Manufacturer News: 1.14.2010

GE Rearranges Lighting & Appliance Units

GE Consumer & Industrial is no more. A new division is being created by General Electric to include:

• Appliances
• Lighting
• Electrical switches
• Sensors
• Factory automation

From a Jan. 4 Bloomberg.com report: “The product lines were previously part of the GE Consumer & Industrial segment, which [CEO Jeffrey] Immelt considered spinning off or selling in 2008. He said last month he would keep those lines because GE can grow them as part of so-called smart electricity products.”

According to the report, GE Energy will get the industrial products from the C&I unit, “including switches and voltage controls.” The head of the new division will not be Jim Campbell (who ran C&I), but 43-year-old Charlene Begley.

57 CES News Releases

HomeToys.com offers a platform for product releases flowing from the Consumer Electronics Show. At our last visit, there were 57.

Gunman at ABB St Louis

A former supervisor, armed to the teeth, returned to an ABB factory in St. Louis and shot three people dead last week, also shooting five who were hospitalized. The shooter also shot himself to death.

According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he got off more than 100 shots. The newspaper claimed that ABB, which held a meeting with employees on Jan. 8, plans to erase all visual evidence of the tragedy, check equipment for safety, and go back to work. Here’s the newspaper’s lengthy original report about the shootings.

Looking for a motive, The New York Times on Jan. 8 offered this:

A motive for the killings was not yet clear. A neighbor of Mr. Hendron said that at one point he was a supervisor at the plant, which assembles electrical transformers. At the time of the shooting, he was engaged in a public dispute with ABB Power, as one of four named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against the company over the company’s pension fund.

According to the complaint, filed in 2006, ABB’s pension fund managers assessed fees that were “unreasonable and excessive,” and without plaintiffs’ knowledge. The plaintiffs had sought to recover financial losses, and the trial had just begun this week in federal court in Kansas City, Mo.

Milestones

Corning Cable Systems—this unit of Corning will supply product and design assistance to Case Western Reserve U. and others in an effort “to test the power of super-high-speed Internet access to change people’s lives in inner-city neighborhoods.”

Dow Wire & Cable—this unit of Dow Chemical now has a “Dow Inside” program that it offers to power cable manufacturers and utilities.

Echelon & Green Energy Options—are collaborating “to develop energy displays for Echelon’s Networked Energy Service system, an advanced metering infrastructure solution.”

Emerson/SolaHD—won the 2010 readers’ choice award for power suppliers, as bestowed by Control magazine.

Gamewell-FCI—now offers a flexible financing program, “designed to make the expense of life safety system upgrades or build-outs more manageable and affordable.”

Generac—has filed for an initial public offering of common stock to the public (the stock to be traded on the NYSE). TedMag’s checks show that the initial filing came on Oct. 20, but that no stock has been sold as yet. The “red herring” (S-1 statement) on the Generac IPO, updated on Dec. 17, was downloaded by TedMag—at 672 pages. See this somewhat related Plant Engineeringarticle.

Harger Lightning & Grounding—is providing lightning protection system training to NECA-IBEW (via the NJATC) and is donating materials “necessary to install a lightning protection system to the [local JATC] of attending participants who meet the minimum qualification requirements.”

Hunt Dimming—celebrates its 50^th year of existence this year.

Nora Lighting—recently was recognized for a “very generous” donation to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles.

Paresources—now in its 15^th year of business, according to an article, as “a premier supplier of electrical substation packages.”

Power Distribution—won the 2009 Best of Business Award from the Small Business Commerce Association “in the transformers and power solution for data center and alternative energy applications category.”

Power Partners—a plant in Athens, Ga., “that makes electrical transformers and solar water heating systems,” according to OnlineAthens.com, “is one of 29 Georgia manufacturing companies that will receive $1.4 million in [stimulus funds].” The money will enable the plant to become a Certified Work Ready facility.

Shermco Industries—received a bronze Training Partner Award from the NJATC (the national NECA-IBEW training org).

Silent Knight—recently teamed with a local company to provide fire alarm, System Sensor detection devices, and a complete system installation to the Riverside Pet Center (Mankato, Minn.).

Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures—now offers a 10-year product warranty.

Waukesha Electric Systems—this unit of SPX Corp. now has $10.7 million of DOE funding “to develop and manufacturer a new superconducting transformer.”

Lighting Roundup

Cyberlux Corp.—did N.I.R. Group, an investor in Cyberlux (which is in the LED biz), abide by the terms of the agreement it made to invest in the company? There was litigation on this matter. A release from Cyberlux says the fight is now over. According to the Triangle Business Journal (Jan. 7), “Cyberlux accused N.I.R. of converting shares that gave it more than the 5% beneficial ownership limit to which the two parties agreed and that N.I.R. shorted Cyberlux stock, also in violation of that agreement.” Details of the settlement were not made available; however, the N.I.R. chairman was quoted in the Cyberlux release: “We are encouraged by the progress that…the Cyberlux team have made and we support their efforts to develop Cyberlux’s business.”

            Separately: Cyberlux shipped 10 Portable Shelter Lighting Systems “for an exclusive Department of Defense order for a multinational OEM customer.” The unit replaces existing fluorescent lighting “used in all free-standing field shelters, ranging from personnel tents to command-and-control complexes.”

            Also: Cyberlux signed (with Spectrum Brands) to deliver six products for the Rayovac brand.

GE & Power Paper—GE Global Research and Power Paper (which is part of the Infinity Group’s portfolio) agreed to “jointly develop self-powered OLED lighting devices.” The O in OLED stands for organic.

Lagotek, lighting control & motorized window coverings—HomeToys.com interviewed Ron Risdon of Lagotek Corp. on lighting control—see it here.

Lumenergi & WattStopper—WattStopper (a unit of Legrand) is now collaborating with Lumenergi to unite technologies the two provide, to “eliminate compatability issues and simplify design, specification, and installation processes.”

            Somewhat related: See the Nov. 10 TedMag Special Report, which included coverage of a Lumenergi presentation on lighting & The Smart Grid.

Lumiversal & Tech Sensor—two new companies founded by Brian Brager and Michael Whittingham, according to the San Jose Business Journal (Nov. 6). Lumiveral “will seek out every commercial building in the U.S. using…T12 and T8 fluorescent lighting and switch them to T5 lighting.” Every building? That’s what it says. Tech Sensor, a development entity, will develop sensor technology—and plans are for it to hire 50 employees in the next year. The founders have invested $2 million in the companies and have housed them in 15,000 square feet in downtown San Jose.

Orion Energy Systems—obtained two design patents for exterior lighting technology (streetlight and parking lot fixtures). The company now owns 25 patents.

            Separately: The company agreed to amend its credit agreement. This deal “eliminated a provision permitting [OES] to request an increase in the line of credit” and got the bank “to waive its rights to declare [OES] in default under the Credit Agreement” as a result of events that happened in the period ending Sept. 30, 2009.

QD Vision—raised $10 million in financing (from North Bridge Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners, and In-Q-Tel) to “support the expansion of the first QD Vision Quantum Light products into the global solid-state lighting market and continued advancements on a new generation of quantum-dot LEDs.”

Schreder Lighting—planned to open a new manufacturing facility on Jan. 4 in Addison, Ill. (near Chicago).

Westinghouse Lighting—relocated its California distribution center from Santa Fe Springs (near Los Angeles) to Chino, Calif., according to Home Center News. The new 137,523-square-foot building will cut leasing expenses by 41% in the first year.