Established in the year 2003, Digiopto Technologies Pvt. Ltd. claims to have scaled the industry verticals owing to its inclination towards innovation and high-class LED lighting service. With around two decades of experience in catering to its high profile clientele, the company is well versed in meeting complete requirements of the two industries i.e. LED Lighting and Sign & POP. Digiopto is also a certified LLFY [LED Light for you] channel partner for Osram since 2013.
The company that markets itself under the brand DigiLED is the specialist of LED Linear lighting and manufactures aluminium profiles, LED aluminium strip modules, LED architectural lighting, LED cabinet and shelf lights, LED control systems, POP & POS solutions, etc. The company also offers services like custom designs of cabinet lighting, customised LED spot illuminated solutions and architectural lighting solutions for indoor and outdoor. To further explore the expertise, the LED World’s editorial team met Milind Mohikar, the company’s managing director in Mumbai. The excerpts of the conversation are here in the follow up:
Which all products do you manufacture?
We offer LED linear strips, aluminium profiles, LED modules along with drivers and LED control system to perfectly meet specific requirements of our customers. We manufacture various linear lighting from low to high power and for many different applications. Our LED strips and lights use branded LEDs, which we source from renowned LED manufacturers. We use high end diffuser from companies like Japanese Mitsubushi and BWF from Germany, while LEDs are procured from Bridgelux, Lumileds, Osram, LG, Samsung, Edison, etc. We develop and manufacture profiles ourselves. Drivers, we use from MeanWell, Fulham, Osram, etc. depending upon the project requirement as well as the client’s choice. We offer both recess and surface linear lighting. We also offer EMS and luminaries development service.
In which all segments do you supply your products?
Our CV/CC strips and linear lighting products are highly efficient and are used in offices, commercial areas, retail stores, residences, malls & auditoriums, conference & exhibition halls, building exterior decorations, workshops & factories, kitchen, wardrobes and various other furniture’s. Our lighting solutions are used extensively in advertisement industry. Apart from all these, we also cater to the lighting requirements of various sectors like jewellery, high-end watches, pens, cellular phones, etc. We offer 2- to 5-year warranty on these products.
How do you reach your target customers?
Our products are sold through wide network of dealers and distributors across the nation, except for our large corporate clientele, to whom we cater directly. Our LED products are very popular in European nations where we do OEM developments and supply for quite a few lighting and sign manufacturers in the east Europe and Middle East.
What all constitute your infrastructure?
Our infrastructure is empowered with versatile capacities and team of industry experts. Located in Vasai near Mumbai, our production facility is well-equipped with all the necessary machinery including the Japanese Juki LED 350 Chip Mounter [Pick and Place machine with 32,000 components per hour], reflow ovens, batch reflow, wire stripping & cutting machines, wider dipping, laser cutting & engraving machines, PCB processing & finishing machines, de-paneling machines and many other electronic processing related equipment.
Our manufacturing facility is manned with efficient & experienced team of electronics professionals who ensure that every process as well as product is streamlined to meet the defined goal. We have a well-experienced team of engineers. Our technicians are equally efficient as they are trained and have undergone various trainings to handle manufacturing of LED products.
Why should one rely on Digiopto?
Many small suppliers who are importing the components at cheap prices and assembling the lights, they are creating linear lighting with flexible LED strips, while we develop specific rigid strip and then create module systems. This makes us different from the league, which the customers recognise once their existing installations fail to function even within the promised timeline. Following which, they call us for the replacement. Today, we cater to most of the replacement markets. Meanwhile, our stringent testing and quality control department is fully active and no finished products leave our factory without passing through strict testing and correct packaging.
Where do you get the ideas for designing/developing new products?
We have a dedicated research and development department that continuously works on LED lighting applications and technologies, and help us change the way illumination and custom lights are made. The R&D team is in tune with latest developments taking place in the world of LED technology and keeps exploring ways to introduce innovation in our products and services. Our designers and technicians work in close co-ordination with our clients to meet their expectations and offer them cost-effectives ways of promoting their business. We use modern technology to manufacture our products and constantly delve in research to come out with innovative ideas.
How do you keep a check on your quality?
Being a quality conscious company, we closely monitor each level of manufacturing process and ensure that only high quality raw material is being used. Quality is the nucleus of all our endeavours. We take stringent measures to ensure all our products conform to the highest norms of quality. We procure raw materials from respected suppliers of the world and cross check them at our in-house testing unit for ingenuity. We ensure that our materials are UV-proof/water-proof/heat- and weather-resistant depending upon the case to be used in.
What solutions do you have under linear lighting?
We at Digiopto Technologies design and manufacture different kinds of linear lightings to suit today’s lightning demands. Starting from simple cove lighting to recessed and suspended lighting, we manufacture more than 200 different combinations with our own LED strips and profiles with high-class diffusers combined together to cover various linear lighting applications.
We produce linear lighting in step 3 SDCM to give highly consistent and stable colours, which are available with 2700k, 3000k, 4000k, 5000k and 6500k as per requirement. We are the master of custom made linear lighting. We can do site-oriented customisation of lights to meet exact length of linear lighting and we count it as one of our core specialties. Being a manufacturer, we understand the requirements of a site and alter the specifications of our lighting as per requirements of the customer.
What’s the USP?
Ours is a unique company. We manufacture everything in-house. We do not take anything from China even in the name of raw materials. We have our own plant for making all components – be it profile or housing. We have our own SMT plant for creating in-built LED strips, etc. This facilitates easy control on our products, especially from the quality point of view. This is further confirmed by the feedback we regularly receive from our customers.
Over the years, how has the fate of linear lighting changed?
For linear lighting alone, our capacity is around 80,000 meter per month. Linear lighting is not exclusive now as there are many new players entering into the industry. Nowadays, linier lighting is not restricted only to straight lines, but new patterns have come in the form of various shapes like circle, square, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, etc. This experiment was successful as it has helped linear lighting move out from office space and penetrate many new areas like residences, malls, shopping complexes, etc. It is also getting into façade lighting – be it for indoor or outdoor applications in many cities. In fact, there has been a shift in illumination preferences now.
What changes have you observed in the illumination preferences?
As I said, light preference has changed nowadays. To meet the same, we have introduced a new line of illumination factors like 2200K, 3500K, 5000K, and 5500K, which are not commonly available in the market. We have recently added 8000K to 10000K to our portfolio of offerings. We have also added a few new colours – like yellow, sky blue, orange, etc.
Besides, we also have tunable solution that operates at 2700K to 6500K. We have done quite a few installations of the same which are extremely successful, and hence, highly appreciated. This is meant for customers in the high-end segment, who want to enjoy diverse effects of lighting in their lives.
What is the lifespan of these lighting solutions?
Life of such solutions depends on the components used and workmanship applied. If these are of high quality, the lighting installation can easily run for three years without any hassle. But there may come some issues with driver(s) depending upon the usage patterns. Generally, installations older than three years cannot be upgraded because of the compatibility quotient of the existing system for the advanced version. Therefore, when it comes to incorporating advancements, it’s not possible to implement as the system needs to be compatible for the same. However, three years is a good duration for these products to remain functional.
What is the frequency of advancements come in these LED lighting solutions?
The changes usually come in two to three years. And by then, customers themselves want to switch over to the newer version. Three years duration is more than enough for both the product as well as the customer to ask for change.
Where can we see Digiopto in a couple of years from now?
Digiopto has been growing very fast and we hope we will be maintaining the leadership position in the country’s linear lighting segment. The quality that we are offering is the best in the country. The skills which our workers have are unmatched in the industry mainly because of the experience that they have acquired over the years.
