TLFEA Helps Create New Global Vision for Taiwan's Lighting Industry

Michael Ng: “New-generation lighting sources will become dominant”

During its annual general meeting in April this year, the Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA) announced that it had won the right to host the annual meeting of the Global Lighting Forum (GLF) next year.

　　

The GLF, established five years ago as a global institution dedicated to promoting the worldwide application of new-generation energy-saving lighting sources, holds meetings annually to discuss issues concerning trends in the global lighting industry.

　　

The GLF represents more than 5,000 lighting manufacturers with total annual sales of US$50 billion. Its key members include Abilux (of Brazil), the China Association of Lighting Industry, Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers Association (India), European Lamp Companies Federation, Japan Electric Lamp Manufacturers Association, Japan Luminaires Association, Lighting Council Australia; National Electrical Manufacturers Association (USA), and CELMA (a European federation representing 19 national manufacturers' associations), in addition to Taiwan's TLFEA.

　　

When the GLF held its 4th annual meeting in Shengzhen, China last year, it set up an LED working group to deal with LED safety standards issues.

“In fact, LED is only one category of new-generation lighting sources,” commented Michael Ng, Executive of the TLFEA's International Affairs Committee. “Induction lamps and cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) are other major categories which have gained increasing popularity in worldwide applications. Each category has its own advantages and fits in its own special fields of application.”

Ng feels that the GLF plays a crucial role in providing an international platform where representatives of lighting industries from around the world can gather to discuss and propose safety standards for new-generation lighting products.

　　

Compared to traditional products, Ng noted, “New-generation lighting sources are distinguished by their energy-saving features, and they will sooner or later replace traditional sources to become the dominant lighting sources.” Addressing consumers who are holding to a wait-and-see attitude toward new-generation lighting sources mainly because of safety concerns, Ng said that the TLFEA would try its best to support the GLF in working out international lighting product safety standards at an accelerated pace so as to lay a solid foundation for the development of green lighting sources.

　　

Global Lighting Forum 2012 will be held in conjunction with the 2012 Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS) in Taipei next year. As part of its preparatory work for this event, the TLFEA will convene meetings of members together with experts and scholars from related fields to discuss and reach a domestic consensus on agenda topics for GLF 2012. “That's how to consolidate the strength of Taiwan's lighting industry and facilitate discussions at the international forum,” said Ng.

Taiwan's Global Status
According to Ng, Taiwan occupies a key position in the global new-generation lighting industry, following only the US and Japan in terms of industrial technology. Taiwan's lighting companies are also dynamic in developing global sales, making them a major force for growth in the international green lighting market.

Taiwan has earned global recognition for its efforts in this respect, a major reason why the TLFEA was able to win the right to hold GLF 2012 in Taipei.

　　

Ng reported that the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) set up a branch office in Taiwan, called CIE-Taiwan, in March last year and organized a seminar entitled “2010 CIE Lecture on Color Science and Photometry for LED Lighting ” in Taiwan in October the same year. This was another significant move in linking Taiwan's lighting industry more closely with its international counterparts.

CIE was established in 1913, with a strong technical, academic, and cultural base, to set up standards for illumination and other electrical products. CIE standards have been widely applied by the International Standard Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

CIE-Taiwan was established under the direction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and its membership is comprised mainly of related industrial associations and research institutions. Its chairman is Chu Hin-sheng, vice president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and TLFEA Chairman David Chang is one of its vice presidents. “CIE-Taiwan is the official channel for communication between Taiwan and the CIE,” commented Ng, “and the TLFEA will work closely with CIE-Taiwan to exert Taiwan's influence on the international organization.”

　　

In the past, Ng observed, the TLFEA was mainly a place for socializing among members, but it is now playing an increasingly active and important role in the upgrading of Taiwan's lighting industry and the global trend toward a green life.

The TLFEA will take the initiative in consolidating domestic resources to boost the development of Taiwan's lighting industry on one hand, and will play an active role in international activities to enhance the island's global status on the other.

“In the past,” Ng pointed out, “the TLFEA was only a [passive] participant in international activities, but now we will play a role in the arrangement of international events.” Besides GLF and CIE matters, according to Ng, the TLFEA will also organize activities to foster relations between the lighting industries of Taiwan and other countries.

　　

“The years to come will be a critical time for us to promote the application of green lighting throughout the world,” Ng stated. “While the US, Japan, and European countries will encourage the replacement of old lighting facilities with new-generation products, new construction projects in the emerging countries will directly adopt green illumination products as an energy-saving solution.” Because of this factor, he considers emerging areas like Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa to be priority targets in the TLFEA's efforts to forge closer interactive relationships.

Second-generation Entrepreneur
]Ng is a typical successful second-generation entrepreneur, whose father set up a trading company in 1974, initially focusing on the export of hardware and industrial parts. The trading business has expanded to include auto parts, wind-power generators, electric vehicle parts, and illumination products; and the company, as the AMKO AOLARA Group, now run production lines of its own.

　　

Thanks to his involvement in international trade, Ng's father was very aware of the importance of foreign language capability. He sent Ng to an American school in Taiwan, where he completed his junior and senior high school education before flying to the U.S. to pursue bachelor's and master's degrees. He is an alumnus of the EMBA program at Harvard University.

With his impressive educational background, Ng went to work for Morgan Stanley, engaging in modern financial management and investment. At that time he earned a high salary and enjoyed an affluent lifestyle in the US. In 2003, however, he came back to Taiwan to develop his career in the family business, starting out at the bottom. The AMKO SALARA Group had not yet entered the illumination field; Ng helped set up the AMKO SOLARA Lighting Co. in 2005, and has since focused on lighting.

Under Ng's leadership, AMKO SOLARA Lighting soon made remarkable advances. With energy-efficient induction lighting devices as its core products, together with Ng's modern business management and marketing skills, the company has built up a client list that contains some of the world's top 100 enterprises. The list includes GM, Jaguar, VW, Land Rover, Ferrari, Bose, Coca Cola, Kellog's, Kimberly-Cark, and many more, all of which have adopted AMKO's energy-saving lighting solutions under their corporate green policies.

Ng's success impressed both the lighting industry and the TLFEA, where he was appointed deputy executive of the International Affair Committee in 2007 and named the committee's head in 2010.

Despite his young age, Ng has a broad global vision and keeps a close eye on developments in the international lighting market. In his eyes, new-generation lighting is in its initial stage of development and has great potential to grow in the years to come. Along with other green industries, lighting will play a key role in “green cities” and help bring on a new lifestyle for the 21st century.