TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Letters: LED business
I refer to an interview with Ren van Schooten, CEO Business Group Lamps of Philips, on the light-emitting diode (LED) lamp business, (the Post, May 3)
Change Size
I
refer to an interview with Ren van Schooten, CEO Business Group Lamps of Philips, on the light-emitting diode (LED) lamp business, (the Post, May 3).
I have lived in the region since 20 years and have spent 6 years in Jakarta. I am currently based in Penang, Malaysia, Asia's center of competence in the light-emitting diode (LED) industry.
Selling LED in Indonesia is not an easy task. Most buyers are ultra price sensitive and many companies will try to make shortcuts by purchasing inferior Chinese LED lamps.
These lamps are currently flooding the market in Indonesia. They are not reliable. They will not last as long as the suppliers claim on the box and the color and intensity degrades quickly.
Buying cheap LED products is never good value as they need to be replaced after a short while, which will result in massive losses. We have had several hotels in Malaysia that burnt their fingers badly when they realized that they had to replace all their newly installed LED lamps 5 months after delivery.
This is the biggest risk in Indonesia. The risk that LED gets a bad reputation as a result of all these inferior products. Education of the user is quintessence!
Stay away from LED if you do not want to invest in the best products! Then it is better to buy toxic CFL lamps, although they contribute to a massive mountain of chemical waste. Philips is one of the largest contributors by selling so many mercury based energy saving bulbs.
Jan Kemeling
Penang, Malaysia
