Hong Kong Int'l Spring Lighting Fair Focuses on LED Lighting

Some 300 exhibitors from seven countri

The spring edition of the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair 2010, held April 13-16 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, attracted 300 exhibitors form nine countries, with light emitting diode (LED) lights being widely shown.

This year the focus was on LED lighting, due to its proven energy efficiency, durability, dimmability, versatile color and flexible design; while buyers showed increased interest in sourcing LEDs for indoor, outdoor and handheld lighting.

There was a dedicated zone—LED Lighting Zone—with others being the Holiday Lighting Zone that grouped companies with decorative products; Crystal Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, Lighting Accessories and Components and Table Lamps.

LED-lighting exhibitors occupied over half of the booths, displaying lighting for advertising, decorative, households, commercial and streetlight applications, as well as believing LED lights are becoming popularly priced with high-power chip prices being nearly halved.

Benjamin Chau, Deputy Executive Director of show organizer Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) set the tone at the opening: “Going green is definitely the direction for lighting products in the years ahead. The application scope of LED lighting has expanded from conventional outdoor landscape to include commercial-lighting and even residential-lighting purposes.”

The HK fair, only in its second year, was timed to coincide with the Light+Building of Frankfurt, touted as the world's No.1 lighting fair, and drew heavyweight buyers, including TRIP Corp. of Guatemala, Pro. Q.C. Systems of Germany, NEC Lighting, Ltd. of Japan, Mustafa Sultan Electronics Company LLC of Oman, Vivo Luce of Russia, Code 3 Inc. of the US.

Visit To Search LEDs

“This is my first time at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair. When I knew that there would be many exhibitors specializing in LED products I decided to pay a visit. I have found many interesting products; I've met two suppliers in particular and it is likely that I will place orders worth around US$500,000 before I leave. I've also taken the opportunity to catch up with some of my existing suppliers as well as looking for new ones,” commented Ricardo V. Toledo, TRIP's administrative manager.

A Good Outsourcing Venue

“You can find many different products and types of exhibitors from all over the world at this event, which is good for sourcing. And once you're here, it is very easy to locate the exhibitors you're interested in, either with the catalogue, the boards outside the halls or the online screens. This is my second visit here. My company specializes in testing and inspections, and I've already made some good contacts this time around,” said Julian Gideon Pfeifer, Sales & Marketing Executive of Pro. Q.C. Systems.

Seek Contract LEDs From China

“Several of our competitors have been more aggressive than us in having products manufactured in the Chinese mainland. Currently only 20% of our production comes from outside our own factory and we would like to increase this, especially for LED products. So I am visiting the fair for the first time in order to find OEM companies, because we knew that this event has many Chinese participants. I've already started talking to some potentially suitable manufacturers,” said Atsushi Ohtsuka, manager of Technical Department of NEC Lighting.

Source Alternative To Philips

“Mustafa Sultan is one of the largest organizations in Oman, involved in many different areas. The lighting group represents Philips – in fact, we are the oldest agent of Philips in the world, having represented it for 35 years. However, we are keen to source alternative suppliers for our lighting projects, which is why we are attending this fair for the first time,” noted Arif Abbas, General Manager of Mustafa Sultan Electronics.

Search New LED Suppliers

“The Russian president has implemented a new program for energy-saving lighting in the country, so I have come to this fair for the first time to search for new suppliers of LED technology. There are many LED products here and I have identified a few suppliers that we will inquiry further. I expect to do business as a result of the contacts I've made here,” touted Alexander Zvyagin, Manager of Vivo Luce.

Time to do More Global Sourcing

“Code 3 designs and manufactures lighting products for use in emergency-response vehicles. I've come here to look for suppliers for certain parts, such as scene lights and backup lights, because I feel it's about time to do more global sourcing. I've located a number of interesting companies, including those supplying other items such as flexible solar modules and LED displays. Another reason for coming to this Hong Kong fair is that the China market presents many growth opportunities for us,” stressed Dale B. Tompkins, President of Code 3 Inc.

Jack Liou, CEO of Euphoria Industrial Ltd., an exhibitor from Taiwan, found just the kind of buyers he was targeting. “We're here specifically looking for buyers who do not attend the Frankfurt fair, which shows they really want to buy lighting products in Asia and their needs are different from those going to the autumn edition of the Hong Kong fair,” he says. The autumn edition is said to have replaced the Frankfurt fair in exhibitor number.

Euphoria Industrial displayed high-power LED cabinet lights, LED track lights and LED ceiling lights. “All of these lights are all designed as spotlights,” Liou noted.

Euphoria works with foreign designers, who have developed lighting that are notable for well-concealed fasteners. Euphoria uses LED packages from Cree, which Liou prefers for its single-chip package dominates multi-chip packages.

Patented LED Items

Hung Hsuan Technology Co., Ltd. of Taiwan displayed patented LED lights, including desk lights, ceiling light systems and pendant lighting.

The desk lights have arms that turn 300 degrees vertically and horizontally, offering omni-adjustability, with the lamp using 5W LED lamp rated at 450 lumens and 20,000 hour life cycle.

Its ceiling track light has 10W or 20W lighting fixture, with the 10W light rated at 900 lumens and the 20W light rated at 1,800 lumens.

Its pendant light come in 17W and 20W types, with 17W type producing 1,600 lumens and 20W rated at 1,800 lumens.

Hung Hsuan's five years of experience in making cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFLs) backlights helps in making LED lights, which requires little high-end lighting technologies. Its other competitive edge is low-cost production, says managing director, Gary Lin, adding that “we combine China-made aluminum lighting fixtures with Taiwan-made LED packages and power components.”

Moreover, the company builds a common mold for track lights, ceiling lights and pendant lights. “But we differentiate each light by adding various functionalities,” Lin says, adding the LED lighting industry is very competitive and weeds out suppliers who are run-of-the-mill.

Wide Range

Hsin Rong Lamplit Equipment Inc., another Taiwanese exhibitor, displayed LED ceiling spotlights, track spotlights, downlights, high bay lights, landscape lights, wall wash lights, and street lighting.

This supplier has many advantages including patents on structural design and integrated manufacturing covering LED-packaging, thermal-dissipation, optic-lens, lighting-fixture and distribution capabilities.

Company president Warner Wang opened the company in 1984 to make traditional lighting fixtures and reportedly introduced Taiwan's first optical-fiber lighting system. He entered into LED lighting in 1999 by producing flash lights and added traffic lights to its line in 2001. Two years later, the company invested in LED packaging business specializing in multichip packages for use in its own lighting fixtures.

Despite relatively high production cost of LED lights, the company's products are highly reliable, according to Wang. “We keep defect rate to within one of 100 to 150 completed products,” he boasts.

Delivered with UL, CE and RoHS certifications, the company's lights can be sold to 26 nations. “We work with ISO- and UL-approved electronics manufacturers to develop new products,” Wang says.

Bullish about future of Taiwan's LED lighting industry, Wang says the island's strong capability in application development, sound development of supply chains, and the prospective cooperation between Taiwan's LED manufacturers and their Chinese counterparts to tap the vast mainland market.

LED Panel Light

Riyoung International Co., Ltd. tried to captivate buyers with its LED panel light, which it plans to launch sometime in the second quarter this year, according to vice president Kevin Wu.

Embedded with 80 LEDs, this panel light delivers soft light as an organic LED panel, with efficacy rated at 80 lumen-per-watt, measuring 300 mm by 300mm and 4mm thick but can be maximized to 600mm by 600mm by 8mm.

“The panel is notable for its color temperature that can be adjusted to 2,800K-6,00K range,” Wu says, adding the panel is rated at 18 watts and 80 lumen-per-watt.

Founded in 2006 to develop LED lighting, Riyoung offers a wide range of LED lights including PAR light bulbs, dimmable bulbs, T8 and T10 light tubes, string lights, Chandelier bulbs, and E40 retrofit streetlight.

The company also promoted its G70 LED light bulbs and T8 LED light tubes. The T8 tube is 80% more energy efficient than fluorescent tubes, with modest light decay within 3,000 hours of non-stop operation, and comes with SMD5060 LEDs and Cree package, as well as CE-, UL- and RoHS approved chipsets and phosphor.

CCFL and LED Lighting

ADO Optronics Corp., reportedly the top contract supplier of CCFL backlights, showed off CCFL lighting fixtures and LED luminaires.

Its 13W CCFL light tube is rated for over 30,000 hours and more luminosity than 42W fluorescent tubes.

This supplier has 8W, 12W, 18W and 21W CCFL spiral bulbs rated 80% more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and yet last 16 times as long, as well as being instant-on without flickering.

VIRIBRIGHT LED Bulbs

Matrix Lighting Ltd. of Hong Kong displayed its patented VIRIBRIGHT LED bulbs, which the company claims are the world's only LED lamp compliant with the U.S. Energy Star for LED lighting, a standard to be effective in August 2010.

The company says the Viribright bulbs are rated at 5W and 11W, 50 lumen-per-watt, dimmable and deliver neutral white light at CRI higher than 80, with chips supplied by big names and phosphor made by brand-name supplier Intematix of the United States.

The bulbs are exterior-design patented, safety certified to UL, CSA and AS, and delivered with a two-year warranty.

The Hong Kong-listed company initially sold gifts, then acquired a toy company, says sales representative Flora Yuen, adding: “Toy manufacturing included mechanized production that we have applied to LED-lighting manufacturing, enabling us to sell lights at only half the price of our rivals'.”

Comparing unique strengths among the LED lighting industry in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, Yuen says that Hong Kong makers are adept at marketing and product development while Taiwan excels in LED chip technology, with China's edge in mass production, adding that her company has 100 to 150 R&D specialists working on LED lighting projects.

LED Indoor Lights

Showing the popular belief in Singapore that LED streetlights are less efficient than high intensity discharge (HID) counterparts, Ginkgo Group Pte. Ltd. exhibited only LED indoor lights, including chandeliers, down lights, MR16 lights, ceiling lights, PAR30 and PAR38 lights, and T8 light tubes.

“Singaporeans think HID lamps are more efficient than LED lamps in terms of lumen-watt performance and durability. To tap energy-efficiency, LED streetlights should be developed for less busy country roads for LED lamps can be turned instantly on and off only as traffic demands. But the reality is that many countries as China install LED lights on busy roads, which should be lit by HID lights,” says company director Zhou Fang.

Singapore Ginkgo, Fang stresses, develops lighting fixtures integrated with light bulbs, making them suitable for retrofit market. “Overheating of LEDs is an issue mostly because of incompatibility between junction design and light source. So, we develop off-the-shelf lighting fixtures with bulbs installed to avoid such problem,” he says.

The company's chandelier is an example of integrated design, with the lighting fixture using Cree MC-E multi-chip package to allow adjustable intensity and light color with a remote controller or a wall-mounted controller.

LED chandeliers are still rare for most makers prefer incandescent bulbs, because incandescent bulbs' sunlight-like CRI of 100 can best tap the crystal glitter. But Ginkgo's LED chandeliers have CRI of 85 or 90, which is acceptable, he says.

Indoor LED Lights

Century Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. of mainland China displayed indoor LED lights as recessed downlights, ceiling lights, sunken lights, track lights, spotlights, pendant lights, and light bulbs, as well as LED outdoor lights, including streetlights and wall wash lights.

The general manager, March Fong, says the company uses high-power LED chips from Epistar Inc. of Taiwan, currently the leading supplier of blue chips, and LED packages supplied by a Taiwanese packager. “Our lights emphasize multichip packages, with the maximum load number being 120 chips per package,” Fong boasted.

The pure aluminum structure keeps surface temperature of the fixture within 65C, according to Fong. Using effective thermal-dissipation and chip-packaging solutions allow the company to make outdoor lights rated at maximum 180W and indoor light at maximum 60W.

6 Years in the Making

Century Optoelectronics began developing LED lights around five to six years ago and started selling the products around a year ago. Fong said the company shipped around US$294,117 worth of products a month last year, on average, with over 80% going to Europe, making CE approval critical.

Having to meet stringent standards forces the company to adopt inspection systems including goniophotometer, temperature gauges, and photometric, colorimetric and electric testers. According to Fong, most major makers in China have invested heavily in inspection equipment to meet international standards.

Patented PLEXEON LED Strip

Guangzhou Quanyou Lighting Co., Ltd. displayed patented PLEXEON LED strip lights designed to replace neon lights. Company founder Bobby Lee says the company builds light strips with LED packages encasing Taiwan-made chips inside plastic PVC tubes.

The firm's light structure is patented, says lee, referring to the interlock design that allows each tube section to link together to make long strips. He adds that the maximum length of a mono-color light string is 200 meters, and the company ships 30,000 meters of light strings equipped with driver and color-control software, with IP rating of the PVC tube being 67 and interconnector rated at 44.

Lee says few LED light string makers are truly skilled. “Good strings have consistent color and smooth color shifts,” he says. Labeled with CE and RoHS certificates, 60% of the company's shipments go to Europe.

Highlighting LED light strings' advantages over neon lights, Lee says, “Neon glass tubes break easily, not LED PVC tubes. A typical one-meter neon tube burns 50W while a comparable LED light string is rated only 5W. An LED light string is multicolored whereas a neon tube is monochromatic. A LED strip lasts much longer than 5,000 hours of a neon light tube.”

High-power LED Lights

Muller-Light GmbH of Germany exhibited high-power LED lights, including GU10 lamps, PAR20 lamps, PAR38 lamps, and decorative lights, as well as energy-saving lamps.

The quality manager, Roland Haupt, says the company is promoting LED and energy-saving lamps “because all incandescent lamps will be replaced by efficient light source as energy-saving lamps and LED lamps.”

“Promoting products in Hong Kong,” Haupt says, “shows we believe the Asian market is as important as the European market because Asia has 10 times as many people, and we manufacture in Asia and it is logical we should find customers here. Above all, we manufacture under German controls and management, so our products are quality but less expensive.”

Haupt reconfirmed the advantage of having a brand name: it doesn't matter where the company manufactures for it is brand-name supplier. “Brand name means quality, efficiency and trustworthiness regardless of location.” The 25-year-old Muller-Licht is a leading lighting brand in Germany.

Muller Light offers attractively-priced lighting by relying on mechanized production that lowers cost. “End users now are budget conscious, engaging in comparison shopping to get the best light for the dollar. And Asian consumers are even more price sensitive than European consumers,” Haupt says.

Haupt said the company has received increasing enquires from Asia after attending the Autumn edition of the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair of 2009.

Cautious Buyers

Also showing the wariness of some lighting buyers despite reports of recovery among major economies, Bas de Rijk, general manager of the Dutch trading company Carvision, says, “the prevailing trend in Europe is conservativeness towards the economy.”

Further revealing truths based on personal experience, Rijk says the economy is improving this year but not as robust as earlier. “News reports try to convince people the downturn is over, but my talks with customers and some colleagues say otherwise.” The GM also says his company is now far more carful about inventory because it had a tough time clearing stock during the recession. “Also many firms have gone under, which weaken demand. So we will buy less this year than in past years.”