Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. is a commercial lighting manufacturer founded in 1947 and based in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

. It was part of the $105 Billion

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

family of companies from 2007 to 3 2021. Today, the company is owned by Atar Capital and operates under the entity of Universal Douglas Lighting Americas, Inc. (or UDLA). Universal primarily designs and manufactures LED products, including LED Drivers, LED Modules, LED Luminaires, LED Retrofit Kits, LED Tubes, and Ballasts. They also provide lighting control components and control systems, including stand-alone wireless control, sensors, switches, and digital and analog dimming systems. The company acquired Vossloh-Schwabe's North American operations in 2009. This allowed them to also offer a full range of HID products, ignitors,

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

s, lampholders,

capacitor A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals. The effect of a ...

s, and other components. Together, Universal Lighting Technologies and Douglas Lighting Controls are entities under the parent company Universal Douglas Lighting Americas, Inc. (UDLA). Universal Lighting Technologies has over 150 patents and offers LED Components. Universal Lighting Technologies has kept all of their operating facilities in North America and uses 12 distribution warehouses to distribute products.

Company History and Timeline

Timeline

1943: Triad-Utrad was founded in 1943, and, with the installation of electronic DC ballasts in the mass transit industry, was the first in the industry to introduce the electronic ballast, continuing on with later introductions of ballasts for T12, T8, and compact fluorescent lamps. 1947: Universal Lighting Technologies began in 1947 when two lighting industry corporations – Universal Manufacturing Company and Triad-Utrad Energy Savings Incorporated merged. Universal Manufacturing Company was one of the first companies to manufacture lighting ballasts, and Triad-Utrad was the first company to introduce the electronic lighting ballast. 1960's: Introduced a line of Electronic Ballasts 1970's: Expanded to Magnetic HID Ballasts 1980's: Produced T12 electronic products & instant start T8 ballasts 1990's: Introduced first ballast offering five voltages; Created ballasts that offered universal input voltage. 2000's: Began offering LED Driver and Module components; Created the High Efficiency Programmed Start Ballast 2007: Introduced the Signa LED Systems 2009: The manufacturing facility receives “Clean Industry” certification. 2009: Acquired Vossloh-Schwabe's North American operations. 2011: Universal works with Boeing to cut their energy use by 57%. 2015: Designed and released the EVERLINE Replacement Drivers. 2015: Released the EVERLINE LED Retrofit line offering good-better-best retrofit products so that customers would have a variety of options and price points for their LED Retrofit projects. 2016: Universal adds T8 LED Linear Tubes to their EVERLINE product line. 2017: Universal adds the Professional Retrofit Kit to the EVERLINE LED Retrofit line 2018: Universal releases Emergency LED Drivers. 2018: Created PW series Drivers with technology that allows users to tune their LED drivers from their mobile phones. 2019: Universal adds LED Round High Bay, LRK34, and PWX LED Drivers with controllable outdoor luminaire applications. 2020: Universal Introduces Complete, Stand-Alone Bluetooth Wireless Control Solutions. 2020: Universal Announces New Website. 2021: Two entities (Douglas + Universal) merged into one company (Universal Douglas Lighting Americas, Inc.)

Universal Lighting Today

Atar Capital is the current owner via acquisition. Prior to March 2021, Panasonic Lighting Americas, Inc. (PLTA) was the parent of Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. and Douglas Lighting Controls, Inc. The company markets its LED upgrades, LED components, and IoT-enabled lighting control systems. Universal Lighting's product brands are under the Universal, EVERLINE, Triad, and Signa brand names. A key strategy of theirs continues to be research and product development, with R&D facility in Huntsville, AL.

References

{{Panasonic Lighting brands Panasonic Manufacturing companies based in Nashville, Tennessee