Headquartered in Bangalore, Orange Plus LED is the flagship company of the modern, futuristic and diversified Rs.300-crore conglomerate Online Instruments (India) Pvt. Ltd. (OLI). Since, its inception in 1994, the company has been delivering innovative solutions and products for the office automation sector. With 25 years of experience, OLI has now embarked to address the burgeoning LED lighting industry through its own brand Orange Plus LED (OPL).
OPL’s expertise covers the entire gamut of LED solutions – including design, manufacturing, supply & installation of fixtures and strong after-sales service. A dedicated team of engineers with over 15 years of experience work round-the-clock with the aim of creating customer delight. The brand is now focused towards rapidly expanding its distribution network not only across India but overseas.
To discuss all this in detail we, at LED World, got hold with Mahesh Bellad, the company’s Director, who believes that having a strong manufacturing backbone, world-class R&D infrastructure supported by a robust distribution network and a superior sales & service team will drive OPL in the global LED lighting landscape. Excerpts are here to follow:
What made the establishment of Orange Plus? What synergies did the parent company find in its existing business and LED lighting?
Since its inception in 1994, Online Instruments (India) Private Limited (OLI) has been delivering innovative solutions and products for the office automation sector. Today, OLI is the leading audio-visual integrator for boardrooms, conference rooms, cafeteria, auditoriums, experience centres, and digital signage solutions provider along with major distributor, importer and exporter of branded audio & video conferencing units, telephones, headsets, projectors, projector accessories, etc. OLI is working with several leading brands which include – Panasonic, Cisco, Polycom, Christie, Crestron, etc. Understanding that our core strength evolved around Integrated Technologies along with the balanced, state-of-the-art manufacturing solutions, we channelised the expertise to launch our own brand ‘Orange Plus LED’.
Our Mission today is to bring Human centric lighting solutions with key focus on design and technology. Within a short span of just 2 years, Orange Plus LED has succeeded in creating a strong brand recall in India through aggressive marketing campaigns along with smart sales strategy. Orange Plus LED has the most extensive array of LED lighting solutions of international quality for residential, commercial, industrial catering to both indoor and outdoor usage.
Which all products & solutions does the company have in its extensive portfolio for lighting industry? What is the USP at Orange Plus?
Orange Plus has been working upon several innovative Solutions basis the consumer insights. The work in progress is on wireless lighting, IoT-based lighting, App-based lighting etc. We have a dedicated R&D team that focuses on building the supply-chain dynamics to outline an ecosystem for LED lighting solutions that are class apart and technologically superior.
In terms of what differentiates us from the rest is undoubtedly the product quality – all our products carry 1,000-days guarantee and our LED drivers work for a minimum of over 8,000 hours, which is much more than any other brand. Also unlike other brands, we measure light in lumens and not in watts. Our lights cover more distance than the ones available in the market. To emphasise further, our key breakthrough product which is also one of the best sellers for corporate is the 2×2 surface lights, which has 1W power LED lens whereas others provide 0.25W without lens.
Our QSR mantra which is our strongest differentiation, defines the brand ideology; quality, service and reliability enable us to bring advanced solutions at the best price points to our valuable consumers. For us, it’s the customer satisfaction that paramount everything else.
Where is the manufacturing/assembling plant located? What is the strength?
With the aim to surpass industry standards, from the beginning Orange Plus LED is determined to achieve superior quality by laying the foundation to meet and exceed industry expectations where possible. Today, we offer the widest array of LED lighting solutions of international quality for residential, commercial, industrial and outdoor usage.
Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is in compliance with internationally recognised standards that ensure every product has the attributes of quality and efficacy. Our facility at Bangalore in Karnataka spans across 50,000 sq. ft. and manufactures lighting products for indoor and outdoor applications, with a capacity to produce 4,000 and 2,000 units respectively, each day. We build all the critical components of the products in-house which enable us for greater quality control, product manufacturing efficiency and cost-competiveness.
All our components undergo rigorous service life testing right from the earliest stages of product development, to guarantee durability. When developing new products, our goal is energy-efficiency optimised without compromising amenity and sacrificing convenience technologies. Each step in the manufacturing and testing is reviewed and controlled by the highly vigilant Quality Assurance Team, comprises highly trained and qualified staff and provides wealth of experience to ensure high quality standards are maintained throughout the manufacturing process.
With all this, Orange Plus LED is now entering international markets with its comprehensive lighting solutions portfolio. We plan to cater to the huge demand of LED lighting across global markets like Middle East, South Asia and Africa.
How has the company been placed in the country’s lighting industry? Against which all brands, Orange Plus is competing in the market?
Orange Plus is fortifying its competitive position by focusing on technology, strengthening channel (2x retail network in two years targeting smaller towns) and addressing untapped markets (B2B, consumer durable, etc.), while ensuring it retains its entrepreneurship culture (independent SBUs under OLI to sustain growth). Undoubtedly, there is fierce competition from the established brands to Orange Plus LED. However, what supersede all are the product quality, innovation and technology.
To drive future growth and also establish ourselves, we have maintained a tight focus on our strategic direction and our strategic business of ICT infrastructure. We have also continued to invest heavily in R&D to continually make technological breakthroughs. In addition to this, our value distribution system is integral to motivate workforce to constantly create value.
How many channel partners the company has as of now? What is the network expansion plan in near future?
Orange Plus is a traders-friendly company and presently we have over 100+ distributors associated with us. With our product and market expertise, we provide a platform for our network to improve and grow in terms of revenue and reach. With strong relations with our distributors, we are able to provide useful first-hand information on the market insights which shall prepare them to seize market opportunities.
There are robust plans of setting up 200 lounges within next one year. Which all cities are covered under the plan? What would be the nature of lounges – dealer-owned or company-owned? Which all products would be displayed there?
Yes we aim to set 100+ Lounges by 2020. Our concentration will be south and west zones. Our target areas won’t be just the Tier 1 & 2 cities but in-fact the unexplored markets which promise a stronger potential following several government initiatives. We shall have a range of our indoor and outdoor lighting products, giving the first-hand experience to the technology we provide to the Indian markets. The lounges shall be jointly owned with the dealers.
What goes in the company’s aggressive marketing plans and smart sales strategy? Please discuss.
We plan to expand our Experience Centres and not just in Bangalore, but at pan India level. These Centres will offer customers ecologically advanced LED lighting solutions. We also plan to introduce an interesting range of 23 new models in the current fiscal itself. This would be apart from our tailor-made solutions.
Our new product line-up in residential LED lighting comprises of large LED ceiling lights, compact LED ceiling lights, etc. Another step to increase our foothold, we have been levelling up our distribution channels. We continue to expand the width and depth of our network team to build an Omni-channel presence with the help of dealers. Our major focus is on technology and strengthening the channel in cities and towns and addressing the untapped market for growth. For Orange Plus LED to achieve its goals, we strongly believe tapping into Tier-II and Tier-III cities are key.
What is the split of national and overseas market contributions?
Currently, we are catering only to the domestic market and shall start focusing overseas by 2020.
