Industrial Spaces: What to Look For In Your Lighting Fixtures

In previous weeks on the Bright Ideas Series by Acuity Brands®, we’ve examined the extreme conditions of industrial facilities that necessitate higher-quality standards for lighting fixtures, as well as growing trends in the lighting market that are cause for concern amongst industrial buyers. Today, we’re going to look deeper into what goes into designing and developing high-quality products for industrial spaces.

ARE YOUR LIGHTING FIXTURES MADE WITH QUALITY COMPONENTS?

When it comes to industrial facilities, it is critical to ensure your fixtures have proper power surge protection. Building a robust fixture with quality components on the front end will help prevent failures on the back end.

The best way to recognize an industrial-grade fixture made with quality components is to look at the fixture’s label and specification sheet to see that it’s been marked for 6KV surge protection and has been tested to ANSI standards. This ensures that the fixture can absorb and survive power surges in challenging industrial environments.

Another key component to look for when identifying a quality fixture is the driver. Not all specification sheets or labels list the driver life, which is why it is important to choose a manufacturer that you trust and who you know uses high quality components. Top-tier drivers can have a fixture life of up to a hundred thousand hours, while lower-end drivers may only see fifty thousand hours or less– which, in a manufacturing facility that might run 24-hours a day, is only a few years.

LEDs determine the lumen maintenance of the fixture– how long it will give off its initial light output. Low-quality LEDs could lose as much as 30-40% of their light output within their first five years of operation in an industrial environment.

ARE YOUR LIGHTING FIXTURES MANUFACTURED AND ASSEMBLED RELIABLY?

A reliable manufacturing process is also necessary to ensure that the fixtures are produced (and tested) consistently and correctly.

When lighting companies don’t have a well-established process, customers may then receive fixtures that are incorrectly assembled or in a state that is unable to function altogether. This can be not only frustrating, but can delay projects as well.

Traceability can confirm proper manufacturing of a fixture from beginning to end. This is something that is not listed on a specification sheet– which is why it is so important that you are working with a reliable partner: a brand name that you know and trust to have reliable processes and end-of-line testing to ensure consistency across their products.

Reliable assembly, when coupled with quality components, also means you may have the ability to more easily repair the lighting fixtures if they do start to encounter issues in the future. You might only need to replace singular components, rather than the fixtures in their entirety, because they’re built to last.

CUTTING CORNERS IN LIGHTING MANUFACTURING CAN LEAD TO EARLY FAILURE.

Low quality components and sloppier manufacturing processes can lead to premature failures in industrial lighting fixtures. Not only can the product life be drastically reduced, but early degradation and lumen loss accelerate as well. The extreme conditions in industrial facilities will prevent the fixtures from performing at their full output, and the lights will be more likely to fold back thermally or shut off entirely due to high ambient temperatures.

Once failures occur, resolution is dependent on the original fixture manufacturer. Did they create the fixture using a reliable manufacturing process? Then perhaps you’ll only need to replace a component, and not the entire fixture. Did the fixture itself come with a genuine warranty, or a seal of top safety standards?

You see many companies in today’s market who have far less reliable warranties. Their LEDs and drivers can’t be serviced. And their light fixture life is far lower than many buyers realize.

If you’re looking for industrial lighting fixtures, make sure to take note of the features, components, manufacturer and warranty. You can find out more about how some companies in the industry make and maintain high-quality fixtures by visiting lithonia.com/industrial.

 

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