The group comprises Wharfedale, Quad, Topaz and Apogee Lighting, and at his HQ in Huntingdon, UK, MD Steve Woolley is afraid of neither politics nor economics. As Karl Marx would have appreciated, the IAG owns the means of production. The factory it has built - not leased - near Hong Kong features wood and metal shops, tooling and plastic injection plants, and a mineral-free cone-making plant. Only the magnets are bought in, at least for the loudspeakers. As employees, factory managers Bernard and Michael Chang sing from the same hymn sheet, and oversee each vertically controlled brand.
The Professional and Systems division has its own marketing experts, such as those who address Quad Industrial's architectural and interior design needs. But over the last 12 months, John Adams has been developing the Apogee Lighting division as president, industry veteran and something of an entertainment technology guru. This is the latest addition to the group - expanding the 'audio' remit somewhat, but showing the confidence in the business model with absolute clarity.
"The lighting market has turned from a speciality market into a commodity market," says Adams. "So we have to harness the core technology and ready it for mass-production in China. And cost-effectiveness is only one of the advantages of mass-production in China: another is quality. China has the ability to make extremely high quality products, and that's a paradigm we have to shift in the minds of the consumer. Once, 'made in Japan' had a stigma . . . We're in the same position now with China."
Adams, an ex-pat Brit based in Austin, Texas, stresses the importance of communication: "It's about providing the Chinese with the right information, presented in the correct way to transcend the cultural barrier, the language barrier and the time barrier."
Of course, there are savings on labour: most of the rest relies on surface-mount technology, specifically the electronics behind the moving lights. These circuit cards are around a tenth of the size they were just five years ago, and are now disposable items - you don't fix them, you replace them. As for human resources, apart from wages, the old rules still apply: "We need a highly trained workforce for tooling and assembly, and that's what we have in China," says Adams. "We have 2,000 highly organized and well-managed people, checked at every step to make sure everything is right."
Adams illustrates his marketing acumen by pointing out how certain markets wise up to the hidden costs of lighting: such as the high-power, colour-changing architectural lighting on the outside of large buildings. "It contains a lamp," he says, "that on spec lasts 750 hours, but in reality lasts 400, costs $200 and is a nightmare to change.
"So in the past, when people invested $250,000 to illuminate a building, they didn't realize that the technology demanded a tremendous amount of maintenance. But a lamp that lasts 6,000 hours, or LEDs that last 100,000 hours, are acceptable. We've picked out those light sources for our products."
The initial product span includes the budget Loco-head or 'L' range; the DJ-flavoured Pepperoni series ("hot stuff, you see," says Adams); and the top-end Evolution or 'EVO' range, including high-power architectural models. Synergies with existing sales channels will be exploited, with Wharfedale Pro's MI contacts likely to see some action from the L and DJ ranges.
Meanwhile the Wh
