.

The solution is designed for high traffic areas and comes in different colors, shapes and sizes – enabling highly flexible application of the new technology. Ed Huibers, the marketing and sales director at Philips Lighting, said at the time: “This light transmissive carpet solution is designed to engage directly with people’s senses and the eyes’ natural inclination to seek out light. The technology takes advantage of people’s tendency to be guided by the floor when moving through and interacting with space. It brings information, direction, inspiration and safety via the carpet you walk on. This partnership of market leaders is focused on bringing meaningful innovations to the market.”

Focus on sustainability

Philips Lighting has made the issue of sustainability a core part of its strategy. In the USA alone fluorescent lighting consumes around 200 terawatts-hours of electricity annually. If all of these lights were replaced with Philips Lighting’s 200 lm/W TLED’s, the USA would use around 100 terawattshours less energy, which is equivalent to the output of 50 medium-sized power plants. This would represent a saving of more than US$12 billion and prevent about 60 million metric tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

In order to meet the growing global demand for sustainability, the Technology Foundation STW and Philips have taken the initiative to form a new ‘sustainability’ partnership. With eight key research project proposals already approved, the programme was officially launched on 16 April 2013. The aim of these projects is to develop innovative, efficient lighting that will also be available for entirely new applications. This important five-year programme has had €3 million allocated to it and each party will contribute 50 per cent each to the research fund.

Global lighting continues to increase significantly worldwide, partly due to the shift to a 24-hour economy, and by the year 2050 global lighting consumption is expected to be almost three times higher than it is today. Therefore much more energy-efficient lighting needs to be developed. This adds to the vital research being carried out by the Advanced Sustainable Lighting Solutions partnership, which is working towards high-efficiency attractive and affordable lighting that is also developed in an environmentally responsible way. Such optimised lighting systems can contribute considerably to the solutions for social change in a variety of key areas such as food production, health and well-being. n

Turkey-based Aselsan can lay claim to being the market leader in defence electronics in the domestic market. In recent years it has been taking its hi-tech knowledge and electronics expertise to a similar level on the global market, as Industry Europe discovers.

DEFENCE ELECTRONICS GIANT

Aselsan is one of the leading enterprises in the Turkish electronics industry. This is a company that has a rich history of offering innovative solutions as a component level manufacturer, but now also provides its customers with total system solutions.

And in a bid to fully exploit its position to offer its markets innovative comprehensive systems solutions, it has been undertaking a number of modernisation and integration projects that require system engineering.

For example, in April this year (2014) Aselsan announced the opening of a new facility for the production of infrared detectors for thermal cameras. The company has been designing and producing thermal cameras for the past 20 years. In its new facility it will be producing the infrared detectors that are often known as the ‘eye’ of the thermal cameras.

Firm foundations in the military

Aselsan was founded in 1975 by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation to produce tactical military radios and self defence electronic systems for the Turkish army.

Today it is the leading multi-product electronics company in Turkey that has expanded its field of expertise to now include designing, developing and manufacturing modern electrical systems for professional customers alongside its traditional applications in the military.

Today, the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation continues to be the main shareholder in this exciting hi-tech company as it holds 84 per cent of the shares, with IMKB maintaining a 15 per cent stake in the business and the remaining one per cent being owned by the insurance company AXA-Oyak.

The company employs over 3000 people, with its team of highly skilled engineers making up a third of the workforce. In fact, such is the company’s focus on investing in knowledge and information – which it believes are two of the most vital components of achieving sustainable growth – that no less than 700 of its 1333 engineers are dedicated to working in research and development. Production structure

Aselsan operates two main production facilities in Ankara. Its main site is still located at the birthplace of the company in Macunkoy, which hosts the company’s headquarters alongside its Communications, Microwave and System Technologies Divisions.

The main facility has been the subject of expansion since the early days, with Aselsan now operating on a site measuring some 186,000m2 with 86,000m2 of the site covered.

Its third division, the Microelectronics, Guidance and Electro-optics division is located at the Electro-optics Technology Centre in Akyurt, which began production in 1992. In the same year the company also added radar systems to its portfolio of products and services.

Advanced electronic systems

Aselsan competes on a global sales platform with a range of advanced electronics systems. Its portfolio includes military communication systems – defence and weapon systems, radar systems, navigation and guidance products and command control systems – together with mobile radios for