Luminaires and glass-fibre-reinforced polyester manufacturer Beka has changed its name to Beka Schréder, owing to the company’s full rebranding, which Beka Schréder MD Carl Watson states will be instrumental in the continued growth of the company and overall positioning in the global lighting market.

He notes that, since 2002, the company has been in a business partnership with Belgian multinational lighting company Schréder.

“Our new name represents a new era for the company and while it strengthens our ties with our parent company, it also enables us to deliver the highest levels of service and the best global lighting innovations currently available on the market,” he says, adding that by combining a strong global brand with a strong African brand, many doors will be opened for the company.

To emphasise the company’s local commitment, it is continuing its local investments, which, Watson points out, will further strengthen its position as a local lighting innovator.

“These investments include upgrading and expanding our current research and development (R&D) department to cater for the fast-moving light-emitting diode (LED) technology while maintaining, or even increasing, the local content of our products,” he explains.

Watson notes that the upgrades include the installation of a new ingress protection chamber to measure the tightness against water and dust ingress into the company’s luminaires, a new impact-protection tester to measure impact resistance, the installation of photometry equipment to measure the luminous flux of Beka Schréder luminaires and a highly accurate automated goniophotometer to measure the light distribution.

“Other new additions include development machinery to manufacture prototypes to shorten the time to market new product developments, various electrical test equipment, vibration-testing machinery and the upgrade of our climatic chamber to simulate various ambient temperatures and humidity levels,” explains Watson.

Beka Schréder was recently appointed as one of five internationally accredited R&D centres within the Schréder group, doing all testing in-house, and was also chosen as the group’s solar R&D solution centre.

“This enables us to continually develop new lighting products for local requirements,” Watson says. He adds that the company will also continue to increase its capital investment to enlarge its product range for its local and international markets.

“We have increased our strength and product capabilities by hiring more employees, including newly appointed engineers and production managers to oversee the LED and other factory expansions,” Watson concludes.