Smart Light

At ELKOTRON’s, we are sitting at the table with managing director Stephan Hellwig, production manager Jochen Sturm, and sales director Christopher Snedden, and talk about the company’s core business: the development and production of pinpoint-sized electronic components and the assembly of printed boards and control units for smart LED lighting systems. This sounds very technical for a start. But the product containing this concentrated technological competence is suspended directly above our heads: a slim and elegant pendant luminaire, extractable to a length of 120 to 225 cm, fitted with fiber-coupled LEDs, its light intensity and temperature dimmable by gestures or a slight tilting of the light fixture. “If I want to, I can even control the various functions via an App,” explains Jochen Sturm.

Technology supplied by electronics experts ELKOTRON in Solms

This superb luminaire, which one would love to immediately dismount and install in one’s own home, is called “Lightline” and ranges among the top products of the luminaire manufacturers BANKAMP of the German Sauerland region. The technology inside is supplied by electronics experts ELKOTRON in Solms. Michael Kossmann, CEO of the family-owned business BANKAMP, is one of the two managing directors of ELKOTRON. The other one is Stephan Hellwig. Both set great store on quality made in Germany.

Such a close collaboration is exemplary for the working methods of ELKOTRON. And it is anything but a given in this industry. Even though the advantages are quite obvious. ELKOTRON possesses the development competence to fulfill each and every specific requirement of their customers straight to the point. Hardware and software are perfectly geared to each other. Development and production work hand in hand. And, as sales director Christopher Snedden points out: “Due to the proximity to our customers, we are able to not only provide an extraordinary service but to also guarantee reliable deliveries.” People who remember the worldwide delivery difficulties during the pandemic, understand the importance.

ELKOTRON’s customers benefit from their longstanding expert knowledge in the development and production of smart LED products. “No matter if flexible or rigid LED circuit boards are required, we develop and produce everything in this sector. From planning the layout to prototyping down to series production, we cover everything here in-house,” says Stephan Hellwig. The specialization on particularly compact electronic sub-assemblies and intelligent control systems enables ELKOTRON to also implement customer specific interfaces or sensor interfaces for industrial applications – such as for ultrasonic welding devices, telescopic sights, or balancing machines. “Sometimes, customers bring us a complete layout that they want to be populated. In other cases, we accompany customers during the whole development process – from the first idea to the finished product,” Christopher Snedden explains.

Excellent knowhow to develop upscale solutions

There is one man to whom sales director Christopher Snedden nearly has something like a permanent phone line. His name is Rasmus Weigel. Snedden is in direct contact with their customers, Weigel possesses special sensors for brilliant ideas. As chief developer, he has the expert knowledge to take customer requirements and specifications and make them come true with regard to design, optics, and electronics in form of actually working systems. On a high table, he shows and explains to us the electronic inner workings of LED lighting systems which make sure that a “dumb” light becomes smart or that a cold light temperature turns warm.

The close interleaving of customized electronics development and state-of-the-art electronics production under one roof cannot be beaten, and this does not only hold true for LED circuit boards. It is a unique feature which is characteristic for ELKOTRON and makes them especially interesting for customers who place great value on an intensive collaboration in development, specific solutions, and excellent results. And of that, there is quite a lot in the technology region Central Hesse where ELKOTRON is based.

www.elkotron.de