LIGHTFAIR, 4 MAY 2014–Your humble editor sat down with John T Golle, Chairman and CEO of Heilux at LIGHTFAIR in Las Vegas. 

Randy:  Tell us a little about your background. 

John: Basically, I am a business guy and began my early years with Xerox.   Next I started a company called Golle & Holmes where we assisted with product launches for various companies and conducted skill training programs.  For example, we helped introduced the cell phone, assisted with the launch of Round Up for Monsanto, the 40 Series tractors for John Deere.  In addition, we had a division that trained about 80% of the US stockbrokers during the 70’s and 80’s.  Before the company was sold in 1985, we had grown it to five different businesses and were a dominant player in that space.

After taking a year off, I then got involved with trying to improve public schools and purchased Private Schools, Inc. from Control Data in 1986.  That resulted in forming a company called Education Alternatives, Inc.  EAI started the first charter school in the US and was the first for-profit company to manage a public school. That was in South Beach, Florida and Jeb Bush and I went on Good Morning America to make the announcement in 1990.  From there the company grew exponentially.  I retired for the second time in 1999. 

Randy:  Tell me how you got into the lighting business.  Was Safe Lites your introduction to the lighting industry?

John:  Yes, my son and I started that in 2001 with electroluminescent lighting (EL).  You have probably seen our products as we light up outdoor advertising signs and even clothing.  We work with all of the major sign companies and have over 20 issued patents in that space.

In 2008, we began looking at LEDs.  We wanted to enter the business but in an area different from the big guys.   A small group of our engineers decided to deconstruct the LED emitter and we learned that by removing connection points between the dies and the circuit and simplifying the device, we could reduce the heat, better stabilize the die and improve color rendition.  Of course, all dies produce heat, but through a combination of proprietary engineering and manufacturing processes, we can produce an emitter that is thin, flexible and requires no heat sink.

Randy:  I see where you use constant current, but your competitor uses constant voltage. 

John:  Yes, we could use either one, but we chose constant current since we believe it produces a more reliable emitter.  Plus, we use a matrix circuit such that if one die were to go out, all of the other dies would remain illuminated. With constant voltage, typically they would be in series and 20 or more LED could be inoperative if one were damaged. 

In addition, we have produced a very reliable and rugged device through a proprietary manufacturing process.  To prove it, on our web site, I had to hit our emitter six times before I could make a die go out.

Randy:  Boyd Corbett, your Director of Corporate Development, told me your emitters could use any generic, off-the-shelf driver.  Is that right?

John:    That is correct. LumaFilm works with any Class II, constant current power supply with matched output to our emitters.   With our competition, one has to use their specific driver.   The drivers we recommend are readily available at a much lower cost.

Randy:  Tell me about configuring the LumaFilm in the field. 

John:  It’s quite simple; think of Legos, you literally just tile (connect) them together.  It is fast and easy.  We are the only ones that offer a product that is field customizable.   In addition, on our web site in a video, I cut the film with scissors while it is illuminated to demonstrate just how user friendly our device is to the end user.  Perhaps as important, our emitters can be mounted very close to the diffusers without any noticeable hot spots.  This enables designers to literally to change the shape of  lighting.  Why do office lights have to be big?  Why do they have to be made of metal? Why do they have to be ugly?  Not anymore. 

Randy:  What is your warranty?

John:  We offer a 5-year limited warranty that is backed up by Bill Brown Sales.  As you know BBS is one of the most respected lighting companies in the country.  In addition, our Osram dies have a stated LM80 (TM-21) life expectancy greater than 77,000 hours.

Randy:  What kind of efficiencies do you see?

John:  From 110 LPW to 130 LPW—and improving. 

Randy:  What is your go-to-market strategy?

First, we sent about 150 kit samples to key luminaire manufactures as a way of an invitation to visit us at Light Fair.  This kit even had the batteries, so the customer had everything needed to experience the technology.

Second, we plan to sell LumaFilm™ to a few key OEMs in large quantities.   This is why we wanted to have BBS represent us to this market. We are looking for OEMs that want something different and have a strong sales force to sell that differentiation. 

Third, because of our manufacturing efficiencies, low cost of operations, along with using generic off-the-shelf components, we can sell our product for about one half the price of the competition.  As a result, we believe we are ideally positioned in this rapidly changing market.

Randy:  Have you sold any units?

John:  Absolutely, starting last year, we installed our outdoor emitters in over 200 NYC phone kiosks operated by Van Wagner that featured Apple ads – and did so without a single failure.  We have also installed our emitters in luminaires in office buildings without any issues our failures.  In essence, we wanted to make sure our product was rock solid before we launched it.  Also, the fact that our product is made on shore versus overseas allows us to make and ship the product quickly – – plus, on shore manufacturing is something a lot of people find desirable.

Randy:  Is Heilux profitable?

John:  We were cash flow positive during the first quarter of this year and expect to achieve profitability by year-end.  We have kept our overhead low while investing prudently in R&D over the last four years to bring this product to market.