ERCO
| ERCO GmbH
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1934 |
| Seat | Ludenscheid , Germany |
| management | Tim Henrik Maack, Kay Pawlik, Marcus Schramm, Mark Oliver Schreiter |
| Number of employees | 856 (2015) |
| sales | 145 million euros (2015) |
| Branch | lighting |
| Website | www.erco.com |
As a medium-sized luminaire manufacturer, ERCO GmbH specializes in architectural lighting with LED technology. The headquarters of the company and production are located in Lüdenscheid in the Sauerland . The company name ERCO is a phonetic abbreviation of the founding name "Reininghaus & Co.". The family company, founded in 1934, operates in almost 40 countries around the world.
history
ERCO was founded in 1934 by Arnold Reininghaus (1907–2003), Paul Buschhaus and Karl Reeber in Lüdenscheid, Westphalia, and is still family-owned today. In the early years of the company, ERCO manufactured parts for lights, in particular a spring-loaded roll-up mechanism for hanging lights (pull lights). Before the Second World War, industrial production of complete lights began. After 1945 Arnold Reininghaus and Karl Reeber continued to run the company, co-founder Paul Buschhaus had died in the war. In the years that followed, the company successfully met the great demand for lights for residential construction during the “economic miracle”.
In 1963 Klaus Jürgen Maack (1938–2019), the son-in-law of Arnold Reininghaus, joined the company as managing director. From 1967 to 1969 ERCO built a new company headquarters on the "Brockhauser level" at the gates of Lüdenscheid, with administration and production buildings, which gathered the locations previously scattered throughout the city (see architecture). Under Maack's leadership, a new marketing strategy was also created with the motto “We sell light instead of luminaires”, with which ERCO developed into a system manufacturer for architectural lighting. In 1980, the company was awarded the "German Marketing Prize" for its implementation.
Thanks to Klaus Jürgen Maack's personal interest in architecture and the collaboration with the designer Otl Aicher from 1974 onwards, ERCO developed into a design-oriented company (see design). In the 1980s and 1990s, ERCO expanded its international activities and founded various subsidiaries abroad. In 2003, Klaus Jürgen Maack handed over the role of spokesperson to his son Tim Henrik Maack within the now four-person management. The management currently consists of Tim Henrik Maack, Kay Pawlik, Marcus Schramm and Mark Oliver Schreiter. The ERCO brand, under which the lights are sold, has been protected since 1956.
At the turn of the millennium, the management of the medium-sized family company decided to build up its expertise in the field of optoelectronics in Lüdenscheid. ERCO's product range has been based entirely on LED technology since January 2015 and is marketed under the motto “light digital”. The family-run company from Lüdenscheid is one of the first classic lighting manufacturers in the world to equip their products exclusively with LED technology after having used conventional lighting for many years.
Products
ERCO originally produced household lights such as kitchen pendant lights or bathroom lights. Under the leadership of Klaus Jürgen Maack, activities shifted to the newly created segment of systems for professional architectural lighting since the late 1960s. Since that time, tracks , spotlights and recessed ceiling lights have formed the backbone of the product portfolio. Outdoor luminaires have also been part of the range since 2001. The first LED lights appeared in 2000. The spotlights from the TM series and the Tallon spotlights are known as design classics .
Design and product creation
The lights are developed in Lüdenscheid in the form of an interdisciplinary collaboration between lighting technicians, electronics technicians, engineers and designers. All optoelectronic components are developed in-house. Since the switch to architectural lighting, product systems have been the focus of design, so that all lights can be combined with one another.
ERCO began working with designers on product design as early as the 1960s. Alois Ferdinand Gangkofner started developing molds for lampshades made of plastic from 1963 on. Well -known designers have been commissioned to design ERCO products on a regular basis since the 1970s, including Roger Tallon , Ettore Sottsass , Emilio Ambasz , Shiro Kuramata , Giancarlo Piretti , Dieter Witte , Knud Holscher, Franco Clivio , Naoto Fukasawa and Yves Béhar . The switch to LED technology from 2000 brought about a change in the design language: In line with semiconductor technology and the heat management required for it, ERCO's LED luminaires are characterized by a flatter, smaller shape.
In cooperation with the designer and type designer Otl Aicher , a highly regarded corporate design was created from 1974 onwards , the main features of which have been preserved and developed to this day. In particular, Aicher's Rotis (font) since 1990, the typeface of the company. In 1993, Klaus Jürgen Maack received the “Federal Prize for Design Supporters” award from the German Design Council , among other things for his work as ERCO Managing Director.
Awards
For its products and the consistently implemented brand communication, ERCO has received a large number of design awards, most recently the iF Gold Award 2015, the Good Design Awards 2014, the London Design Awards 2014, the Focus Open 2012, the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2008 and the German Design Award 2014.
The Tallon spotlights designed by Roger Tallon and the Oseris low-voltage spotlights by Emilio Ambasz and Giancarlo Piretti have been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art .
Projects
Originally known for lighting cultural institutions, ERCO now also equips numerous shops and offices with its products. The world-famous lighting projects include the Hotel Burj al Arab in Dubai, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Vatican Pinacoteca in Rome, the Grand Louvre with the glass pyramid in Paris and its branch in Lens , the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao , the auction house Christie's in New York as well as the airports of Dubai, London-Stansted, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza and Munich. International fashion brands such as Desigual , adidas , ZARA , Camper and American Apparel illuminate their branches with ERCO products. In Germany, too, there are representative buildings that are particularly highlighted by ERCO at night, for example in Berlin the Brandenburg Gate , the Reichstag building , the New Museum , the Federal Chancellery and the Hotel Adlon . In addition to renowned institutions, smaller offices and shops, galleries, restaurants and bars, public buildings such as university lecture halls and swimming pools as well as private houses are illuminated by ERCO.
architecture
The corporate architecture as part of the corporate identity plays an important role for ERCO, as the company and its products are aimed at architects as a target group. The company headquarters on the Brockhauser level north of Lüdenscheid is divided into different construction phases. The oldest of these are the production hall with a shed roof "P1" and the seven-story administration high-rise, which were built in 1967-69 according to plans by Ernst Kuhlmann, Hagen. In 1974 the building "P2", consisting of striking concrete elements, was added as an additional assembly and storage area, a design by HPP Hentrich, Petschnigg & Partner from Düsseldorf.
In 1989 the “Technical Center” was completed according to plans by Kiessler + Partner , Munich. It has received numerous awards for industrial architecture, including recognitions from the German Architecture Prize, the European Constructa Prize for Industrial Architecture and the Mies van der Rohe Prize.
The “P3” building attracted attention in 2002 as Germany's first high-bay warehouse with a glass facade. The design by the architects Schneider + Schumacher , Frankfurt, has around 7000 pallet storage spaces and a light art installation by Uwe Belzner, Heidelberg. This building also received several awards, for example the DETAIL Prize 2005, the Special Glass Prize, the German Steel Construction Prize 2004, the Balthasar Neumann Prize 2004 (shortlist), the Light Architecture Prize 2003 and the WestHyp Foundation 2002 - Architecture Prize for exemplary commercial buildings.
During the renovation of the reception area and foyer of the “Technical Center” in 2011, ERCO was able to achieve energy savings of around 75% through the use of its LED products.
literature
- ERCO lights (ed.); Aicher, Otl: ERCO light factory. From the beautiful glow of the lamp to the better glow of the light . Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, 1990. ISBN 3433021864
- Maack, Klaus Jürgen: Klaus Jürgen Maack - design or the culture of the appropriate. Occasion d. Award of Klaus Jürgen Maack with the federal award for sponsors of design . Wiesbaden: Vieweg Verlag, 1993. ISBN 3528081023
- Aksel Karcher / Martin Krautter / David Kuntzsch / Thomas Schielke / Christoph Steinke / Mariko Takagi: Light positions between culture and technology . Lüdenscheid, 2009, ISBN 9783981321609
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 2015 balance sheet, Federal Gazette.
- ^ Obituary notice Klaus Jürgen Maack , FAZ from July 9, 2019.
- ↑ "Light instead of luminaires: ERCO has existed for 75 years" Westfälische Rundschau, 30 June 2009.
- ↑ German Patent and Trademark Office
- ↑ NRW Minister in the "Lichtfabrik" Westfälische Rundschau, July 18, 2013.
- ↑ "ERCO's New Year's resolution: From now on, nothing but LED" Lux, from January 1, 2015.
- ^ "Small homage to a word mark - Canton" Design Diary, December 26, 2007.
- ↑ iF Design Awards
- ↑ Good Design Awards
- ^ London Design Awards
- ↑ Focus Open International Design Award Baden-Württemberg
- ↑ German Design Awards
- ↑ moma.org , accessed June 17, 2018.
- ↑ moma.org , accessed June 17, 2018.
- ↑ baukunst-nrw / Guide to architecture and civil engineering in North Rhine-Westphalia of the Chamber of Architects and the Chamber of Engineers Construction North Rhine-Westphalia
- ↑ Schneider + Schumacher architects
- ↑ “A successful update / ERCO foyer now complete with LED lighting” i-Magazin, July 14, 2011.
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 26.2 " N , 7 ° 36 ′ 29.1" E