OLEDWorks celebrates 10-year anniversary of Aachen facility acquisition

 

This autumn marks a decade of remarkable achievements from the state-of-the-art facility and its talented team.

This autumn marks a decade of remarkable achievements from the state-of-the-art facility and its talented team, whose contributions have helped propel the company forward and illuminate a brighter path ahead.

Every company experiences pivotal moments that shape its future—milestones that spark innovation, growth, and transformation. At OLEDWorks, one such moment came ten years ago with the acquisition of its Aachen, Germany operation, until then the OLED business of Philips Lighting, from Royal Philips Electronics.

In 2014, Philips was preparing to shut down its OLED division, deciding that it no longer aligned with the corporation’s strategic direction. Years of development and OLED lighting manufacturing expertise were at risk of being lost, and the entire Philips OLED team faced unemployment.

OLEDWorks CEO David DeJoy contacted the team at Philips and connected with Ivo Rutten, then a Philips employee and now Head of Display Business Strategy and Partnerships at OLEDWorks. From this call, a plan was made to acquire the OLED division and integrate it with their team of OLED technology experts and their novel, scalable development and production facility in Rochester, NY. In April 2015, the business terms to sell the division to OLEDWorks were mutually agreed and inn October 2015, the acquisition was finalised.

Rapid scaling

With the new Aachen facility, OLEDWorks quickly expanded its production capabilities and market presence. The original Rochester facility focused on support of Aachen’s OLED lighting technology roadmap and on OLED micro-display development and commercialisation efforts, while Aachen brought their expertise in mass production. With the immediate integration of experts and a sudden increase in manufacturing capacity, OLEDWorks was able to secure new customers, adding new employees required to support this growth. Today the company has more than 250 global team members.

The OLEDWorks manufacturing facility in Aachen currently produces top-performing OLED lighting products. It is certified to IATF 16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and TISAX standards, ensuring superior quality and reliability in every product.

What’s next for Aachen?

The Aachen operation continues to focus on the mass production of Atala OLED lighting panels – OLED technology certified for automotive applications. Atala products can be found in series vehicles on the road, including the recently announced Audi Q5 SUV and Audi A6 e-tron.

With recent funding, including a € 30 million financing from the European Investment Bank and a € 4 million grant from the Regional Economic Development Program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, OLEDWorks is set to double its production capacity following actual market demands. This expansion will accelerate technological development, enable a faster response to customer demands, and bring new permanent jobs to the region.

Caption: According to a company statement, “the acquisition saved jobs, retained OLED experts for our business, and preserved a marvellous, unique, and proprietary multi-stack OLED production line“ (image: OLEDWorks).

Source: OLEDWorks
www.oledworks.com