Your humble editor caught up with Cooper Lighting Solutions President Kraig Kasler, who was traveling, to discuss the Signify acquisition of Intelligent Lighting Controls. Below are his comments.
Randy: In the press release, you stated, “…a competitive offering to fuel the uptake of energy-saving solutions in the attractive North American market.” Specifically can you help me understand how it helps with energy saving retrofit vs what you were doing before the acquisition?
Kraig: The vision of Signify and Cooper Lighting Solutions is to unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. To accomplish this, we have built a strategy around driving growth for sustainability, which includes the expansion and growth of our connected systems platforms (both indoor and outdoor). The acquisition of ILC complements Cooper’s existing Controls brands to create a market leading wired lighting controls portfolio. In addition, ILC products will provide the missing building blocks to complete Cooper’s singular system which provides a completely scalable, interoperable, wired, and wireless control system complete with smart spaces software and applications.
Randy: Can you confirm that the existing Cooper Lighting Solutions will have full access to this line? I do see where ELS is the Cooper rep in NYC and the ILC rep, but I assume there are other territories where you have different reps.
Kraig: Yes, ILC will operate as an entity within Cooper Lighting Solutions’ business and will be represented by Cooper agents throughout North America.
Randy: Will ILC be a stand alone company, much the way that Cooper Lighting Solutions is a stand alone company within Signify?
Kraig: The ILC platform will operate independently of current Cooper Lighting Solutions controls brands (Greengate and WaveLinx) and will be supported by the current ILC team in Edina, Minnesota.