Catch up on Tridonic’s strategic changes, sustainability advancements, and customer-centric innovations
Founded in 1956 in Dornbirn, Austria, Tridonic is a subsidiary of the wider Zumtobel Group and a driving force in the development of professional lighting solutions. Over its 60-year history, the company has established itself as a world-leading provider of lighting technology for various professional applications, such as office buildings, retail outlets, hotels and restaurants, as well as the education and outdoor lighting sectors. A year after we last spoke with him, Tridonic’s Managing Director, Richard Strode, sits with us in an interview. He begins by covering the developments that have occurred within the company over the last 12 months. 
“In the UK, we underwent a slight restructuring in early 2024 due to changes in market demands resulting from the pandemic and other events. Additionally, we were reassessed for EcoVadis this year and have achieved the gold standard, a particularly impressive feat considering the increasing number of subscribers joining the scheme. Therefore, achieving gold means that we continue to maintain a higher standard than our ever-increasing number of competitors.”
Stuart Sloane, Operations Director, adds: “When it comes to new product development, we have made a significant advancement by establishing a rapid prototyping setup within our R&D department. We have also made great strides in training and recruitment, as we are currently linked with a local college to set up our very own Tridonic Training Academy. The academy will welcome people aged 16 and over to train in mechatronics, IPC soldering, and SMT machines. Our goal is to train these individuals, then select the best performers and bring them into the business, thereby encouraging younger people to join the industry and offering them a career development plan.”
As previously highlighted by Richard, Tridonic has undergone some structural changes and shares the reasons behind them and their impact on the customer experience. “The restructuring was implemented to enhance customer experience through the creation of a key accounts team. Given that a high percentage of our business comes from a limited number of customers, establishing a key account focus is a logical step, and it is already showing positive results. Additionally, we have appointed a dedicated UK Sustainability Lead, Martin Thompson, who showed a personal interest in sustainability throughout his tenure as Technical Services Manager. Martin works very closely with Stuart’s operations team, providing two focused aspects to our approach,” says Richard.
Demonstration site
“Demonstrating our expertise and competence to our customers is crucial, but we also need to prove ourselves when we get assessed as a manufacturing facility. With what the world went through over the last four years due to the pandemic, electronic shortages in our industry, and the plethora of Chinese imported products without customer support on the ground, we absolutely needed to enhance our customer service levels. We are always adapting the way we approach and listen to our clients, and our dedicated customer service representative regularly consults with clients to evaluate how we can better support them. In other words, we stay up to date with market trends and we understand the importance of adapting our structure to provide the best customer service possible,” he continues.
Prioritizing outstanding customer service goes hand in hand with Tridonic’s commitment to manufacturing only the highest quality lighting systems and solutions. “Anything we design and sell to our customers’ systems and the value added are also installed into our own facility in Spennymoor. Indeed, it is currently equipped with a fully functional lighting control system. Hence, Spennymoor serves as a demonstration site for our customers, where we showcase the efficiency of our products by using them and living with them every day. Interestingly, we face similar challenges in compliance as our end users, which ultimately allows us to better understand and address their needs,” Richard enlightens.
Embedded sustainability
Recently, Tridonic secured a grant from Business Durham to improve its Spennymoor plant’s processes. “With this financial support, we are introducing a new sensor product that replaces the solder balls on the underside of an integrated circuit. Additionally, it enables us to undertake any rework that may be required, thus giving us the competitive edge to be able to use different technologies and miniaturization. This particular sensor is approximately the size of a 20 pence coin and is unique in the market. It enables us to detect when the sensor is installed in the luminaire, which has always been challenging,” Stuart goes on.
From its manufacturing processes to its Cradle to Cradle certified products, sustainability is pivotal to Tridonic’s endeavors. Richard reflects on the company’s recent EcoVadis reassessment. “EcoVadis is not merely an evaluation of our energy-saving or sustainability initiatives; it also reviews our business operations across every department, including the way we interact with suppliers and manufacturers, water stewardship, and more. To achieve an EcoVadis gold standard is a testament to potential customers of the levels we have maintained to achieve that status. With all the green washing going on in the industry, we aim to show that sustainability is genuinely embedded in our organization, both in our manufacturing facilities and in the products we supply to support our customers on their own sustainability journeys,” he informs.