Osram
Encyclopedia
Osram, founded 1919, is part of the industry sector of Siemens AG
and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. The name is derived from osmium
and Wolfram (German for tungsten
, also used in English), as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded. The brand name of OSRAM was already "born" in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft).
with headquarters in Munich
(Germany
) and plants in Germany
, France
, India
, Latvia
, Slovakia
, People's Republic of China
, Indonesia
and Argentina
, and it employs more than 40,000 people throughout the world. Osram supplies customers in about 150 countries and manufactures at 42 sites in 16 countries. In the 2010 financial year, a turnover of €4.7 billion was achieved. The company's North American operation is Osram Sylvania
, headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts
; products sold in the United States
, United States Territories, Canada
and Mexico
are sold under the Sylvania brand name.
Osram has a wholly owned subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH
that designs and manufactures opto-semiconductor
products. One of the main products of this subsidiary is light emitting diodes (LEDs). As the world’s second largest manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductor for the illumination, sensing and visualization sectors, Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH combines extensive know-how in semiconductors, converter materials and packages under one roof. At its headquarters in Regensburg
, Germany, a further production site in Penang
, Malaysia and a global network of sales and marketing centers, the company employs more than 3500 people. In the 2006 fiscal year, it achieved sales of around 500 million euros. This means that the optoelectronic semiconductor accounts for twelve percent of overall Osram GmbH sales .
Inc. manufactures and markets a wide range of lighting products for homes, business, and vehicles and holds a leading share of the North America
n lighting market . In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2 billion euros, which comprises 43% of total Osram sales . It employs about 11,200 people in North America and is headquartered in Danvers, MA
, north of Boston
. Most of the company's products are marketed in North and South America under the SYLVANIA or OSRAM brand name.
was developed; its name was formed from the German words OSmium, from the element osmium
, and WolfRAM, from the element tungsten
(called wolfram in many languages and an alternative name in English). The British General Electric Company imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs. In 1919, Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske
, and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft
(AEG) combined their electric lamp production with the formation of the company Osram.
In 2009 Osram acquired TRAXON Technologies
In 2011 Osram acquired Siteco
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. The name is derived from osmium
Osmium
Osmium is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-blacktransition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. Osmium is twice as dense as lead. The density of osmium is , slightly greater than that of iridium,...
and Wolfram (German for tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
, also used in English), as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded. The brand name of OSRAM was already "born" in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft).
Company profile
OSRAM AG is a multinational corporationMultinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
with headquarters in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) and plants in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and it employs more than 40,000 people throughout the world. Osram supplies customers in about 150 countries and manufactures at 42 sites in 16 countries. In the 2010 financial year, a turnover of €4.7 billion was achieved. The company's North American operation is Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....
, headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
; products sold in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, United States Territories, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
are sold under the Sylvania brand name.
Opto Semiconductors
Osram has a wholly owned subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Osram GmbH, is the world's second largest manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductors after LiteOn and followed third place by CREE Inc . One of the main products of the company are light emitting diodes ,...
that designs and manufactures opto-semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
products. One of the main products of this subsidiary is light emitting diodes (LEDs). As the world’s second largest manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductor for the illumination, sensing and visualization sectors, Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH combines extensive know-how in semiconductors, converter materials and packages under one roof. At its headquarters in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, Germany, a further production site in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia and a global network of sales and marketing centers, the company employs more than 3500 people. In the 2006 fiscal year, it achieved sales of around 500 million euros. This means that the optoelectronic semiconductor accounts for twelve percent of overall Osram GmbH sales .
Sylvania
Osram SylvaniaOsram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....
Inc. manufactures and markets a wide range of lighting products for homes, business, and vehicles and holds a leading share of the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n lighting market . In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2 billion euros, which comprises 43% of total Osram sales . It employs about 11,200 people in North America and is headquartered in Danvers, MA
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
, north of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Most of the company's products are marketed in North and South America under the SYLVANIA or OSRAM brand name.
History
In 1906, the Osram incandescent lampIncandescent light bulb
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...
was developed; its name was formed from the German words OSmium, from the element osmium
Osmium
Osmium is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-blacktransition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. Osmium is twice as dense as lead. The density of osmium is , slightly greater than that of iridium,...
, and WolfRAM, from the element tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
(called wolfram in many languages and an alternative name in English). The British General Electric Company imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs. In 1919, Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske...
, and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
(AEG) combined their electric lamp production with the formation of the company Osram.
Acquisition
In 1998 Osram acquired the lamp business of ECE Industries India Ltd at a cost of $9.55 million.In 2009 Osram acquired TRAXON Technologies
In 2011 Osram acquired Siteco
See also
- EnOceanEnOceanEnOcean is a German wireless, energy harvesting technology used primarily in building automation systems, based in Oberhaching. It is not set out for international, European or national standardization; however, EnOcean GmbH is offering its technology and licenses for the patented features under...
- Fluorescent lampFluorescent lampA fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
- Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbHOSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbHOSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Osram GmbH, is the world's second largest manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductors after LiteOn and followed third place by CREE Inc . One of the main products of the company are light emitting diodes ,...
- Phoebus cartelPhoebus cartelThe Phoebus cartel was a cartel of, among others, Osram, Philips and General Electric from December 23, 1924 until 1939 that existed to control the manufacture and sale of light bulbs....