LAS VEGAS — Grote Industries introduced the first commercially available versions of its new LightForm flexible LED lighting film technology during a press conference at the 2009 SEMA Show this week.
 
“At less than 1 millimeter thick, LightForm flexible LED lighting film enables users to quickly and easily install LED lighting in tight spaces that were previously inaccessible to vehicle lighting and can even be sewn into fabric," said Vice President of Sales and Marketing John Grote. “Now customizers and restylers can achieve fantastic interior and exterior LED lighting effects that were simply unthinkable before today.”
 
Grote explained that the new commercialized LightForm flexible LED lighting film is ultra thin and ultra pliable, allowing users to bend lighting around corners, over contoured areas and into complicated shapes. He noted that LightForm can be folded, cut to fit while lit and can slide into the narrowest crevices and between panels and trim. LightForm also enables users to achieve edge lighting effects that are as bright at one end as they are at the other, and when used with light diffusing film, eliminates the hotspots and bright points of light that are so often associated with traditional edge lighting methods.

Members of the media had their first chance to see an illuminated sheet of the transparent, paper-thin LightForm, as samples were passed around the afternoon press conference. Examples of the newly commercialized LightForm strips were also examined by the audience.
 
LightForm flexible LED strips come in power strips and extension strips and each power strip can illuminate up to two extension strips.
 
Each LightForm flexible LED strip measures 10 inches (254 mm) long, 0.5 inches (127 mm) wide and is less than 1 millimeter thick. LightForm flexible LED strips are expandable; up to three 10-inch segments can be connected, providing up to 30 inches (762 mm) of red, amber, green or blue LED lighting. The strips come with an easy peel-and-stick adhesive backing that sticks to virtually any clean surface.
 
“The marketplace is extremely receptive to this product concept and is ready to apply it to a wide variety of vehicles,” Grote said, citing a recent study of the restyling market conducted by the company. “A vast majority of restylers responded favorably or very favorably to the product, and marine, motorcycle and trucking uses were singled out in addition to automotive applications.”

He added that virtually 99 percent of respondents thought that a significant market exists for LightForm. Grote pointed out that, as a global leader in the vehicle and transportation lighting industry, Grote Industries understands the demands placed on both interior and exterior vehicle lighting products. He said that in preparing LightForm for exterior applications, Grote engineers subjected the product to a rigorous battery of stress tests including salt baths, extreme humidity, heat and cold.
 
Grote’s comments regarding the product’s ruggedness led to one of the more dramatic moments of the press conference, as he took a lit sample out of a container of water and after cutting it with a pair of scissors, began administering blows with a ball-peen hammer.
 
“LightForm flexible LED lighting film is manufactured in the United States,” Grote said. “The assembly process is based on patented technology that requires advanced, state-of-the-art engineering, equipment and manufacturing capabilities.”
 
“LightForm is the first branded product of its kind and is backed by over a century of Grote’s experience and integrity,” Grote added. “So, whether you’re putting LightForm on a car, boat, motorcycle, truck, RV or something more exotic, you can rest assured that Grote has engineered it for top performance.” 

More information about this product can be found at http://www.LightFormLED.com.