Varton is a Russian
technology company
A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services.
Details
According to ''Fo ...
, a manufacturer of
LED lighting
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps
and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
.
History
The company was founded in 2009 by Denis Frolov, the former development director at
Wimm-Bill-Dann group, who decided to start his own business after he learned that the group was planned to be sold to
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...
in 2010. Before Frolov had been buying LED lamps for the production, and he assumed that the demand for them will grow. The parliamentary debate of the law ''On Energy Saving'' (adopted a year later, in November 2009) also contributed to his choice of business niche.
Start-up capital amounted to 40 million rubles of his own and borrowed funds. The company started with sales of Chinese
compact fluorescent lamps
A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent light bulb; some types fit into light fixtures designed for inca ...
under its own brand ''Gauss''. Ilya Sivtsev, who previously helped Frolov find suppliers and distribute Gauss products, soon became his business partner, co-owner and executive director of Varton. The decision made in 2010 to reorient to
LED lighting
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps
and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
, led to making enough profit by the fall of 2012 to purchase an abandoned factory in the town
Bogoroditsk
Bogoroditsk (russian: Богоро́дицк) is a town and the administrative center of Bogoroditsky District in Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the Upyorta River, a tributary of the Upa. Population:
History
It was founded in the second ha ...
of
Tula region
Tula Oblast (russian: Ту́льская о́бласть, ''Tulskaya oblast'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically in the European Russia region of the country and is part of the Central Federal District, covering a ...
and to invest 250 million in the launching of the production and enter the corporate market with a new trade mark ''Varton''. By 2016, total investment in the factory reached 1 billion rubles.
Business model
The structure of Varton includes laboratory and scientific-production center of 20 thousand square meters in Bogoroditsk, the central office in Moscow and overseas in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. The company employs 500 people, half of them work at the production site, where students of the Bogoroditsk polytechnic college take part in work experience programs. 20 full-time employees work in the company’s design center developing new lamps.
Factory in Bogoroditsk produces lamps and lenses, imports
sockets, lamps radiators,
electronic drivers and LED elements, organizes the final assembly. Production is sold through a dealer network, available in Russia,
CIS countries
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
, some countries in Europe and Africa.
Since April 2015 the company is included in the list of organizations that have a significant impact on industry and trade of the
. In 2015, the company sold about 1.4 million lamps, factory revenue amounted to 1.3 billion rubles, the turnover of the company amounted to 3.25 billion rubles. In autumn of 2015 it was estimated by the general director of ''Development Corporation of the Tula region'', that Varton company controls 18% of Russia's LED lighting market.
In August 2016 in an interview with ''Director General'' the CEO at Varton reported that the company stopped using the principle of the conveyor assembly in favor of the entire product assembled by one person, which increased productivity and helped to expand the range without increasing the staff number. Responding to questions from the newspaper RBC in 2015, the COO told about the company’s plans to localize LED production in Russia and use component made in Russia only by 2017.
Projects
The company has developed and supplied lighting for the federal highway M11 (Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway
The Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway ( rus, Автомагистраль Москва — Санкт-Петербург, Avtomagistral' Moskva-Sankt-Peterburg}), designated as the М11 Neva, is a Russian federal highway in the European part o ...
), the design of which takes into account the great distance between lampposts, and lights of the GUM façade, that emit light of a certain tone, are strictly protected from moisture, frost up to -60 °C and heat up to + 60 °C. According to the First Deputy Governor of the Rostov region
Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...
, the company's lamps are used for indoor lighting of the stadium ''Rostov Arena
Rostov Arena (russian: «Ростов Арена») is an association football stadium in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. It was one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It also hosts FC Rostov of the Russian Premier League, replacing Olimp – 2. I ...
''. Emergency lighting equipment produced by Varton is used in the IKEA
IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...
store in the Moscow suburb of Khimki
Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station tha ...
, Burger King
Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
restaurants, the Moscow City Clinical Hospital №72, trade and industrial zone ''Altufyevo'' in Moscow region.
As part of an experiment made together with one of the residents of innovative territorial cluster ''Zelenograd'', the company has installed a vending machine for the sale of LED bulbs in the territory of the cluster.
Awards
In 2013 the company has won in two nominations of the III annual award in the field of energy saving ''Save energy!'' – in the category of household and industrial lighting, and in the category of an innovative energy-saving technology and energy efficiency
Energy efficiency may refer to:
* Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process
** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...
.
Packaging design of Gauss lamps was awarded first place in the category "Packaging and Label" at the national advertising festival ''Idea!'' in 2009, a silver award in 2009 and the bronze medal in 2013 at the international packaging design competition Pentawards
Founded in 2007, the Pentawards is an annual packaging design competition and online hub for packaging designers. Participants include designers, freelancers, design agencies, communication & advertising agencies, brands, packaging manufacture ...
.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://varton.ru/en
Manufacturing companies based in Moscow
Lighting brands
Russian brands
2009 establishments in Russia