Osram Sylvania celebrated 125 years of bringing light into the world, thanks to the skill, innovation and dedication of its 425 employees in Hillsborough, the company said at a Sept. 24 event.
The plant on West Main Street, which produces automotive lighting products for the aftermarket, is the last major lighting plant in the country, according to the company, which chose the occasion to unveil its latest product line: high-power LED lights for off-road vehicles.
Mark Savoy, left, and Greg Bibbo, who are, respectively the CEO and sales director at OSRAM Sylvania in Hillsborough, pose for a photo on Sept. 24 with a Jeep fitted with the company’s new line of off-road LED lights. (Photo by John Koziol)
The south parking lot at Osram Sylvania featured a display of vehicles from the early 20th century to the present day that exemplified the company’s many lighting achievement. Next to a Ford F150 that is currently used by the Hillsborough Fire Department was an orange Jeep, whose front bristled with LED lights.
Greg Bibbo, OSRAM Sylvania’s senior director of sales and marketing, estimated that the lights on the Jeep are capable of giving off 50,000 lumens, or about 50 times that of a typical headlight.
During a telephone interview on Sept. 23, Bibbo and Osram Sylvania U.S. CEO Mark Savoy spoke about what has made the company successful in its first century and a quarter and about the next 125 years to come.
“How did we get to 125 years?” Savoy said. “It was two things we keep coming back to; the people that we have and always trying to innovate.” He said the company was “unique in our field in that we have a U.S. manufacturing footprint” and a strong connection to consumers through retailers such as AutoZone and others.
“If you need a replacement bulb, fill in the blank, we have a majority share of the retail space, “said Bibbo, explaining that with vehicles, “lights and wipers are things people feel comfortable doing themselves.”
Osram Sylvania runs three shifts at its Hillsboro plant, which is also the company’s headquarters and houses its engineering, sales and customer service departments.
“New Hampshire is a very good place to do business,” Savoy said. “We’ve tended to be the big employer in a small town.” Both he and Bibbo have worked at Osram Sylvania for 30-plus years while some employees have been there for 40 years or more.
Bibbo pointed out the obvious fact that “You’re always going to have lights on vehicles” but noted that the lighting landscape “is slowly changing over time” from incandescent bulbs to LEDs.
Osram Sylvania does is all its own packaging, which has allowed the company to add 100 jobs over the past three-four years, Savoy said. The company is hiring and currently has more than 40 openings.
Savoy acknowledged, that energy costs are a challenge for Osram Sylvania and that, overall, it takes “grit and authenticity.”
“To make a commodity in a high-wage country isn’t easy,” he said.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Savoy noted, “have been chaotic for us” because Osram Sylvania manufactures products not just in Hillsborough, but throughout the world.
Nonetheless, Osram Sylvania is in a good place, said Savoy.
“The really important thing for us is how proud we are of 125 years of the brand,” he said, which was founded in 1901 in Massachusetts and is now owned by a German conglomerate that is publicly traded on the Swiss Stock Exchange.
A day later, at the employee appreciation day that was attended by Gov. Kelly Ayotte and District 2 U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Savoy said Osram Sylvania was recognizing “a landmark milestone” as the “only major operating automotive light manufacturer” in America.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander look on as Mark Savoy, CEO of OSRAM Sylvania in Hillsborough, speaks on Sept. 24 during the company’s employee-appreciation luncheon where Osram Sylvania celebrated 125 year of manufacturing and also did a soft launch of its new line of off-road LED lighting products. (Photo by John Koziol)
Ayotte recalled that prior to Sept. 24, the last time she was at Osram Sylvania was when she was a U.S. senator and the company rolled out the LED-equipped Ford F150 for the Hillsborough Fire Department.
“This place is awesome,” Ayotte declared, adding that what is made at Osram Sylvania is “so important” to so many end users.
“You’re the ones who make this happen,” she told employees.
Goodlander concurred, citing both Franklin Pierce, who, she noted, was a son of Hillsborough, and Ronald Reagan, in their opinions that the people involved in an endeavor make it successful.
Hillsborough Selectman James Bailey III called Osram Sylvania “the diamond of the community” and agreed that what the company pays in local taxes represents “a big chunk” of the municipal budget.
“I’ve been here for 44 years,” he said, and it (Osram Sylvania) has always been a mainstay,” Bailey said. “Today is a happy day for the town.”
Osram Sylvania on Sept. 24 celebrated 125 years of bringing light into the world, thanks to the skill, innovation and dedication of its 425 employees in Hillsborough, the company said. The plant on West Main Street, which produces automotive lighting products for the aftermarket, is the last major lighting plant in the country.
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