Since 1990, JB-Lighting has been developing, designing and producing intelligent headlamps and lighting technology solutions at its Blaustein site in southern Germany. It all began with the fascination that mirror scanners held for the company founder Jürgen Braungardt. The then brand-new technology, which combined complex mechanics and analog (later digital) control, inspired Jürgen Braungardt to develop headlamps himself. In an interview, sales manager Jörg Zimmermann told us more about the 30-year company history and how the anniversary is celebrated.
JB Lighting Sales Manager Jörg Zimmermann
1. this year you celebrate 30 years anniversary with your company. What values do you associate with the predicate “Made in Germany”?
Jürgen Braungardt, who founded the company 30 years ago, consistently pursued a strategy of “everything under one roof” over all these years. In this way, we have concentrated everything from product development to the finished headlamp at our production site in Blaustein. Due to our vertical range of manufacture, we produce all sheet metal, turned parts, blanks, cables and other components in-house. With the help of our high-tech machinery, we are able to manufacture approx. 80% of our components ourselves and thus have a direct influence on quality. In addition, the production factor “environment” has always played a decisive role for Jürgen. So we produce practically “CO2-neutral” by producing our own electricity, using waste heat and storing rainwater and using it for internal purposes.
2. how will you celebrate the anniversary in view of the current situation?
Actually it was planned to toast our anniversary with our customers at this year’s Prolight & Sound in Frankfurt. But we can make up for this next year. As soon as the situation returns to normal, we are looking forward to our customers visiting us at our production site. We are planning a larger company event in the next two years when we inaugurate the extension of our new production building.
3. what were the greatest challenges in the past 30 years, what were the greatest successes?
The entire event industry has changed during this time. If we look back to our beginnings, our first devices played in discotheques and at small events. In the course of time the events became much more professional and so we saw our task to develop this market with modern equipment and innovations. Looking back today we are a bit proud when we see our current moving heads on big show stages and in the most renowned theatres and opera houses worldwide.
4 How has the industry changed since you started your production? What potential is there still in this sector?
Meanwhile there is a large number of manufacturers and products in the moving head sector. Shorter product life cycles also make it difficult to generate a reasonable amortization.
We try to ensure a certain continuity by establishing a product unchanged on the market over a period of 4-8 years. After that we guarantee a spare parts availability of at least another 10 years. In this way we produce sustainable products that can be used for a long time and are stable in value.
5. You have been taking part in Prolight + Sound as an exhibitor for several years now. Why?
Prolight & Sound is our leading trade fair and at the same time the trade fair in our strongest market. As we have focused our product concept and sales structure on Europe and neighbouring countries, the fair offers us an optimal platform to present our products.
This year we planned a short time travel into the past 30 years for our anniversary. We asked our customers for devices back to the beginnings in the 90s and wanted to exhibit well-preserved devices at our booth. We were surprised and pleased that some of these devices are still in daily use.
6. What product developments can your customers expect this year?
We wanted to present our latest product, the P12 Wash with fresh-look, for the first time at this year’s Prolight. With this new family member we are rounding off the P12 range and have the right device for every application – whether profiler, spot or wash. Furthermore, we have enabled further functions for our SPARX30 and SPARX18 which we wanted to present impressively in a light show.
With regard to the current situation in the event industry, we are currently in the process of readjusting our planned roadmap for further products. We will be able to talk about details at the end of the year when the situation has calmed down a bit.