Current is prioritizing investing in technology to continue to develop its LED horticultural light fixtures in-house.
GE Current, a Daintree company, shortens name to Current and acquires Hubbell Lighting to increase range of products and distribution capacity.
GE Current, a Daintree company, has changed its brand name to Current. The company has also acquired Hubbell’s Commercial & Industrial Lighting.
“These are two iconic brands coming together and creating value with their synergy,” said Bruno D’Amico, global product manager-horticulture at Current. “The acquisition drove the Current name change. The Hubbell and Current products, including Arize horticultural lighting, will be sold under the Current brand name.
“The Hubbell acquisition expands our existing scale in the global supply chain by giving us access to additional resources it brings to the table. How customers purchase our products and how we service our customers won’t change. We will still be working with distributors like Hort Americas, to service our customers.”
D’Amico said the horticulture industry is currently going through a transition from high pressure sodium to LED technology.
“Everyone is excited about the potential for the horticulture industry and the benefits that LED lighting can play in advancing the industry,” he said. “We are currently manufacturing most of our horticultural lighting fixtures in Hendersonville, N.C. The acquisition of Hubbell will help us to navigate the supply chain challenges we are all facing post-COVID.”
Opportunities to scale up product offerings
D’Amico said Current is increasing the resources it is putting into horticultural lighting.
“Current is looking to strengthen its Arize product line to better serve growers not only in North America, but also worldwide,” he said. “There has been a huge increase in demand for our lighting solutions globally. We are actively running several new product introductions in order to keep pace with demand.
“Behind every great product is a solid engineering team. We are currently prioritizing investing on the technology side to continue to develop these fixtures in-house. Current prides itself on our engineers designing all parts of our fixtures in-house. That is really important for us and that has helped along the way not only in horticulture, but also in the other markets we serve.”
D’Amico said the Current name change brings with it a different look and feel to the Arize product line.
“Even with this change, our focus and our mission is still the customer,” he said. “We are focused on coming to market with the right products to empower our customers to make the right technology choices when it comes to lights. This will ensure that we put our customers in a better position than they were before. We’re investing heavily, but what is really driving this is we are still seeing a strong demand from growers asking us for help to solve some of their challenges.”
Making commitment, investment in U.S. production
Chris Higgins, president at Hort Americas, said the most important factor to Hort Americas and its customers in Current’s name change and acquisition of Hubbell was its continued commitment to its North Carolina lighting manufacturing facility.
“We have some very important partners that are relatively close to Current’s Hendersonville, N.C., plant,” Higgins said. “Hort Americas continues to invest in partners including growers who are in that area or other areas of Appalachia, including North Carolina State University, AppHarvest, Soli and Costa Farms. We are not only supplying products that are made in this region of the country to growers in this region, we are also committed to working with schools like N.C. State to learn what it takes to build products and offer services that will make these growers more successful.
“Hort Americas wants to work with vendors that are going to invest in the areas where our grower customers are located. It was important for Hort Americas that Current continues to invest in the communities that support them.”
Higgins said Hort Americas’ customer base is growing quickly to other parts of the country, including Canada.
“This is where scale becomes very important,” he said. “Being in the United States has given us the ability to better service clients in many parts of the country as well as into Canada.
“We couldn’t be in the United States without the access to scale. We have been able to service our clients in a timely and efficient manner with predictability and reliability that has been crucial especially during construction projects.”
For more: Hort Americas, (469) 532-2383; https://hortamericas.com/.
Want to know more about LED grow lights?
If you weren’t able to attend Cultivate’22, be sure to catch the Horticulture Lighting and Learning Event with Hort Americas. Scheduled for Aug. 11, 2022, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Current’s light manufacturing plant in Hendersonville, N.C. During this event you’ll have the opportunity to discover the latest science driving the future of horticulture lighting.
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