In our last post, I talked about what outdated lighting costs industrial facilities. It impacts employee health, productivity, facility safety, and even business growth.

Sure, energy savings is a given. But upgrading to LED offers other upsides. In this post, we’ll walk through each one. We’ll even talk about selling to industrial customers. By the end, you’ll be able to make an irresistible case for switching to LED lights.

LED Lights Offer Safety and Compliance Benefits

When it comes to lighting safety in industrial facilities, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) is the sheriff. Lighting that doesn’t comply with safety regulations can earn business penalties or big fines – as much as $134,000! An LED lighting upgrade is a quick way to get a facility into compliance.

Those regulations are there for a good reason. Better lighting in danger areas like stairwells, near machinery, or on platforms can prevent injury and any resulting employee downtime.

Another way LED lights make a facility safer? Consider the type of work being done. In food preparation facilities, staying clean is important for the safety and quality of the product (it’s pretty important to the health inspector, too). Inadequate light makes it tough for employees to see if an area has been thoroughly cleaned. Additionally, the clear, bright light that LED provides make it much easier for the workers in quality control to see what they’re doing. All of these safety considerations are factors you can use to make your case to an industrial customer.

Keep in mind, OSHA regulations change as the technology advances. For instance, OSHA may soon update its brightness threshold and color temperature standards: Lights a certain percentage above 5,000K may be considered too bright for compliance because they cause eye strain.

The right LED manufacturer will help you stay ahead of these OSHA changes. Many Litetronics LED industrial lighting products already meet the new standards OSHA is considering.

LED Lights for Industrial Use Increase Productivity

It used to be that lighting set-ups focused mostly on saving energy or filling out a ceiling grid. These days, we understand lighting helps employees do their best work. The quality of light in a workspace impacts how productive employees can be.

With LED technology, your industrial customers can use beam angles to get light right where it is needed for a task. LEDs don’t create the glare that causes eye strain and fatigue. And the cool light from LEDs provides more contrast. This helps their employees see differences in what they are working on, like between black and navy blue.

Let’s say we’re talking about a manufacturing facility where employees need to select parts by color. LED lights are graded on the Color Recognition Index (CRI) which measures light according to how it affects how color looks. The index runs from 0 to 100. LED bulbs at the higher end show colors more accurately. That means more accurate selections by the employee.

The right light for the task can be like a good cup of coffee. It keeps employees focused, alert, and productive.

LED Lights Offer Long Fixture Life

Focusing on the maintenance math can help a customer see the value of an LED upgrade. Non-LED bulbs have to be replaced more often. Replacing bulbs means maintenance time and costs. It also impacts productivity if the customer has to shut down parts of their facility.

Some facility managers will even wait until enough lights are out to make their bulb replacement job necessary. That’s a lot of time employees are being made to work in inadequate light.

LED lights last much longer than traditional lighting. Most Litetronics LEDs come with a 10-year warranty. Contrast that with older or inferior products with only a three-year warranty. A longer lasting product guarantees the customer will get more time between bulb changes, more productivity, and more savings.

LED Lights Offer Modern Features

Traditional, “on or off” lighting doesn’t allow industrial facilities to benefit from modern lighting efficiency options. Here are some great features:

• LEDs can include sensors for daylight harvesting, which dims lights to 75% during the day when windows let in outdoor light.
• Occupancy sensors can keep stairwells brightly lit and safe when in use and off when not, saving energy.

And because LEDs are the modern lighting option, that’s where all the innovation is being focused. As an example, Litetronics is introducing high bays that are designed with an emergency function. A 480-volt battery backup allows for safe employee egress from an industrial facility during a power outage.

Then there’s surge protection. Upgrading to LEDs can trigger a facility electrical review, which shows the risks of an energy surge and the capacity of the electrical panel. An LED upgrade creates the opportunity to identify and address that risk so the whole facility – including its electronics and IT systems – is better protected.

LED Lights Lower Energy Use and Increase Capacity

Speaking of energy, upgrading to LEDs can cut an industrial facility’s lighting energy load by at least half. That can have significant ripple effects to other areas of the operation.

For instance, a lower lighting energy load may allow the operation to add new equipment without overloading their electrical system. LED fixtures also are not heat generators like older fixtures. That means a decreased load on the HVAC systems trying keep the facility cool in warmer climates or summer months.

Making the Sale

As you prepare to make your pitch to an industrial customer, it’s important to assemble your team. That can include allies inside the organization.

Safety officers and maintenance technicians are likely to be on your side. They may already see the benefits of LED lighting for industrial use. They can be powerful voices in making the case to higher-ups, especially if you arm them with the right information.

Another important team member is your distributor. They can often give you samples to hang as proof of concept. Industrial customers can be skeptical that a fixture will hold up to harsh conditions like sandblasting or chemicals. A sample of the product shows the durability of the product and it’s a smart sales technique. You can say the products will stand up to whatever they can throw at it, ‘install it and see for yourself.’

In the first post of this series, we talked about the risks of outdated lights in industrial settings. Combine those risks with the benefits we just covered, and you’ve got a strong case showing why the customer’s status quo won’t work anymore and why LED lights are the way to go.