Everything about Philips totally explained
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics N.V.), usually known as
Philips, () is one of the largest
electronics companies in the world, founded and headquartered in
the Netherlands. In
2006, its sales were €26.976
billion. In
1996, he was awarded the
Yad Vashem reward by the
Israeli ambassador for his actions. There is little Philips could have done to prevent the Germans from abusing their production facilities and forcing their employees to perform slave labor during the occupation. The production facility in Eindhoven was the only Dutch industrial target that was deliberately bombed by the allied forces during the war.
Postwar era
After the war the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in Eindhoven. Many secret research facilities had been locked and successfully hidden from the invaders, which allowed the company to get up to speed again quickly after the war.
Philips introduced the
compact audio cassette tape in 1963 and was wildly successful, though its attempt to set a standard for
video cassette recorders, the
V2000, was unsuccessful in the face of competition from the
Betamax and especially
VHS standards. It had introduced a video cassette recorder system in the early 1970s, the N1500 could record/play for about 30 minutes while the N1700 extended this to over 1 hour.
In 1982, Philips developed the
Compact Disc in partnership with
Sony.
In 1991, the company's name was changed from N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken to Philips Electronics N.V. At the same time, North American Philips was formally dissolved, and a new corporate division was formed in the U.S. with the name Philips Electronics North America Corp.
In 1997 the decision was made to move the headquarters from
Eindhoven to
Amsterdam, along with the corporate name change to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. The move was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the
Rembrandt tower, but in 2002 they moved again, this time to the
Breitner tower. In a sense, the move to Amsterdam can be considered a return to the company's roots, because
Gerard Philips lived in Amsterdam when he came up with the idea of building a
light bulb factory. He also conducted his first experiments in the field of mass production of light bulbs there, together with Jan Reesse. Philips Lighting, Philips Research, Philips Semiconductors (spun off as
NXP in September 2006) and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in
Andover, Massachusetts, United States (since moving from
Best, Netherlands in 2002).
Sale of semiconductors
As a chip maker, Philips Semiconductors was among the
Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
In December
2005, Philips announced its intention to make the Semiconductor Division into a separate
legal entity. This process of "disentanglement" was completed on
1 October2006.
On
2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of
private equity investors consisting of
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR),
Silver Lake Partners and
AlpInvest Partners. The sale completed a process, which began December 2005, with its decision to create a separate legal entity for Semiconductors and to pursue all strategic options. Six weeks before, ahead of its online dialogue, through a letter to 8,000 of Philips managers, it was announced that they were speeding up the transformation of Semiconductors into a stand-alone entity with majority ownership by a third party. It was stated then that "this is much more than just a transaction: it's probably the most significant milestone on a long journey of change for Philips and the beginning of a new chapter for everyone – especially those involved with Semiconductors".
In its more than 115 year history, this counts as a big step that's definitely changing the profile of the company. Philips was one of few companies that successfully made the transition from the electrical world of the 19th century into the electronic age, starting its semiconductor activity in 1953 and building it into a global top 10 player in its industry. As such, Semiconductors was at the heart of many innovations in Philips over the past 50 years.
Agreeing to start a process that would ultimately lead to the decision to sell the Semiconductor Division therefore was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Management ever had to make.
On
21 August 2006,
Bain Capital and
Apax Partners announced that they'd signed definitive commitments to join the expanded consortium headed by KKR that's to acquire the controlling stake in the Semiconductors Division.
On
1 September 2006, it was announced in
Berlin that the name of the new semiconductor company founded by Philips is
NXP Semiconductors.
Coinciding with the sale of the Semiconductor Division, Philips also announced that they'd drop the word 'Electronics' from the company name, thus becoming simply
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Royal Philips N.V.).
Corporate affairs
In
2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favour of a new one: "Sense and Simplicity".
ASM Lithography is a
spin-off from a division of Philips.
Origin now part of
atosorigin is a former division of Philips.
Its record division,
Polygram, was sold to
Seagram in 1998 to form
Universal Music Group.
CEOs
Past and present
CEOs:
Acquisitions
Companies acquired by Philips through the years include
Amperex,
Magnavox,
Signetics,
Mullard,
VLSI,
Agilent Healthcare Solutions Group, Marconi Medical Systems,
ADAC Labs,
ATL Ultrasound, portions of
Westinghouse and the consumer electronics operations of
Philco and
Sylvania. Philips abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is now owned by
SLI (Sylvania Lighting International) except in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the USA where it's owned by the
Osram unit of
Siemens. Philips also owns the
light-emitting diode manufacturer
Lumileds. In
2006 Philips bought out the company
Lifeline Systems headquartered in
Framingham,
Massachusetts. In
2007 Philips acquired the company
Ximis, Inc. headquartered in
El Paso, TX for their Medical Informatics Division. In October 2007, it purchased a Moore Microprocessor Patent (MPP) Portfolio license from The TPL Group.
On Friday, 21st of December 2007 Philips and
Respironics, Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Philips will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Respironics for US$66 per share, or a total purchase price of approximately €3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) to be paid in cash upon completion.
Sports, sponsorships and naming rights
Traditionally Philips has a vested interest in sports, originally as a means to provide a healthy form of recreation for its employees. In 1913, in celebration of the Centenary of Dutch independence from France, Philips founded a sports club called
Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Club), or
PSV, as it's now known. The sports club
encompasses all kinds of sports, but is currently most famous for its Premier League football team and its swimming team. Philips owns the naming rights to
Philips Stadion, located in
Eindhoven, which is home to Dutch football team
PSV Eindhoven.
Abroad, Philips sponsors and has sponsored numerous sport clubs, sport facilities, and events. Since the
Football World Cup 1978, held in in Argentina, Philips has been an official sponsor of the
FIFA World Cup.
Furthermore, Philips owns the
naming rights to the
Philips Arena in
Atlanta,
Georgia and to the
Philips Championship, the premier
basketball league in
Australia, traditionally known as the
National Basketball League. Between 1988 and 1993 Philips were also the major sponsors of The Balmain Tigers, an Australian rugby league team.
Outside of sports Philips sponsors the
Philips Monsters of Rock festival, held in many countries all over the world.
Worldwide presence
Philips also used to sell major household appliances (whitegoods) under the name
Philips. After selling the Major Domestic Appliances division to
Whirlpool Corporation it changed via
Philips Whirlpool and
Whirlpool Philips to
Whirlpool only. Whirlpool bought a 53% stake in Philips' major appliance operations to form Whirlpool International. Whirlpool bought Philips' remaining interest in Whirlpool International in 1991.
Australia
Philips in Australia has its headquarters in
Sydney,
New South Wales. The company employs over 400 people nationwide.
Regional offices are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
IT services are provided by P-GIS (CAS, CIS & BTS).
Current operating divisions/activities include;
Philips Healthcare (also responsible for New Zealand operations)
Philips Consumer Electronics
Philips Lighting (also responsible for New Zealand operations)
Philips Dictation Systems
Philips Australia was founded in 1927 and has been involved in many activities over the years, esp manufacturing.
Today it's essentially a sales and support office.
As a result of Project LION (divestment of semiconductors), Australia's ranking rises from 43rd in the Philips world in terms of turnover to 18th.
China
In early 2008 Philips Lighting, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, opened a small engineering center to adapt the company’s products to vehicles in Asia.
India
Philips started operations in India at Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1930 under the name Philips Electrical Co. (India) Pvt Ltd, comprising a staff of 75. It was a sales outlet for Philips lamps imported from overseas.
In 1938,Philips India set up its first Indian lamp-manufacturing factory in Kolkata. After the Second World War in 1948, Philips started manufacturing radios in Kolkata. In 1959, a second radio factory is established near Pune.
In 1957, the company is converted into a public limited company, renamed "Philips India Ltd".
In 1965 on 3rd April, the millionth Philips radio is manufactured in India.
In 1970 a new consumer electronics factory is started in Pimpri near Pune. (This factory is now closed. It was closed in 2006.)
In 1982, Philips brought colour television transmission to India with the supply of four outdoor broadcast vans to DD National during the IX Asian Games.
In 1996, the Philips Software Centre was established in Bangalore.
Mexico
The Philips Mexicana SA de CV corporate office is based in Mexico City
There several manufacturing plants in Mexico, some are:
Philips Lighting in:
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
Tijuana, Baja California
Philips Consumer Electronics in:
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
Philios Domestic Appliances used to be manufactured in a large factory in Industrial Vallejo sector of Mexico City but was closed in 2003-2004.
Poland
European financial and accounting centre: Łódź
Philips Lighting: Pabianice, Piła
Philips Domestic Appliances: Białystok
United Kingdom
Philips UK has its headquarters in Guildford, Surrey. The company employs over 2500 people nationwide.
Philips Applied Technology, Redhill, Surrey develops new products and sub-systems including digital TV and communication technologies.
Philips Business Communications, Cambridge offers voice and data communications products, specialising in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, IP Telephony, data networking, voice processing, command and control systems and cordless and mobile telephony.
Philips Consumer Products, Guildford provides sales and marketing for televisions, including High Definition televisions, DVD recorders, hi-fi and portable audio, CD recorders, PC peripherals, cordless telephones, home and kitchen appliances, personal care (shavers, hair dryers, body beauty and oral hygiene ).
Philips Dictation Systems, Colchester, Essex.
Philips Lighting: sales from Guildford and manufacture in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
Philips Healthcare, Reigate, Surrey. Sales and technical support for X-ray, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, patient monitoring, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and resuscitation products.
Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, Surrey. Originally these were the Mullard Research Laboratories.
Philips Semiconductors, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Greater Manchester and Southampton, Hampshire, both also earlier part of Mullard. These now become part of NXP.
In the past, Philips UK also included
Mullard Equipment Limited (MEL) which produced products for the military
Consumer product manufacturing in Croydon
London Carriers, logistics and transport division.
Pye Telecommunications Ltd of Cambridge
TMC Limited of Malmesbury
United States
Philips' American headquarters is Philips Electronics North America Corporation, 1251 Avenue of the Americas,
New York City,
New York.(External Link
)
Official website in the US.
Philips Lighting has its corporate office in Somerset, New Jersey
with manufacturing plants in:
Danville, KY
Bath, NY
Salina, KS
Fairmont, WV
Paris, TX
distribution centers in:
Mountaintop, PA
Ontario, CA
Memphis, TN
Atlanta, GA
Philips Healthcare is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts. The North American sales organisation is based in Bothell, Washington. There are also manufacturing facilities in Andover, Bothell, Cleveland, Reedsville, and Milpitas.
Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care Company has its corporate office in Stamford, Connecticut.
It has a manufacturing plant in Snoqualmie, Washington which makes Sonicare electric toothbrushes.
Philips Research has a laboratory in Briarcliff Manor, NY.
In 2007, Philips has entered into a definitive merger agreement with North American luminaires company Genlyte Group Incorporated, which provides the company with a leading position in the North American luminaires (also known as ˜lighting fixtures"), controls and related products for a wide variety of applications, including solid state lighting. Philips has also been ranked as the most award winning company in the United States of America.
Major consumer electronics products
1951 - introduced the Philishave two-headed rotary shaver, marketed in the USA under the Norelco name.
1963 - introduced the Compact cassette.
1978 - introduced the laserdisc player, using technology invented in the 1960s.
1979 - introduced the Video 2000-system: a technically superior design, but a commercial failure.
1982 - launched the Compact Disc in partnership with Sony.
1991 - introduced the CD-i, the Compact Disc Interactive system which had many video-game console-type features.
1992 - launched the ill-fated Digital Compact Cassette format.
1999 - launched the Super Audio CD in partnership with Sony.
2001 - successfully launched the Senseo coffeemaker, first in the Netherlands and from 2002 onwards, in other countries across Europe. It produces coffee by brewing from custom-made pads containing coffee grounds. The original Senseo pads are produced by Douwe Egberts. The Senseo has been available in the US since 2004.
2004 - Philips HomeLabs research center created the Mirror TV technology used in their MiraVision television line.
2006 - introduced the Blu-ray Disc in partnership with Sony.
2008 - introduce flatscreen with WOW VX technology.
The company receives a royalty on every DVD manufactured.
Healthcare products
Further Information
Get more info on 'Philips'.
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