Osram Licht AG is a German company that makes
electric light
An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...
s, headquartered in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and
Premstätten
Premstätten is since January 2016 a new market town with 5,784 residents (as of 1 January 2016) in Graz-Umgebung District of Styria, Austria. However, it was previously founded in January 2015 as the town name "''Unterpremstätten-Zettling''".
Th ...
(Austria). Osram positions itself as a high-tech
photonics
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...
company that is increasingly focusing on
sensor technology, visualization and treatment by light. The company serves customers in the consumer, automotive, healthcare and industrial technology sectors. The operating company of Osram is Osram GmbH.
Osram was founded in 1919 by the merger of the lighting businesses of
Auergesellschaft,
Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens.
It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Ge ...
and
Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the World War II, Second W ...
(AEG). Osram was a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG from 1978 to 2013. On 5 July 2013, Osram was spun off from
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
, and the listing of its stock began on
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time).
Organisation
Locat ...
on 8 July 2013. Osram's business with conventional light sources was spun off in 2016 under the name
Ledvance and sold to a Chinese consortium. After a bidding war with
Bain Capital
Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...
, Osram was taken over by Austrian company
AMS in July 2020. Since then, the company has operated under the name AMS Osram.
The name is derived from ''
osmium'' and ''Wolfram'' (German for
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
, also used in English). Both elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded.
History
![OSRAMSylvania](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/OSRAMSylvania.jpg)
In 1906, the Osram
incandescent lamp was developed by
Carl Auer von Welsbach
Carl Auer von Welsbach (1 September 1858 – 4 August 1929), who received the Austrian noble title of Freiherr Auer von Welsbach in 1901, was an Austrian scientist and inventor, who separated didymium into the elements neodymium and praseo ...
. The brand name of Osram was first used in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft).
The British
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs. In 1919,
Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske and
Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the World War II, Second W ...
(AEG) combined their electric-lamp production with the formation of the company Osram.
Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, co-founder William Meinhardt and the other Jewish members of the managing board were forced to step down. During the rule of his successor, Hermann Schlüpmann, organisations close to the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
, such as
DAF, became increasingly influential among the company's workforce. In March 1933, Osram funded for a
secret campaign fund of German industrialists in support the Nazi Party.
During World War II, Osram used
forced labour in their plants in Berlin. Due to the bombing of Berlin, production was partially relocated to East German cities from 1942 onward. The production of
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
and
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
products, which were classified as important for the war effort, was outsourced to the city of
Plauen
Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the S ...
. Following arrangements between Osram officials and members of the
SS, two subcamps of
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flo ...
were installed next to the factory site to secure the company's supply of slave labourers. In a subcamp in
Leitzmeritz, prisoners were used to build underground facilities as part of the secret project ''
Richard II'' to secure the production of molybdenum and tungsten during air raids. At least 4,500 prisoners died in the camp, while Osram never moved into the space due to the course of war.
In 1993,
Osram Sylvania, a
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
division, was established with the acquisition of
GTE
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...
's
Sylvania lighting division. Osram Sylvania manufactures and markets a wide range of lighting products for homes, business, and vehicles and holds the largest share of the North American lighting market. In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2 billion euros, which comprised 43% of total Osram sales.
In 2019, Osram sold Sylvania to
Wesco International
WESCO International, Inc. is an American publicly traded Fortune 500 holding company for WESCO Distribution, a multinational electrical distribution and services company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
WESCO International, Inc. is a provid ...
, Inc.
In 1998, Osram acquired the lamp business of ECE Industries India for $9.55 million. In 2009, Osram acquired Traxon Technologies. In 2011, Osram acquired Siteco.
On 8 July 2013
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
spun Osram off, and Osram listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
On 3 March 2021,
ams AG announced that the Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement (“DPLTA”) between AMS Offer GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of AMS AG, the parent company of AMS Group, and Osram Licht AG (“Osram”), became effective on that day. The combined company focuses on optical systems and serves the entire value chain including sensing, visualization and illumination, with products ranging from emitters to sensors and software.
Operations
Osram is a multinational corporation with headquarters in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, with around 34,000 employees throughout the world. Osram has operations in over 120 countries.
In fiscal year 2019, Osram's business model was operationally implemented in three business units: Opto Semiconductors, Automotive and Digital.
Opto Semiconductors
![Osram os](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Osram_os.png)
The Opto Semiconductors Business Unit provides opto semiconductors, which are crucial elements in lighting, visualization, and sensor technology. Osram Opto Semiconductors offers a wide range of LEDs in the low-power, mid-power, high-power, and ultra-high-power classes that are used in general lighting, automotive, consumer, and industrial applications as well as infrared, laser and optical sensors. The main market for these components are the automotive sector, smartphones, wearables, general lighting, lighting for plants, industrial lighting, and projection.
Automotive
The Automotive Business Unit develops and produces lamps; light modules; and sensors for auto makers and their suppliers and the spare parts
aftermarket.
Up to the beginning of the fiscal year 2019, the automotive and other areas of business comprised the Specialty Lighting Business Unit. As part of a reorganization and the subsequent renaming of the business unit as AM, these other areas of business have been incorporated into the Digital Business Unit.
Digital
The Digital Business Unit was established at the start of the fiscal year 2019. It handles all of Osram's business activities that use digital technologies.
The former Lighting Solutions Business Unit was dissolved at the start of the fiscal year 2019. Traxon's business was incorporated into the new Digital Business Unit. The European luminaire business (Siteco) and the North American luminaire service business are reported as discontinued operations.
In popular culture
* German football manager
Jupp Heynckes was nicknamed "Osram" because his face would sometimes redden under the stress of matches.
See also
*
EnOcean
The EnOcean technology is an energy harvesting wireless technology used primarily in building automation systems, but also in other application fields such as industry, transportation, logistics or smart homes solutions. The energy harvesting wire ...
*
Fluorescent lamp
A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, which produces short-wave ultraviolet lig ...
*
Phoebus cartel
The Phoebus cartel was an oligopoly that controlled the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs. They appropriated market territories and lowered the useful life of such bulbs. Corporations based in Europe and the United States founded t ...
References
{{Authority control
Siemens products
Lighting brands
German brands
Manufacturing companies based in Munich
Electronics companies established in 1919
1919 establishments in Germany
Recipients of the Scientific and Technical Academy Award of Merit
Companies in the MDAX