A plant gets lumens aplenty with high efficiency and low total cost of ownership

“Sixty percent of our operation is assembly work, manufacturing the equipment,” says John Palazzo, president, Frontline. “So one of the first places we looked to improve our practices was in our manufacturing facilities.”

At the time, Frontline was in the early stages of designing a new plant facility in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Its other facilities used fluorescent and incandescent lighting for the assembly areas. This required a large number of fixtures to get the bright light needed for assembly operations, and energy consumption was significant. Palazzo and his team began investigating alternative lighting options, including high-pressure sodium, newer fluorescent technologies and LED lighting solutions. They decided that LED lighting was the optimum eco-friendly solution.

After comparing several LED lighting solutions, Frontline chose High Bay LED lighting fixtures from Dialight, citing their robust design and construction, high energy efficiency, minimal maintenance and low total cost of ownership (TCO) over time.

The project covers 11,200 sq. ft. at 23-foot and 25-foot mounting heights with 59 fixtures. At 11,600 lumens apiece, the Dialight DuroSite Series LED High Bay fixtures combine the latest in high-brightness LED technology, precision optics and next-generation thermal management practices. The fixtures are able to deliver ultra-bright clear white light uniformly across the facility’s assembly floor. The new facility is approximately three times the size of Frontline’s other manufacturing facility, but it was able to significantly downsize the number of lighting fixtures needed in the new plant, with brighter illumination from fewer lights running on far less electricity, which not only lowers energy consumption and costs but reduces their carbon footprint, as well, in keeping with their sustainability initiative.

“It was very important for us to make sure we had enough lumens to make the workplace ergonomic for our employees,” says Palazzo. “The Dialight High Bay overhead fixtures are a huge improvement, providing light bright enough for assembly work at waist level and even at floor level. The ultra-bright illumination not only expedites assembly work, it also makes the work environment much safer for our workers.”

Frontline’s electrical contractors were skeptical at first of the decision to install LED fixtures, says Palazzo. “But once they saw the Dialight DuroSite Series LED High Bay fixtures and started working with them, they were impressed with how quickly and easily the fixtures installed, and how bright their illumination was. In fact, they brought in light meters that verified the even distribution of clear, white high quality light throughout the facility, even in remote corners. Now they’re recommending Dialight LED lighting solutions to their other customers.”

The fixtures are virtually maintenance-free. The LED lights sustain approximately 80% lumen capacity over 60,000 operating hours and last for an average of 10 years. This reduces maintenance burden and equipment replacement costs, and the maintenance staff doesn’t have to risk injury from changing high ceiling-mounted bulbs.