Germany-based OLED lighting developer Inuru inaugurated its new OLED lighting panel production line, the "Dragon Factory", in Wildau near Berlin, Germany. This is an important milestone for Inuru, which is focusing on medication packaging and entertainment applications. The production line is now ready, but it will probably take some time to ramp-up and achieve full-scale production.
Inuru produces its OLED lighting panels using an inkjet printing process, which it says educes production costs by around 90% compared to conventional (evaporation-based) processes.
Inuru says that its new fab will have a capacity of around 8 million 40x16 mm panels per year. Inuru plans to expand the production to around 24 million panels by the end of 2025. Inuru can produce free-form OLEDs on 470x370 mm sheets, and offers flexible and customized production, supporting all major colors (red, green, blue and white).
In 2023, Inuru raised $10 million, from a group of investors, VCs and angels. Following the investment, Inuru commented that it is now focusing on two sections: medication and entertainment. Inuru's main focus for the medication industry is to use its OLED labels to assist patients in learning the expiration date on medication and to adhere to the prescribed guidelines.
Earlier in 2023, Inuru's OLEDs powered French Champagne maker Cattier illuminated and interactive labels. The Cattier label lights up as the champagne is being poured from the bottle into a glass, and the illumination can be also enabled on demand, by a simple touch.
In 2022, Inuru announced that it is now capable to print OLED panels in any shape, on demand. The company says its new panels offers very small size, as required, and excellent homogeneity. The company can pair it with thin printed batteries to power the lighting panels.
Some other projects by Inuru include Look Labs Gamers' Hoodie, a perfume bottle (also with Look Labs) and a Coca Cola campaign in Singapore. In 2020 Inuru completed its 2.3 Million Euro Series-A funding round.
Recently we are seeing a rise in OLED lighting interest and projects, which hopefully will signify the second rising of OLED lighting. Inuru is taking a unique approach to low-cost flexible OLED lighting, OLEDWorks and Yeolight are mostly focused on automotive lighting, some companies are looking at niche applications and Konica Minolta is finally ramping up production at its roll-to-roll fab. To learn more about where OLED lighting is headed, consult our recently-published OLED Toolbox.
