Moving from Lamps & Fixtures to Solutions

Is GE taking a page from Philips?

GE Lighting’s recent announcement that it will be combining its Lumination division with its commercial and industrial fixture group, GE Lighting Systems is reminiscient of when Philips acquired Genlyte-Thomas and then began integrating its LED technology more heavily into the fixtures.

With LEDs being the future of lighting (and yes, the technology will get better and less expensive), it appears that Philips, and now GE, want to control “the hole in the ceiling”. The recognize that the lamp replacement business, over time, will slowly decline (and it will be a slow decline) and they see the benefit of system selling.

This then makes one wonder about Sylvania and Acuity (Lithonia’s) long-term strategy. And what about Hubbell Lighting and Juno Lighting? Do these companies focus on the non-LED business? Do they go it alone? Will one of the lighting companies (or one of the many other ones) end up more tightly aligned with Sylvania. TCP does offer some fixtures, but isn’t a major player in this market (like they are in the CFL market.)

And as a distributor, this may require tighter manufacturer alignment to “get the right service / price” for projects. With GE essentially creating a LED fixture group, will they eventually integrate GE Lighting into the package (might make sense to better compete against Philips)?

With GE making changes with its gear group, and now lighting, perhaps they are getting more serious about keeping both divisions and growing the business (and we have heard that the gear group is getting more aggressive in “upgrading and expanding” their distribution network.)

As a distributor, what do you think about this move?