Philips once started with light bulbs, but later made almost everything that had a plug and what went with it. From television to cassette tapes, from refrigerators to X-ray equipment. Now the company is in dire straits and another thousand people may lose their jobs. What is left of Eindhoven’s pride?
Philips saw the light of day in 1891. Gerard Philips started the very first Philips light bulb factory with his father Frederik. The company grew enormously and had about 400,000 employees worldwide during the 1970s. The world now looks different. Philips now has about 79,000 employees with about 8,500 in the Eindhoven region.
Guus Bekooy (85) from Boxtel previously wrote a book about the centenary of the company. He worked for Philips for 42 years. In 1957 he started a ‘temporary’ job as a junior technical copywriter and rose to manager communications. Philips celebrated its heydays, but also experienced deep valleys.
What is left of the company from then? Bekooy: “The company has changed completely. It has slimmed down a lot compared to then. I’m talking about a time when Philips still had fourteen divisions, now there are only two or three.”
Philips previously stopped producing televisions. The part that made lamps became an independent company: Signify. In 2021, Philips announced that it wants to focus on healthcare and said goodbye to household appliances.
Televisions, coffee makers, air fryers and vacuum cleaners are now made by foreign companies, but still get a sticker with the name Philips.
Bekooy also experienced that many people had to be fired. With the so-called ‘Operation Centurion’, chairman of the board Jan Timmer had to avoid bankruptcy in 1991. No fewer than 50,000 of the 300,000 employees lost their jobs.
“On a social level, these redundancies are always a disaster for the staff.”
“The number of layoffs today is significantly less, but there are still many. This is always a disaster for the staff on a social level.” According to Bekooy, the recall of breathing and apnea equipment has a major impact. “Although they remain one of the largest in the medical sector.”
According to him, after the Second World War, Philips was mainly about growth and it was partly responsible for that. “Financially understandable. Everything could be made. There was room for every good idea. But one of the reasons they got into trouble in the 1990s was the lack of focus.” According to him, the areas where Philips is now active are much smaller and more specialized than then.
“ASML is now a global company.”
According to him, the focus on profit and return has led to more and more business units being sold. “Some are a huge success, for example ASML emerged from Philips activities. That is now a global company.”
Bekooy himself has not worked for Philips for years, but he looks back with pride. Which Philips invention made the most impression on him? “It’s difficult to choose, but the development of TV and medical systems are very good achievements.”
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