Industry News

LED Engin, Inc., high lumen density LED products, announced three key appointments to support the company's continuing rapid growth. The company has named Geoff Brown as VP of Sales; Jack S. Yeh as Vice President of Sales, China and Taiwan and Seth Halio as Chief Financial Officer.

Shipments of LCD TVs are now expected to grow at a slower pace in 2012 than 2011, according to the latest Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report issued by NPD DisplaySearch. In addition, the overall TV market is expected to decline this year, even as segments such as emerging markets, large screen sizes, LED backlights, and 3D continue to grow.

Juki Automation Systems, a provider of automated assembly products and systems and part of Juki Corporation, revealed that PRUF LED selected its JX-100LED and PMAX II to assist with the manufacture of a broad spectrum of LED lighting panels, including the only 4x2' panels produced in the United States. Both systems were installed at PRUF LED’s new cutting-edge, fully automated SMT production facility in Robinson, Texas.

Fabrico, the leader in design and manufacturing services for flexible materials and advanced assembly solutions, is hosting a discussion on flame barriers and LED luminaire design on its www.fabricoforum.com site.

BTU International, Inc., a supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment for the alternative energy and electronics manufacturing markets, revealed that PRUF LED has installed a PYRAMAX™ 125A at its new cutting-edge, fully automated SMT production facility in Robinson, Texas. The addition of the 125A will assist with the manufacture of a broad spectrum of LED lighting panels, including the only 4-foot panels produced in the United States.

Officials in the Beibei district of Chongqing, China recently completed the installation of more than 20,000 street lights featuring 1.9 million Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) XLamp® XP-E and XP-G LEDs. The country’s largest municipal intelligent lighting control project began in July 2011 and includes nearly 16 miles of highway, with Cree LED-based luminaires installed along 119 streets and one tunnel.

Yole Développement announces its report dedicated to the LED manufacturing technology & equipment market, including  MOCVD,  lithography, dry  etching, PECVD and PVD tools: “LED Front‐End Manufacturing”. LED market presents significant opportunities for growth in the next 5 years but is expected to saturate in value by the end of the decade. Driven by MOCVD reactors, the equipment market  experienced an unprecedented investment cycle in 2010‐2011.

After three days, the LOPE-C (Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention) closed its doors on 21 June 2012 with a huge increase in attendance. Over 1,560 visitors from all over the world attended the 4th exhibition and conference for organic and printed electronics, which was held in Munich for the first time.

PRUF LED has flipped the switch on the most cutting-edge, fully automated SMT production facility to manufacture a broad spectrum of LED lighting panels, including the only 4-foot panels produced in the United States, proving once again why the company is a leader in the LED (light emitting diode) lighting industry.

OLEDs have broken through in the past 18 months, and there are now clear signs that OLEDs will finally live up to their long-promised potential. In this new environment, the requirements for OLED materials will also continue to grow, and the next few years will present plenty of opportunities for OLED materials suppliers to break out of their niche, specialty status.

The widespread adoption of retrofit LED lamps will create global energy savings worth $100 billion over the next five years, according to a recent report from IMS Research, a leading provider of market research and consultancy to the global electronics industry recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).

After June 1, 2012 LED Lighting Facts will only accept test reports from Testing Laboratory Partners on the Approved Testing Laboratories list. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), LED Lighting Facts is a voluntary pledge program to assure that LED lighting products are represented accurately in the market.

Premier Farnell’s European (Farnell element 14) and APAC (element14) businesses have been awarded Distributor of the Year Europe & Asia by their top LED Indicator supplier CML-IT. For over 20 years Farnell element 14 has stocked a wide range of LED based products from CML-IT which are predominantly made in its UK based facilities.

Situated close to the Arctic Circle in Sweden, the Åre ski resort was named one of the "world's top ski resorts" by the British travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller.

Baleno, a high-end LED lighting manufacturer with a broad portfolio of LED solutions, has selected Stanyl® TC from DSM for their complete range of exclusively styled LED retrofit lamps.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announces new technology centers in China, further expanding Cree TEMPO (Thermal, Electrical, Mechanical, Photometric, Optical) Services in these key markets. The groundbreaking technology centers support demand for Cree products and services throughout China and demonstrate Cree’s commitment to accelerate broader market adoption of LED lighting.

Harvard Engineering, designer, developer and manufacturer of LED drivers and control products for the lighting industry, has been selected as a UK National Finalist for the 2012/13 European Business Awards and will now compete for National Champion status in the next round of the competition.

In this new position, Dr. Ploessl will work with Indium’s global team of engineering, sales, operations, and research and development professionals to capitalize on the growth of LEDs, metal organic precursors, power storage systems, fiber optics, and the next generation OLED displays. He will develop Indium Corporation’s marketing strategies, while bringing insights learned from their technical team to further product development efforts.

DEK, provider of screen printing equipment and processes for a diverse set of industries, has signed an agreement with LED specialist Marl International Ltd for DEK’s best-in-class Horizon 03iX print platform.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of a new series of standards for component level testing of high-brightness/power LEDs. Development within JEDEC’s JC-15 Committee involved LED industry leaders, and resulted in the new JESD51-5x series of standards aimed at thermal characterization of power LED components.

Lumenpulse Inc., an innovator and manufacturer of high performance, architectural LED-based lighting solutions for commercial, institutional, and urban environments, has received U.S. Patent 8,179,058, issued May 15, 2012. The patent, the first of seven pending for the company’s Lumentalk™ technology, provides a method of intuitively reading a traditional analog TRIAC dimmer in a digital fashion, which enables digital control of LED lighting over existing AC power lines, to maximize cost and energy savings.

Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) has announced its bolt-on acquisition of Lightscape Materials, Inc., a spin-off of  SRI International.  Lightscape Materials is a private, US-based research company with intellectual property in specialty phosphor technology.

Demand from LCD backlights will continue to dominate LED demand until 2013, when it will reach its peak, according to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly LED Supply/Demand Market Forecast Report.

Low-cost direct LED-backlit LCD TVs were introduced to the market last March. Samsung Electronics launched its first direct LED-backlit TVs, the EH series, in the US, and LG Electronics will follow soon with its LS3400 series. Both companies are targeting the entry/mainstream segment of the LCD TV market, which has been dominated by CCFL-backlit TVs.