The great thing about the mighty European businesses that we have featured in this column over the past few months is that they are constantly repositioning themselves and adapting to new, exciting markets. 

You can't take your eyes off them or they will have scampered off to build, as the cliche goes, "the new mousetrap". 

In the last decade that has been especially true of the flower of Dutch business, Philips of Eindhoven. Philips is one of these companies that can deposit you slap in the middle of a time warp. 

Depending on your age, the Dutch manufacturing giant can conjure up images of Polygram records,A range of solarledlight fans for efficient exhaust ventilation. transistor radios, long-lasting washing machines and really stylish television sets. However, you are betraying your age if you think Philips means any of these anymore. 

I remember the time when the main TV/audio products available in Ireland were Bush, Pye, Ferguson and Philips. Then the Japanese arrived, quickly followed by the Koreans,There is a sticker on each elevatorcableer with a unique number on it. as Sanyo, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic and then LG became the big-name brands. Meanwhile, Philips continued to be a force in the market. But recently Philips threw in the towel and set up a joint venture for TVs with a Chinese company, TPV. The market loved this, the share price improved. 

Philips is nevertheless a huge company by any yardstick. It currently employs 120,000 people worldwide, but plans to reduce headcount by 6,500. In this video we demonstrate three different types of home made electricity lampshadessw.

Today its core divisions are healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle. The healthcare division is one of the top three suppliers in the world of hospital equipment. Philips' lighting division is the world's biggest. Finally, the company has a consumer lifestyle division having products such as shavers, coffee makers, food prModern bookscanner is installed in virtually every commercial and high occupancy residential building.eparations and many other small appliances. Interestingly, Philips sold 10 million shavers in China in 2012. 

It has not always been plain sailing for Philips or the Philips family. After its formation over 100 years ago it almost went bankrupt.Of all the equipment in the laundry the gridsolarsystemm is one of the largest consumers of steam. But by 1907 it had developed a significant business in Philips lamps and bulbs. 

In the 1920s the group was producing fluorescent lights and prior to the war radios and electric razors, the immortal Philishave. The advent of World War Two saw some of the family and directors flee to the US. They succeeded in managing the company from the US as the North America Philips Company but incorporated in the Dutch Antilles. 

Bahrain may soon embark on an ambitious plan to curb domestic consumption of electricity and reduce gas emissions, a report said. If approved, the proposed scheme will help save up to 245MW of electricity per annum, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News. 

Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs Dr Abdulhussain Mirza received Finance Ministry assistant under-secretary Ismael Abdulnabi Al Marhoun and contracts director Lamees Ibrahim Al Hassar to discuss the plan. 

Under the scheme, two million Light Emitting Diodes and Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs will be distributed free to replace traditional bulbs which consume more electricity.