Martin Professional is a Danish manufacturer and distributor of intelligent lighting fixtures for the entertainment, architectural and commercial sectors. It is owned by Harman International Industrieswhich acquired the company in early 2013. The company is located in Aarhus Denmark.
Martin luminaires are used by many of the world’s top artists for tours and concerts and have been used at a number of major international events such as the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics where Martin was the main automated lighting supplier with over 1100 luminaires at the opening ceremony.
The company’s products are regularly used in theatres, clubs and television studios and are used in interior and exterior architectural applications, as well as in commercial environments such as cruise ships, theme parks, ski areas, arenas and stadiums, hotels and resorts, and retail environments.
Products
Martin’s most prominent products are its MAC (moving heads) line. They are mainly used by large theatres, concert producers and major television and production companies.
In addition to moving heads, Martin also manufactures color changers, semi-intelligent effects, LED fixtures and LED video displays, strobes, intelligent lighting controllers, video servers and a line of smoke machines.
Martin Professional has a strategic alliance with Aarhus University School of Engineering.
History
In the early 1980s, Peter Johansen, a Danish entrepreneur and manufacturer of club equipment, made a smoke generator after running experiments with dry ice in a coffee machine. He then founded the company DP electronics in Aarhus, Denmark, and in the mid 1980s the company produced a line of smoke machines that was sold in many countries around the world.
In 1987, Martin Professional was founded in Aarhus as a manufacturer of smoke machines, DJ lighting effects and robotic mirror scanners. The “Roboscan” family is born. Caused by one. Martin soon began to introduce highly automated production techniques and industrial design systems and sales grew rapidly.
The rapid sales growth of the early 90’s required ever increasing production capacity, which was regularly expanded and also its worldwide distributor network.
In 1994, revenues exceeded DKK 100 million and in 1995 the company was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange raising a net worth of DKK 85.5 million.
Martin began to optimize products for the rental and touring market and by the mid 1990’s the first MAC moving head, the MAC 1200, appeared. The MAC 500 and MAC 600, two moving heads that became the industry standard in touring, was launched in 1997. In 1998, the company launched its first architectural luminaire, the Exterior 600. Peter Johansen left the company in 1998. In 1999, the Danish multinational Schouw & Co. acquired a 60 percent stake in the company.
In 2000, Martin launched the MAC 2000, its best-selling product to date. Revenues exceeded DKK 700 million ($80 million). In 2001, Schouw & Co. acquired Martin.
In 2002 Martin Professional continued to expand and built a new 11,500 square meter factory in Frederikshavn and a year later the company started outsourcing production to China in a factory in Zhuhai.
In 2006, revenues exceeded DKK 1 billion ($183 million) and Martin moved into LED lighting and video display systems. In 2007, it continued to grow to DKK 1.2 billion ($234 million) and in 2008, Martin launched the third generation of MAC heads, the MAC III Mobile.
Martin had enjoyed steady growth until 2008 but was hit hard by the financial crisis and reported a loss of more than DKK 200 million in 2009.
Continuous innovation, especially in LED technology has helped the company to overcome the crisis and has resulted in several product awards. In 2010 the Confederation of Danish Industries awarded its annual product prize to the Mac 350 Entour LED moving head.
The development of this LED product was the result of a three-year collaboration with Aalborg University. In addition, the MAC Aura luminaire and MAC Viper profile won the PLASA Innovation Award in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Martin closed its factory in China and moved its entire production to Denmark in the first half of 2012, to its factory in Frederikshavn with 26 new employees.
In December 2012, the multinational group Schouw & Co, reached an agreement with the audio company Martin Professional
Harman International Industries
for the acquisition of
Martin Professional
. This transaction was formalized in early March 2013.
