Philips set to acquire Indal



Looks like street lighting is set to get even less diverse, with the two biggest players in the market becoming one.

It could go the same way as GEC did - bust, but on the other hand some designs could be consigned to the history books.

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

GEC didn't go bust.

By the 1980s GEC had become a major manufacturing company based in the UK. They made everything from power station generators, to trains, to washing machines (Hotpoint), there was a large part of the company dedicated to defence electronics and of course the lighting business. However towards the end of the 1980s GEC decided to concentrate on the defence sector.

Hotpoint was merged into a division of GEC called General Domestic Appliances, this division was eventually bought by Indesit in 2001.

The railway and power generation business was merged with that of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) to form a  joint venture, GEC-ALSTHOM in 1989.

The defence sector became GEC Marconi and merged with British Aerospace in 1999. Further reorganisation within British Aerospace created BAE Systems at a later date.

The communications element of GEC retained the Marconi name after the sale to British Aerospace, but after further expansion, the burst of the dot com bubble and the failure of Marconi to win any of the BT 21st century Network business (VOIP) it generated huge losses. It was eventually bought by Ericsson in 2005.

The lighting business was sold to Osram, who then sold it to Siemens, and then WRTL bought it. WRTL later became part of Indal.

The trouble with the GEC lighting business was the mass duplication in the lantern range with many models doing "the same thing". The huge range would have made production unprofitable.

GEC were innovators in lighting but not that good when it came to production. Anyway, the money and profit is in innovation not production. GEC never really grasped this.

As for Philips buying Indal.....

The WEEE regulations are seeing a change back to aluminium lanterns as these can easily be recycled. Fibreglass and GRP can be recycled but not into new fibre glass.

CFL lanterns are becoming more popular yet the Residium is an old design with a fibreglass body. The Libra is more modern and aluminium and is taking a huge market share for this lantern type. Philips can't failed to have notice this.

The Iridium although popular is again fibreglass and frankly bulky. The mini Iridium and the aluminium canopy version have not sold well. The Arc on the other hand is a fairly popular lantern, smaller, aluminium canopied and very versatile in terms of lamp type.

LED lanterns - the Stela seems to be gaining in popularity where as the LED Iridium hasn't caught on and the Speedstar is just getting established.

If the sale goes ahead, I would expect Philips to discontinue the Residium in favour of the Libra. The Arc would kill of the SGS201/203/Modena/Selenium etc leaving them with a GRP lantern - Iridium and a metal lantern - the Arc.

Where does this leave Urbis? No wonder they are keen to get on the South Coast PFI by trialling LED lanterns.

And as for Thorn and DW Windsor will they be able to survive?

I was thinking this too. Perhaps the FGS103/4/5 range should go as well; SOX can be provided by the Libra (I'm sure Philips can modify it) and SRS201 range. I think the Selenium could be worthy of staying; it is very popular in the City of London and Kent. Instead, I think it is time the Koffer went...or at least only be available abroad where it is more popular.

If Philips wanted to offer a really inexpensive solution then they should consider keeping on the MRL 6. Then again, while it is aesthetically pleasing it has far less options than the SGS203.

As for post-top lanterns, Indal WRTL currently has a superior range. Indal WRTL also has the 2601 which acts as top-entry solution.

Actually yes, I could see that working... Philips drops some of it's less favorable designs and those which are now outdated in favour of WRTL's more popular designs (the fact an Arc has replaced an electronic ballasted QSM outside my house is a notch in favour of the Arc's reliability) - whilst at the same time some of WRTL's designs get redone and possibly some dropped. The 2600 could be dropped in favour of the Delta, and the 2601 be changed to use an aluminium canopy.

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I suspect the aluminium Delta was designed to eventually replace the GRP 2600...

The Delta can take a multitude of lamp types which could be an advantage or if the merger goes ahead, a lantern that overlaps other ranges and ends up being dropped. CFL is already covered by the Libra, and SON/MH by the Iridium/Arc. I suspect the light distribution from the Iridium/Arc when running SON/MH is probably superior compared to the Delta given the shape of its optic.

The Delta can do SOX but given this is a declining market in the UK, there is little benefit in keeping it just for that light source. I would thought the Vectra would also be a casualty of any merger.

Philips have always been somewhat conservative with lantern design, WRTL/Indal lanterns have a bit more flair to the their design. Lighting engineers seem to be favouring the more unusual designed lanterns and this may be another reason for Philips bid.

Philips strong point seems to be in the technology of lighting rather than the design of the luminaries.

Agree with what both of you have said. Further to the merger going ahead, I wonder what will happen to the Indal WRTL website? Philips may choose to simply bring the 'chosen' products over to their existing transnational site even though the Indal WRTL website is well designed and user-friendly.

Further to what we've been discussing about the lanterns, I reckon the WRTL Airtrace will stay - I've seen them used on the A1 and they look very sleek. As for the unsuccessful Aluroad, that can be axed. What about the Trafficvision? It has been on the market for just under 20 years and perhaps it is time for it to go now that we have more advanced SON/MH lanterns.

Ah yes the TrafficVision another "duplicate" in the Philips range and as you say quite possibly another one for the chop if the merger goes ahead and made obsolete by the Iridium anyway.

The Airtrace is one of those "modern styled" WRTL lanterns and I hope it stays.

As for the web page, it depends what happens to the Indal name if the merger goes ahead. If it survives I expect the web page will as well. If/when Philips remove/rebadge Indal, then the webpage would go as well.

I imagine if any lanterns were to go it would be the following : SRL8, MRL6, Vectra or TrafficVision, 2600 and probably some of the less popular post top range.

I imagine both the Iridium and Arc would be kept for the time being as they both remain reasonably popular however I imagine in years to come as LED technology advances the Arc will be lost as the Iridium has already been modified to accommodate LED.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see the 2tone go (correct me if I am wrong) but I haven't seen it used any where up here and I haven't heard of it been used in mass numbers anywhere.

The only mass user of WRTL up here was Newcastle & North Tyneside PFI but in recent lighting works, black Sapphires have been used and all high masts were CU Phosco.

The councils round here use the following manufacturers
Durham County Council - Urbis- ZX2 & ZX3 (since replacement scheme)
Gateshead - Urbis Sapphire (since replacement scheme)
South Tyneside - Phillips- Iridium (since PFI began)
North Tyneside/Newcastle - Urbis/ Wrtl- Sapphire/Arc/Libra
Northumberland- WRTL / Urbis. The Arc is used for casual replacements of SON/SOX on mainroads, Delta used on side roads. Sapphire used for mass replacements. Urbis is also the chosen manufacturer for decorative lighting.
Cumbria - Urbis- Opalo & Sapphire.
Sunderland- Phillips- Iridium

As for other lighting manufacturers thorn has not been used in Newcastle/North Tyneside/Durham/Sunderland/Northumberland/Gateshead/South Tyneside since the Alpha 8 was discontinued. However road lighting is only a small part of what Thorn offer as they provide lighting for a whole range of Industrial/Commercial applications.

As for DW Windsor they have had their lanterns installed in Shotley Hospital when the car park was extended but apart from that I have not seen their lanterns used any where else.

Urbis designs are very popular up here; mainly the ZX range and Sapphire. Also decorative designs such as Albany etc. Urbis is also part of the Schreder Group whose designs are very popular on the continent. Thorn never really took hold on the continent apart from in British Forces areas.

Scott, thanks for consolidating the lantern choices for PFI schemes in the north-east of England; I've updated this post accordingly.



Good point! I've never seen one either and I can imagine it would stand out on a spreadsheet as having low sales.