Richard Stuckes, Managing Director of Philips Lighting in the UK, has a most unusual background for somebody in his position in the lighting industry. Although his lighting background has been pretty well entirely marketing-led, his first job was working in air-traffic control on board Royal Navy aircraft carriers, later graduating to nuclear submarines. He started in the Navy in 1984 straight out of school and, though one would have thought that having the responsibility for the safety of multi-million pound jet aircraft and their pilots was challenge enough, Richard needed a new challenge and left after having been round the world a few years later.

He found that challenge initially at Osram – also now a Voltimum founding Partner . I interviewed Richard Stuckes at a Partners meeting at the Voltimum UK & Ireland Maidenhead HQ to find out more about his background in the UK lighting industry and how he plans to take Philips Lighting forward.

What was your first job in the industry?, I wondered.

"Well," said Richard, "I joined Osram, which was then based in Wembley, in 1989. My first job with Osram-GEC as it was then known was that of Specification Sales Engineer for luminaires in South London. I was soon promoted to Project Engineer but left after 18 months to join Philips Lighting in 1990”.

Continued Richard: "Again I started as a Specification Sales Engineer, I then became - in succession - Area Manager for London, Regional Sales Manager for the South East, National Retail Sales Manager, General Manager - Indoor Lighting and then Director - Outdoor Lighting. I finally succeeded Jeremy Ling as Managing Director in 2000”.

Out-performing the competition:

Times have been hard for some years for manufacturing companies and industry generally in the UK, and some lighting companies have also suffered from low margins on certain products as well as cheap imported lamps, for example.

With this in mind, I asked Richard whether Philips Lighting had been adversely affected.

"No, we haven't really. In fact we are out-performing the competition globally - in lamps especially - with success too in the USA. There we've recently won a big contract with Home Depot. This is a bit like an American version of B & Q but is the world's largest DIY retailer", said Richard.

Continued Richard: "The lighting results now, more than ever, play a significant role in Philips' overall results - it is the key profit generator."

"In the UK we've done very well too. Our market share has fallen slightly as we have sold fewer commodity products but we have made up for it by increasing our sales of new innovative products. Our luminaires business has declined in the commodity area over the past two years, due primarily to the growth in wholesalers own brand products. We refuse to get drawn into this as it drives quality out of the market”.

"Even so, Philips Lighting is the clear leader in the UK in terms of retail, sports and street lighting. We are also market leader in lamp innovation. A typical example would be our MasterColour CDMT lamps that offer many benefits for outdoor lighting including excellent colour rendering. Investment and innovation remains key to our future", concluded Richard.

Investment and innovation:

Bearing in mind Richard's theme of investment and innovation, I asked what his marketing approach is in the UK.

"Philips Lighting is keen to have dialogue with the end-users. We communicate the cost of ownership story to end-users. Through life, our products are more cost-effective than others, even though some may be more expensive to start with”.

"Other areas within our overall marketing strategy that we concentrate on include delivery reliability and IT system development. Both represent major investments; in the former, with new warehousing and distribution systems and in the latter, our global SAP system centred in Eindhoven."

Knowing that many large companies are recognising the growing importance of company-wide modern database systems, I asked Richard about this aspect of Philips’ operation today.

What is SAP and what does it represent for the future of Philips Lighting?

"SAP", said Richard, "stands for Systems Application and Products. It's a leading German system that is used to carry out stock management, logistics and control functions of the business. This alone represents a multi-million pound investment. Our catalogue of products is being loaded on to Voltimum using SAP and a complementary internal system called Prisma. Prisma extracts the relevent information from SAP. Then it was just a question of establishing the right interface with Voltimum. This has now been done and it's going well with no delays as far as I know. Once it's done, that's it - all the information is there to be used through our central information system."

Philips Lighting viz-a-viz Voltimum:

Did Richard see, I wondered, Philips Lighting being a founder member of Voltimum adding to or otherwise complementing Philip's marketing approach in the UK?

"It's important and complementary to our existing business processes ", replied Richard. "Being a Voltimum member will help us promote our brands and will also give us the ability to communicate, not only with the contractor and installer, but also with specifiers"

Did he forsee Voltimum having any other role for Philips Lighting in the UK other than marketing?

"No, it's the marketing that's important for us!", he said.

What, I asked, would Richard like to see Voltimum achieve?

"The key for Voltimum, as far as I'm concerned, it for it to become the industry standard as the central point of information for electrical contractors, installers and specifiers throughout Europe", said Richard.

I next asked Richard what Philips Lighting catalogue products were being placed on Voltimum UK & Ireland?

Replied Richard: "We are loading the majority of our professional lamp items. Initially, we are not loading our specialist lamps or luminaires. These will be added later, to address the specifiers and architects whom initially, will not form a major part of Voltimum's target audience. We speak to the specifiers but not the smaller contractors, though this may change. There will be real benefits for specifiers to have access to Voltimum as time goes on.

"As far as numbers are concerned, Philips Lighting will have 600 products in its Voltimum UK & Ireland catalogue in the first tranch, rising soon after to 2,000.

"What aims do you have for Philips Lighting in the UK", I asked.

"Achieving target profitability. I aim to make the company the most profitable in the UK and, therefore, the strongest", replied Richard. "We are well on our way to achieving this.

"Also, we aim to be the best lighting company in the UK for employees to work for and, we believe, we are also the easiest to trade with. I aim to keep it that way", concluded Richard.

Richard Stukes is 35 and married with a two-year old girl. What leisure hours he has are spent with the family, or playing golf. He's also a 'suffering' Tottenham Hotspur supporter.

About Philips Lighting:

Philips is number one in the global lighting market, a position supported by leadership in innovation combined with a systematic approach to seeking out new market opportunities. The company’s strategic ambition is to set the pace in the lighting industry as the first-choice innovative partner for the supply of creative and cost-effective lighting solutions.

The Division’s products are to be found all around the world: not only everywhere in the home, but also in a multitude of professional applications. For example, 30% of offices, 65% of the worlds top airports, 30% of hospitals, 35% of cars and 55% of football stadiums (seven of the ten at the 2002 soccer World Cup in Japan/Korea) are all supplied by Philips Lighting.

Philips Lighting employs some 47,000 people worldwide. Manufacturing operations in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Peoples’ Republic of China, South Korea, Spain and Mexico.

Contact: Barbara Wheeler

Philips Lighting

420-430 London Road, Croydon CR9 3QR

Tel: 020 8781 8140

Fax: 020 8781 8929

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.eur.lighting.philips.com