Sustainability Management at Philips

Philips & Company (Philips) was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips (Gerard) who established a facility at Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to produce incandescent electric lamps. Gerard's younger brother, Anton, joined the business in 1895 as a salesperson and helped the company become one of the largest producers and marketers of carbon-filament lamps by the early 1900s.

Right from the beginning, Philips laid strong emphasis on research. In 1914, all its research efforts were consolidated and brought under one organization, called Philips Research Laboratories. In the 1920s, Philips began mass production of consumer goods and as a result, decided to diversify its product range.

It began experimenting with television in 1925; radio production began in 1927 and more than one million pieces were sold by 1932. The 100 millionth radio valve was produced in 1933. The same year also saw Philips opening production facilities for X-ray equipment in the US. The Great Depression⁶ of the 1930s that followed the stock market crash of 1929 had a negative impact on Philips' business. In the mid-1930s, Philips was in search of ideas that could be converted into saleable products. An executive who was sent to the US in 1937 came up with the idea of manufacturing electric shavers. Philips began manufacturing electric shavers in 1939. The same year it launched sodium and mercury based lamps and sound recording equipment...