The search for maintenance-free lighting

MILLER INDUSTRIES, one of the world’s largest and well-known manufacturers of towing and recovery equipment, has completed a conversion to Dialight LED lndustrial lighting, changing out some 1,750 fixtures to ensure outstanding visibility and energy savings with maintenance-free lighting for years to come

With three facilities in the USA, one in England and another in France, the company builds all classes of innovative towing and recovery trucks, car haulers and related equipment with its global operations suppling the largest dealer/distribution network in the industry. 

Facility managers in the USA had become frustrated with the constant maintenance and upkeep required of their antiquated traditional lighting on the shop floor and took just four Dialight 18,000 lumen Vigilant High Bay fixtures on trial which soon became a complete corporate retrofit across all Miller Industries’ facilities.
Miller’s US facilities are now 100% converted to Dialight’s class-leading Vigilant industrial LED High Bay fixtures and are now fully realising the benefits of higher quality, more sustainable and maintenance-free lighting.

In addition, at its Greeneville, Tennessee, facility, Miller was aiming to bring previously out-sourced fabrication in-house and had converted 60,000 sq ft of its manufacturing facility to a fabrication shop, complete with high-tech equipment including laser lathes, press breaks, CNC and other modern machining tools

Because of the precision work required, Bill Couch, general manager of the Greeneville facility, explained new lighting was a must. "The quality tolerances are much tighter than welding tolerances," he stated. "We have to make sure the staff can read the micrometer accurately and see the finishes clearly. If you can't see the part, you can’t make a quality part. Not only do we have a reputation to uphold, but this is our first time doing this kind of work, so it absolutely has to meet our standards and be successful."

HID maintenance challenges

Not only was the previous lighting inadequate, but dust and dirt accumulation on the fixtures was also a major problem. The old HID (High Intensity Discharge) high bays were prone to collecting dust, resulting in a yellow-hued light, and they required constant cleaning, which was rare because of the hassle and difficulty involved. The lights were hard to access and cleaning required blowing the dust off with an air compressor, which of course caused it to rain down on everything below. 

"It created a horrendous amount of dust all over the floor, toolboxes and equipment, so then we’d have to clean that up, too. We certainly don’t want our new trucks covered in that, so that the only time cleaning took place was during production shutdowns for inventory. Which meant it didn’t happen very often, so most of the time we just dealt with poor lighting," Couch continued.  

In some cases, that meant as little as 110 lux (lumen per sq ft) with the current fixtures, with even the 18,000 lumen fixtures in the warehouse only delivering about 650 lux.

Improved safety, reduced costs 

Seeing the success of the Dialight retrofit at the company’s other plants, the Greeneville facility then embarked on its own lighting upgrade with quality control, facility aesthetics and worker safety in mind.

"There really wasn’t much of a question about whether to use the Dialight fixtures. The 10-year warranty was the number one reason, along with the ease of installation and their track record for quality and service. We probably quoted three or four different manufacturers but Dialight was competitive on price, and the warranty and ease of replacement sealed the deal," said Couch.

With the project now complete, the company has realized an average of 15% energy savings per year after installing LED lighting. In addition, Couch estimates his maintenance team now has 60 more hours per year to devote to production-related work — time that was previously spent cleaning of fixtures and bulb and transformer replacement.

Julia Zakhari is global VP of marketing and ESG at Dialight

For more information:

www.dialight.com

Tel: 0203 058 3540