Forge Europa News

Ed Miliband visits Forge Europa

2010-05-13T08:31:02Z

'Pictured: John Woodcock, Labour MP for Barrow and Furness; David Scott-Maxwell, Forge Europa Technical Manager; Ed Miliband, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.'

Ed Miliband, the former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, visited Cumbria on the 29^th April and made a special trip to Ulverston based firm Forge Europa. Forge Europa Ltd are a shining light in the Cumbrian business community, recently awarded the Queens Award for Innovation for their UK and International activities in the Solid State (LED) Lighting Market. Forge Europa design and manufacture LED Lighting Solutions for manufacturers of Industrial, Commercial and Domestic Light fittings around the world.

The visit was a chance for Forge Europa to show Mr Miliband the latest developments in LED Lighting Technology and an opportunity to demonstrate that LEDs are the beginning of a brand new era in lighting technology and truly represent a significant opportunity to reduce UK Energy Consumption.

LED based lamps or Solid State Lighting products are reported to be twice as efficient as compact fluorescent lamps and nearly 10 times as efficient as the older and more traditional style incandescent and halogen lamps. Domestic adoption alone of Solid State Lighting products could save up to £100 per year for a household (~30% reduction in electricity bills), and nationally could save 15TWH per year, equivalent to the output of three power stations (750MW at 80% average capacity factor).

Mr Peter Barton, Forge Europa's Managing Director, was keen to point out that a national adoption of LEDs or Solid State Lighting Products would help the UK meet its targeted reduction in environmentally damaging greenhouse gas emissions.

The South Lakes region of Cumbria hosts a community of companies specializing in Solid State Lighting Technology which is a real advantage to UK being able to adopt the technology ahead of Europe.

Forge Europa Ltd have recently announced major expansion plans and therefore Mr Miliband's visit could not have been better timed as this clearly demonstrates the company's commitment to undertake significant investment in both the infrastructure and skills necessary to support the development of products that can deliver serious reductions in global energy consumption.

Cree Solutions Provider

2010-04-13T09:14:00Z

Forge Europa Visible Solutions is privileged to be the designated Cree Solutions Provider for the UK and northern Europe; recognising the company's extensive knowledge in the design and volume manufacture of ultra efficient LED based lighting solutions. With over 17 years experience in the field of LED technology, Forge Europa has built a dedicated technical team with a broad range of skills including thermal and optical design, electronic engineering and pragmatic product manufacturing

CREE Breaks 200 Lumen per Watt Barrier

2010-03-10T11:19:00Z

As an industry leader in the manufacture lighting class white power LEDs Cree have announced a reported laboratory efficacy record of 208 lumens per Watt; surpassing a significant milestone in the solid state lighting industry and demonstrating Cree's relentless drive to improve the performance of its LEDs.

The results were measured under standard LED test conditions at a drive current of 350mA at room temperature.

Forge Europa 'switches on' its expansion plans

2010-02-12T10:15:00Z

LED lighting company, Forge Europa has a bright future ahead after announcing investment plans to build a new research and development facility and boost staff numbers. Forge Europa has unveiled its scheme, after being granted planning permission to build a brand new purpose-built additional four storey facility for research and development and additional offices on its current site at The Old Railway, Ulverston.

CEO, Peter Barton said,
"At Forge Europa, our team has created great LED products and a sound business model to lay the foundations for further long-term growth and stay one step ahead of the competition."

Forge Europa develops, designs, manufactures and supplies innovative LED lamps, displays and solid state lighting assemblies. It was founded in 1993 and today supplies its products to 34 countries around the world. Peter Barton, who was a finalist in the recent CN Group Businessman of the Year Award added, "fortunately for us, a huge variety of industries are coming to us because of increasing energy costs and government pressure on businesses to become more environmentally-friendly, which means our low energy, longer lasting and mercury-free LED Lighting Solutions are in big demand."

For further information please contact Andrew Tomlinson, mailto:andrew@forge-europa.co.uk

A Call for Government to Support Solid State Lighting in the UK

2010-01-11T10:30:00Z

Peter Barton, Managing Director of Forge Europa was the guest speaker on both Radio Cumbria and at the Solid State Lighting Event: Energy Efficient Lighting Solutions in Lancaster in November 2009. The event was organised by the NWDA and Envirolink North-West. Peter took the opportunity not only to promote the potential low energy benefits of LED lighting but also to request British Government support into solid state lighting development.

Peter explained how at Forge Europa, "our USP is our capability to meld together all the various engineering disciplines mechanical, electrical, electronic, thermal, optical, production etc. in our range of LED lighting solutions." He cited how many other major economies are putting the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds into the development of SSL for their home and export markets and believes that unless the UK does the same, companies like Forge Europa, which currently has a competitive and technological edge, could lose out to the sheer scale and financial force of the competition. "The British are excellent at innovation, as evidenced by the number of Nobel Prize winners we have from the UK, as well as ground breaking inventions that have changed the world," Peter said. He believes Britain has a great opportunity to establish itself as a global leader in solid state lighting technology to turn its innovative ideas into success and growth for UK businesses.

Forge Europa Sponsor Local Cricket Team

2009-11-09T11:18:00Z

Local cricket club Lindal Moor has a wonderful 125 year cricketing history and a fantastic record of welcoming and developing young players to the club. Forge Europa is proud of its ongoing support of the club and pleased to have sponsored the kits the U15 players are pictured wearing.

Forge Europa is proud of the success of its apprentices

2009-10-07T11:38:00Z

Congratulations to Zena Walker who was recently awarded an NVQ Level 2 in Accounting and to Tom Marshall who gained his NVQ Level 2 in Performing Engineering Operations. For many years Forge Europa has successfully run a business administration apprenticeship in-house supported by Furness College, but 3 years ago this was extended to include accounting technician training. In the last year Forge Europa has also appointed its first engineering apprentice. Both Zena and Tom are continuing their training with Zena on target to achieve her AAT Accounting qualification in the coming months and Tom embarking on an NVQ Level 3 Electrical Engineering course.

Daylight Visible Dot Matrix Displays

2009-08-25T13:19:00Z

FND-3881Y0460STBC is a new dot matrix display from Forge Europa designed to achieve the same output characteristics, in terms of intensity, aesthetic appearance and viewing angle, to that of a surface mounted LED device.

Packaged within a 32mm black surfaced reflector and encapsulated within water clear epoxy, each of the 64 dice is mounted centrally within the dot aperture and bonded onto a white display substrate to aid contrast in high-glare outdoor environments.

Read the full article here

Forge Europa Limited off to the Palace

2009-07-28T10:55:00Z

Forge Europa Directors, Peter and Julie Barton visited Buckingham Palace on Monday 13^th July 2009 after the firm was awarded the equivalent of a company knighthood in this year's Queen's Awards for Enterprise. They attended a special evening reception for 2009 Queen's Award winners, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duke of York, other members of the Royal Family and Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills.

Forge Europa won its Queen's Award in the Innovation category in April this year. It was commended for achieving its custom design and manufacturing capabilities in providing LED lighting solutions for a large variety of applications. James Cropper, Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria presented the company with a certificate signed by both The Queen and the Prime Minister together with an engraved rose bowl to commemorate the company's Queen's Award success.

Benefits to customers of the company's innovations range from better optical and energy efficiency to greater reliability, longer product life and therefore lower maintenance costs. Customers from a huge array of market sectors are supplied with products value engineered specifically for their purpose.

EUROLED 2009

2009-06-12T15:58:00Z

Once again Forge Europa has received an unprecedented level of interest at this year's EuroLED 09 exhibition. Hosted again by Aston Science Park at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, last year's successful show has been undoubtedly surpassed. Ian Dixon and Grant Huck from Forge Europa would like to thank all customers and new contacts for visiting the newly designed exhibition stand and look forward to following up on your interest very soon. David Scott-Maxwell, Forge Europa R&D Manager, would also like to thank those visitors who attended the conference presentation "Design Considerations for Effective LED Integration". The presentation was well attended and extremely informative.

Forge Europa wins the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Outstanding Innovation Category

2009-04-27T09:51:48Z

Forge Europa has been judged a worthy winner of the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Outstanding Innovation Category. The Award recognises the research, development, custom design and manufacture that has been undertaken by the business in the field of LED lighting, displays and LED assemblies since it was established in 1993.

The Queen's Award is generally recognised as the most prestigious business award in the UK. According to the Queen's Office this puts the company in an "elite group of companies ... the most successful of UK businesses."

Peter Barton, Managing Director feels especially proud to win the Queen's Award for Outstanding Innovation. "The exceptional growth of the company is based upon the success of our innovative custom LED displays, assemblies and lighting solutions and the strength of the whole team in offering excellent customer service. It is a wonderful endorsement for the company."

The company were informed by letter that "Her Majesty The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the Prime Minister's recommendation that a Queen Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category should this year be conferred upon your business unit on Tuesday 21st April (Her Majesty's birthday)."

Forge Europa, based in Ulverston Cumbria, has been designing and manufacturing LED products since 1993. Having identified the emerging market for solid state lighting products, in 2004 the company invested in capability, including technical staff and laboratories to supply custom design and manufacturing capability in LED lighting, displays and LED assemblies.

This has the inherent benefits of low energy consumption, long life, lower maintenance costs, compactness and high controllability.

Peter Barton is delighted that Forge Europa was recognised through the award entry process for "our cutting edge technology, combined with unrivalled knowledge and a genuine desire to provide excellent customer care. We have demonstrated our proven track record for quality and reliability. The Queens Award is a tremendous boost to our business and highlights the significant success we have achieved and our contribution to the market."

"It would not have been possible to submit such an impressive entry for this award without the long term efforts and contribution to the business of our design team led by David Scott-Maxwell, which has brought a number of innovative products to the market, and our dedicated sales team, led by Ian Dixon, together with the support of our fantastic employees across all areas of the business."

Forge Europa continues to support the work of St Marys Hospice

2009-01-08T10:30:00Z

St Marys Hospice in Ulverston provides specialist medical nursing and care to people from South Lakeland and Furness suffering from serious progressive illnesses and is funded mainly by the generosity of the community for the community. Forge Europa has supported the Hospice for many years and has once again been awarded the Gold Membership Award by the hospice for its ongoing generous donations and fundraising initiatives.

Forge Team Celebrate Successful Electronica 2008

2008-11-25T13:34:00Z

Forge Europa's fourth attendance at the Electronica Exhibition in Munich has been deemed a huge success. Electronica 2008 was the launch platform for Forge Europa's new website and corporate identity which now includes the solid state LED lighting solutions division - Visible Solutions.

73 000 visitors came through the door to visit 2800 exhibitors, endorsing Electronica as the most important electronics venue in Europe.

Visible Solutions is fully supported by the dynamic and technically outstanding Forge Europa team. This ensures all products from components to assemblies are manufactured to the highest standard of quality and reliability for which Forge Europa is renowned.

Forge Europa's CEO, Peter Barton named International Director of the Year

2008-10-14T11:51:00Z

Peter Barton was honoured with the International Director of the Year for the North West award by the Institute of Directors in a ceremony at the Manchester City stadium, hosted by well-known sports presenter Gabby Logan. Peter said: "I was delighted. It's very nice to receive such a prestigious award and to get something that your peers have decided you deserve. I am the figurehead, but it really is a reflection of the company's efforts and achievements."

Darrell Matthews, North West Regional Director for the IoD, commented that "The number of nominations has been a record this year and every individual was of an exceptionally high calibre. The winners and finalists are all well deserved and are true examples of the talent that exists in our region."

The solid state lighting division, Visible Solutions provides custom LED lighting assemblies and ancillary products to a wide variety of markets both on a national and global basis. In the last year, Forge Europa has supplied products to customers in 34 different countries worldwide. (October 2008)

LED Lighting Strips in an Array of Colours

2008-10-10T15:02:41Z

Forge Europa, the innovative LED components and solutions provider continues to develop its range of LED assemblies to include rigid and flexible LED lighting strips.

Forge Europa rigid lighting strips are 10mm wide and are available in lengths of 400mm for full colour RGB and 500mm for single colours (cool white, warm white, red, amber, green and blue). With a single connection to one end, up to 4 modules can be connected together end to end giving a maximum illumination length of 1600mm or 2000mm.

Both strips can be divided into small sections, 5 sections containing 2 LEDs each for the RGB and 10 sections containing 4 LEDs each for the single colours.

Custom options such as the inclusion of strip connectors and linking pieces are available upon request.

Flexible lighting strips are available in 500mm lengths in single colours and RGB. Complete with self adhesive backing tape, flexible strips can also be divided in to subsections and easily mounted to curved surfaces.

For more information visit us at ICE 2008 Earls Court London between 22nd and 24th January or contact us by phone on +44 (0)1229 580000 or e-mail our Sales Department or visit us at www.forge-europa.co.uk.

John Hutton's Visit to Forge Europa

2008-10-10T15:01:40Z

Forge Europa was pleased to welcome John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform to their offices in Ulverston on Friday 30th November 2007. During the MP's visit, Forge Europa M.D, Peter Barton was able to explain to Mr Hutton how the business' rapid growth in the last two years, was due to the company's innovative product portfolio and custom design capability coupled with the team's excellent commitment to customer service.

Mr Hutton was most interested to learn of the recent launch of a new division of Forge Europa called Visible Solutions, dedicated to High Power Solid State LED Lighting Technology. Peter Barton was also pleased to be able to report on the progress being made on a joint research project being carried out by Forge Europa and Cambridge University into lower cost manufacturing of LEDs, sponsored by Mr Hutton's own government department. LEDs are considered the environmentally friendly lighting option of the future and together Forge Europa and Cambridge aim to develop lower cost LEDs for general lighting that could be powered by as little as 10% of the energy required by typical incandescent light bulbs, whilst lasting potentially up to 100 times longer.

Forge Europa - Visible Solutions appointed as CREE Launches Solutions Provider Program

2008-10-10T14:59:47Z

DURHAM, NC, NOVEMBER 15, 2007 - Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a leader in LED solid-state lighting components, today announced a new value-added solutions providers program. The Cree Solutions Providers network offers customers a full range of LED lighting-system solutions and design assistance to help accelerate time to market and reduce product development costs.

Network members work closely with Cree to help ensure alignment of technologies. They are chosen based on their history of collaborating successfully with customers. Services provided from within the network include:

Design consulting
Customized design
LED engines
Turnkey solutions
Sub-assembly
Complete assembly

"Cree Solutions Providers represent a select group of value-added solutions providers who can help accelerate the time-to-market of high-quality LED lighting systems based on Cree XLamp® LEDs," noted Bob Pollock, Cree senior vice president of sales. "The rapidly increasing demand for high-performance LED lighting systems presents a huge potential sales opportunity for those who deliver quality fixtures to market quickly. The Cree Solutions Providers program is designed to help our customers address this opportunity."

For more information, please contact Forge Europa - Visible Solutions by phone on +44 (0)1229 580000 or by e-mail or visit us at www.visible-solutions.co.uk.

Visible Solutions adds Secondary Optics to its Portfolio

2008-10-10T14:30:26Z

Forge Europa - Visible Solutions is delighted to confirm the availability of Carclo and Ledil LED secondary optics from stock in its UK warehouse.

Both Carclo and Ledil are recognised as leading the market in the development and manufacture of LED secondary optics, suitable for use with all leading high power LEDs. The introduction of these optics enables Forge Europa - Visible Solutions to offer optic solutions for almost any application with narrow angle spots and collimators to wide angle diffusers and elliptical patterns all available.

If it is a complete solution that is required then these optics can be integrated with the appropriate high power LED and PCB assembly enabling Forge Europa to be your one-stop shop for reliable, tested and proven LED assembled solutions.

For further technical details and more information on LED secondary optics and LED solutions, please contact Ian Dixon by phone on +44 (0)1229 580000 or e-mail our Sales Department or visit us at www.visible-solutions.co.uk.

Ulverston Rangers Under 10s Football Squad are now forging ahead in their new kits sponsored by Forge Europa

2008-10-10T12:54:00Z

Ulverston Rangers have been enjoying a winning streak since sporting their new kits which show the distinctive Forge Europa logo. The players are delighted with their new look or is that luck! The photo below shows the young players proudly wearing their new kits with their coaches (far left) and Forge Europa's MD, Peter Barton (far right).

Forge Europa, the innovative designers and manufacturers of LED lamps, displays and custom designed LED lighting strips and assemblies have a long history of supporting Ulverston Rangers, an amateur club made up of volunteers, which organises football for local children.

For further information about Forge Europa's community involvement and LED products please contact Andrew Tomlinson by phone on +44 (0)1229 580000 or e-mail our Sales Department