Osram

OsRam Licht AG is a German multinational lighting manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany.[4] The "Osram" 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.

OSRAM Licht AG
Aktiengesellschaft
Traded asFWB: OSR
ISINDE000LED4000 
IndustryLighting
Founded1919 (Berlin[1])
Headquarters
Munich 
,
Germany 
Revenue€4.115 billion (Fiscal Year 2018[2])
Number of employees
Approximately 27,400 (end of September 2018[3])
Parent Bain Capital
SubsidiariesOsram Opto Semiconductors
OSRAM Sylvania
Websitewww.osram.com

OSRAM was founded in 1919 by the merger of the lighting businesses of Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG). On 5 July 2013, OSRAM was spun off from Siemens, and the listing of its stock began on 8 July 2013 on Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[5] After a bidding war with Bain Capital, OSRAM was successfully acquired by AMS, in December, 2019.[6][7][8]

History
Osram lamp of 1910, high candle-power type
bilingual bond of the Osram company, issued 2 December 1925[9]
OSRAM in Markham, Ontario

In 1906 the Osram incandescent lamp was developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach. The brand name of OSRAM was "born" in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft).[10] 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.[11]

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 such as DAF became increasingly influential among the company's workforce.[12]:112-116 In March 1933 Osram funded 40,000 Reichsmark for a secret campaign fund of German industrialist in support the Nazi Party.[13]

During World War II Osram used forced laborers in its plants in Berlin.[14] Due to the continuous bombing of Berlin during the war, the production was partially relocated to East German cities from 1942 onward. The production of molybdenum and tungsten products, which were classified as important for the war effort, was outsourced to the city of Plauen. Following arrangements between Osram officials and members of the SS, two subcamps of Flossenbürg concentration camp were installed next to the factory site to secure the company's supply with slave laborers.[15]:393 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.[16]:362 At least 4,500 prisoners died in the camp, while Osram never moved into the space due to the course of war.[17][18]

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.

On 8 July 2013 Siemens spun Osram off, and it listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Operations

Osram is a multinational corporation with headquarters in Munich and it employs around 34,000 people throughout the world. Osram has operations in over 120 countries. In the 2014 financial year, revenue of about €5.1 billion was achieved.[19] The company's North American operation is Osram Sylvania, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts; products sold in Canada, Mexico, the United States and United States territories are sold under the Osram Sylvania brand name.

Osram Opto Semiconductors

Osram Opto Semiconductors is a wholly owned subsidiary of Osram which 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. Besides its headquarters in Regensburg, Germany, it has further production sites in Penang and Kulim, Malaysia, and Wuxi, China[20] and a global network of sales and marketing centre.

Osram Sylvania
Main article: Osram Sylvania

Osram Sylvania Inc. 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.[21] In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2 billion euros, which comprises 43% of total Osram sales.[22] It employs about 11,200 people in North America and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, north of Boston. Most of the company's products are marketed in North and South America under the SYLVANIA or OSRAM brand names.

Traxon Technologies

Traxon Technologies, together with its control brand, "e:cue lighting control", is a solid state lighting and control systems provider. In 2009, Traxon Technologies entered into a joint venture with OSRAM, a partnership which ultimately led to OSRAM's complete acquisition of Traxon in 2011.[23][24]

In literature
  • German author and Nobel prize winner Günter Grass describes the birth of Oscar Matzerath, the hero of The Tin Drum, as “I first saw the light of this world in the form of two sixty-watt bulbs. As a result, the biblical text »Let there be light and there was light« still strikes me today as the perfect slogan for Osram light bulbs.“
  • German football manager Jupp Heynckes was nicknamed "Osram" because his face would sometimes redden under the stress of matches.[25]

See also

References
  1. "100 Jahre OSRAM : Licht hat einen Namen" (PDF). Osram.de. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  2. "Company investor overview". osram-group.com. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  3. "Company investor overview". osram-group.com. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  4. "OSRAM Licht AG imprint". OSRAM. 3 August 2013.
  5. "Press Information on the OSRAM Listing". OSRAM. 3 August 2013.
  6. "Osram's Managing Board invites ams to talks about the future". OSRAM. 6 December 2019.
  7. "Osram supports public takeover offer from Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group". OSRAM. 4 July 2019.
  8. "Apple Supplier AMS Stock Jumps After Revenue Boost and Takeover Revival". Barron's. 23 July 2019.
  9. Suppes 94/95 Historische Wertpapiere. WWA Bernd Suppes. 1994. p. 264. ISSN 0936-9406.
  10. "Anniversary of the trademark on 17 April 2006". OSRAM. 3 April 2006. Archived from the original on 7 October 2010.
  11. "Shining bright – The interlinked history of Siemens and OSRAM". Siemens Historical Institute. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  12. Tschirbs, Rudolf (2015). Das Phantom der Volksgemeinschaft : ein kritischer Literatur- und Quellenbericht (PDF). Düsseldorf: Hans Böckler Stiftung. ISBN 978-3-86593-201-3. OCLC 908680843.
  13. "Entries in the Account "National Trusteeship" Found in the Files of the Delbrueck, Schickter Co. Bank". NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL Volume VII Page 567. Mazal Library. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  14. Jacobeit, Sigrid (1987), "OSRAM-Arbeiterinnen. Deutsche und ausländische Frauen in der Kriegsproduktion für den Berliner Glühlampen-Konzern 1939 bis 1945.", Jahrbuch für Geschichte (in German), 35, pp. 369-388
  15. Katherine Lukat (2020), Zwangsarbeit in Plauen im Vogtland: Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen ausländischer Zivilarbeiter, Kriegsgefangener und KZ-Häftlinge im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN 9783412517427, retrieved 9 May 2020
  16. Marc Buggeln, Michael Wildt, Arbeit im Nationalsozialismus (in German), München: Walter de Gruyter, p. 441, ISBN 978-3-486-85884-6, retrieved 9 May 2020
  17. Kárný, Miroslav (1993). ">>Vernichtung durch Arbeit<< in Leitmeritz. Dei SS-Führungsstäbe in der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft" [Extermination through labor in Leitmeritz. The SS leadership in the German war economy.]. 1999: Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts (4): 41–42. ISSN 0930-9977.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  18. Pendas, Devin O.; Roseman, Mark; Wetzell, Richard F. (2017). Beyond the Racial State. Cambridge University Press. p. 491. ISBN 978-1-107-16545-8.
  19. "Annual report 2014" (PDF). OSRAM. 2 January 2015.
  20. "Osram expands with new LED assembly plant in China". OSRAM. 25 May 2012.
  21. Steiner, Christopher (7 June 2007). "Bright Lights, Big Legacy?". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  22. "Facts & Figures". OSRAM. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007.
  23. "Lighting.com". Lighting web sit, Osram Acquires Traxon
  24. "Business Week". Investing.businessweek.com.
  25. ""Osram" soll Schalke wieder strahlen lassen". Spiegel Online (in German). 24 June 2003. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
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