How smart, connected lighting boosts efficiency, safety, and sustainability in industrial facilities

- Clark Morrow, Channel & Segment Manager, Professional lighting, Signify UK&I

It’s no secret that the manufacturing industry has a heavy responsibility for emissions of greenhouse gases.  In the US, manufacturing accounts for almost a quarter (23%) of direct carbon emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Europe the situation is equally dire: the industry emits an annual total of 880 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents making it one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases on the continent. Big changes need to be made across every aspect of manufacturing, to future proof operations, and products and growth.

The sector is faced by several challenges, be it the increasing pressures from ecommerce i.e. producing at speed, to stocking strategically to picking accuracy at warehouses. Or even broader issues like energy conservation and sustainable operations are adding pressure on the sector. Gladly, there are solutions, like Connected lighting, that help in transforming any facility by embracing digital transformation. To enable this, lets first address the challenges unique to the industrial sector.

Be it a warehouse, a distribution centre or a manufacturing facility, every space needs to be designed to cater to the specific needs of these tough environments. These needs include:
 

Consistent illumination ensuring operational efficiency: The unique challenges of lighting industrial spaces such as maintaining appropriate illumination levels, through long operating hours and providing consistent illumination for spaces with lights at different heights, ensuring the most efficient system is key. Also to add, it has been proven that poor lighting can reduce task speed, output quality and unplanned maintenance/downtime.
 

Enhancing productivity: In an environment where physical work and attention to detail are important, staff fatigue can negatively affect worker accuracy and ultimately reduce productivity. Any space needs to be designed to ensure a safe and productive working environment. Time lost to workplace accidents directly affects productivity and the morale across the whole team.
 

Delivering the light needed in vital spaces: Manufacturing across the board is becoming increasingly automated. While the range of machinery and the level of technology used grows in sophistication, tasks remain the same as people are still required to check, monitor, adjust, maintain, repair and programme equipment and controls on an ongoing basis. A suitable environment to ensure these tasks are carried out seamlessly is crucial.
 

The need for energy efficiency: Industries and factories are known for their substantial energy consumption. 24% of global energy consumption comes from the industrial sector and 5%-20% of annual productivity is lost in the average manufacturing plant due to unplanned downtimes. Also, traditional lighting systems, often characterised by inefficiencies and high operational costs, increasing the need for consumption should be reviewed, and goals set to reduce waste and improve efficiency.
 

While the challenges and pressures are many, the good news is that connected lighting can create a safer, more productive working environment for your workers. Let’s dive in.

In the ever-evolving landscape of industrial and factory environments, the role of lighting extends far beyond illumination. Connected lighting solutions have emerged as a transformative force, offering unprecedented control, efficiency, and sustainability advantages. As industries worldwide strive to optimise operations, reduce energy consumption, enhance workplace safety, and deliver on their digitalisation and decarbonisation strategies, integrating connected lighting has become a strategic imperative. 
 

The right kind of lighting has shown to have to have a positive impact on the efficiency & quality of the production, Safety & wellbeing of employees and sustainability & cost efficiency of a facility.
 

Significant energy, carbon, cost and light quality improvements can be made by simply swapping out the old inefficient legacy lighting, where it still exists, for new efficient LED lighting. LED lighting can be up to 80% more efficient and can lasts more than 8 times longer than conventional lighting, so you not only get the significant energy & costs savings, but also reduced maintenance costs, which due to the ceiling heights in industrial facilities, can be a very costly. Instant & visible improvements in the amount, and quality of light, is also achieved, making the facility a better and safer place to work.
 

Now for the connected part…  Connected lighting can play a significant role in enabling a manufacturing facility or a warehouse to become even more digital, even more sustainable, whilst providing a safer, healthier and more productive place to work. One such connected lighting system is Interact from Signify, a wireless cloud-based system.
 

Interact from Signify combines the best, most energy-efficient LED luminaires, sensors and comprehensive wireless system monitoring & management software to create an intelligent network. This connected system enables valuable data & insights to be gathered from the facility. This data can then be used to unlock additional value add, features and benefits.

With interact it is possible to remotely manage the lighting assets, test the Emergency lighting, monitor lighting performance and energy usage, and plan preventive maintenance to ensure system uptime and enhance workplace safely. Stocking and order picking optimisations (ABC analysis) can be achieved with detailed occupancy /heat map and activity data. Environmental data can be collected via the integrated sensors to measure things like Co2 levels, noise, temperature & humidity. Dimming schedules & scenes can be remotely set and optimised to further optimise lighting levels and energy usage, moving you closer to your energy & sustainability goals. Interact also allows multiple sites to be connected to one common platform & dashboard, allowing the user to have complete control & visualisation of all the lighting across multiple sites, anytime and from anywhere.
 

With Interact, due to the open nature of the architecture and APIs (Application Programming Interface) , it is also possible to integrate with other service systems such as HVAC, and Building energy management/automation, and by sharing data and commands with these other systems, connected lighting can enable even greater value and really become a key component and backbone of your smart facility.
 

In conclusion

Connected lighting solutions are transforming industries and factories/warehouses into more efficient, sustainable, and connected/digital spaces. From energy savings and automated controls to adaptive lighting and enhanced safety features, the benefits of intelligent lighting systems are multifaceted. As industries continue to embrace digital transformation, smart lighting emerges as a crucial component in optimizing operational processes, reducing costs, and creating safer and more productive work environments. As the world leader in Connected lighting, we are committed to illuminating the path towards a brighter, smarter, sustainable and digital industrial future.