Instrument Systems GmbH, a Munich company specialized in lighting measurement equipment, is sold by the Company founder and President Richard Distl to Konica Minolta Optics, Inc. The subsidiary company Optronik Berlin GmbH is also included in the sale. The company was established in 1986, and it will expand the sensing division of the Japanese Group with its successful product range. The Instrument Systems brand and the locations in Munich and Berlin will be retained. Additionally, the previous owner Richard Distl will continue as President and CEO. Th...

Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. has been developing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting as one of its promising new businesses in the field of energy and environment. The company recently announced a construction of a new roll-to-roll pilot coating line to manufacture OLED lighting within its Hino facility in Tokyo. The pilot line is dedicated to establish production technology toward mass-production and to sell the product on the limited basis.

With amazingly high contrast ratios and a thickness measuring in the millimeters, OLED TVs certainly look like the future of home theater. However, price is a major hurdle for the technology to overcome. While new technology always comes with a heavy price tag, some are expecting the price of OLED lighting to come down some time in 2011. The recent report predicts that active OLED lighting will become the mainstream in 2011, and its revenue will surpass that of passive LED lighting sometime around 2018.

The OLED lighting market will reach $6 billion by 2018, according to a recent report. The report notes that the OLED market will start to pick up in 2011, with Philips, GE, Konica Minolta, Lumiotec, and OSRAM entering mass production.

It’s reported that Konica Minolta has signed a deal with OLED developer Universal Display Corporation (UDC) to develop the technology in lighting applications.