Thought Leadership: Insights Philips Dynalite

Hawker Richardson’s Thought Leadership series presents conversations with key figures in electronics manufacturing, exploring the technologies, challenges, and strategies shaping the industry.

We speak with Ratko Milosavljevic, Executive Director at Philips Dynalite. Leading the charge in connected lighting control solutions for over 35 years, Philips Dynalite has powered smart buildings globally with intelligent, sustainable technology.

With more than three decades in the industry, Milosavljevic has witnessed the transformation of lighting technologies firsthand. He reflects on industry evolution, the value of embracing disruption, and the advice he would give to the next generation of engineers.

You’ve been involved in the Philips Dynalite journey for nearly 25 years and have over 30 years of experience in the industry. You must have seen a lot of changes in design and technology during this time.

Indeed, and that has been the case with all the industries I worked in, not just lighting. Each of them has experienced a form of technological disruption, typically driven by fast digitalisation trends and the commercialisation of emerging technologies in materials science.

The lighting industry in particular has experienced a transition from conventional to LED light sources, with rapid cost reduction of computing power and connectivity brought to the end light point. This enables significant energy and performance efficiency gains, opening opportunities for the commercialisation of cost-effective, longer-lasting, more environmentally friendly, human-centric connected lighting, such as systems developed by Signify and Philips Dynalite.

Automation has become a large part of manufacturing. How important is this for Philips Dynalite in their manufacturing process to maintain their competitive edge?

Automation is generally one of the top critical success factors for manufacturing industries located in high-labour cost countries, especially when experiencing a critical supply of skilled workers due to fast-growing demand. For the Philips Dynalite Mascot plant, choosing a highly automated solution was a logical choice, and thanks to partnering with Hawker Richardson and other leading industry automation and machine suppliers, we have successfully achieved that.

What are some production challenges that the SMT line supplied and installed by Hawker Richardson has helped Philips Dynalite overcome?

Previously, relying on an overseas supplier, we regularly faced peaks and troughs where we would be inundated with product or receive nothing at all. Being able to accurately forecast and plan our finished boards with preferred batch sizes makes the flow in the factory much smoother and better controlled.

How has investing in the SMT line enabled Philips Dynalite to break through time-to-market barriers?

Reduced lead time, from concept and prototyping through to first offs, enables us to react quickly to market demands. With inventory now stocked at a component level, Dynalite is much more flexible in producing finished circuit boards within a short time frame to satisfy customer demand.

Do you feel that the installation and commissioning process went well?

Pre-commissioning work actually began months in advance with numerous calls and online meetings with the Hawker Richardson team, going into real detail to understand the exact footprint and service requirements. This open and frequent discussion enabled all stakeholders to prepare for day one when the first truck arrived, and for seamless installation to be possible. The installation and commissioning of the equipment happened very quickly, and there were no adverse surprises.

How important was ‘Value Engineering’ in your decision to invest in an SMT line/total line solution, and how do you continue to evaluate its effectiveness/value?

The new SMT line is a critical success factor in achieving our value engineering goals, in line with our continuous improvement LEAN journey. We worked with the Hawker Richardson team to determine the correct mix of equipment to meet our needs. We considered the TAKT time of the equipment to ensure we can meet our needs now and in the future, using our own line with ambitious projected business targets.

You are the chairman of the Lighting Control Sub-Industry Group of Lighting Council Australia. How important is it for associations to promote sustainability, i.e., low environmental impact?

Industry associations are very important industry and community partners on the journey to achieve our ambitious sustainability targets as responsible manufacturers and the society as a whole. Lighting Council Australia has been, for many past decades, a very proactive and strong supporter of the sustainability transition journey for many local lighting product manufacturers and suppliers. We would expect other industry associations to follow LCA as a role model.

As an advocate for Lean Manufacturing, how important is it for manufacturers in Australasia to leverage the opportunities of SMT line software?

Such software enables the analysis of machine performance to maximise throughput and optimise efficiencies, ensuring manufacturers remain competitive in a fast-evolving industry.

For example, thanks to the vast capabilities of SMT line software, while the machines were manufactured to our order and on the way to our facility, we could fully perform virtual setups, programming and emulation of various manufacturing run scenarios. This helped reduce phase-in time, minimise trial and error waste (traditionally done on a physical PCB), optimise batch sizes, and number and location of component feeders, etc. The multiple financial and phase-in timeline benefits enabled us to respond faster to customer needs and benefit earlier from the return on investment. We suggest that other potential users consider this and other benefits when deciding.

AI is a growing trend in many industries, and in R&D, it can arguably accelerate time-to-value. How much do you see AI accelerating time-to-value at Philips Dynalite?

Artificial intelligence, being a disruptive technology with vast potential, is already making an industry-wide impact. Signify and Philips Dynalite are already harnessing the power in many areas of R&D and manufacturing. A typical start is from low-level repetitive processes and tasks in R&D, engineering and manufacturing, moving them to more independent machine execution to free up increasingly scarce human resources for higher value-added innovative tasks and process control tasks.

What advice would you give to a young and enthusiastic Ratko?

Embrace the bright future of engineering. Invest your passion in continuous learning, fearlessly ride the journey of disruption, and find joy and fun along the way!

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