The top 3 ways to renew your facility’s lighting, instead of replacing it

Manufacturers face growing pressure to reduce energy use, carbon emissions, and operating costs without compromising productivity. Evolving building standards and certifications are also raising expectations for energy performance.

Lighting can help address these pressures, influencing operational efficiency, worker safety, and well-being. Meeting new demands does not always mean starting from scratch. By upgrading or remanufacturing existing lighting, manufacturers can extend product life, retain the value of materials, and improve performance while reducing waste and resource use.

Here are the top 3 approaches a manufacturing facility can take to make lighting refurbishment part of their smart building plans.

1. Upgrade from LED to LED and unlock the next wave of efficiency

If your factory lighting was last updated when you switched to LED, chances are it’s now eight to twelve years old. Although those luminaires may still work perfectly, LED technology has advanced considerably. That means your existing installation could be missing out on significant energy savings.

Today’s high-efficiency LED solutions can deliver substantially better performance than first-generation LEDs, consuming up to 65% less energy and lasting up to five times longer. Combine second-gen LEDs with an intelligent lighting management platform, and lighting-related energy consumption can fall as much as another 30%.

Crucially, upgrading doesn't necessarily require a complete new installation. Preserving the lighting infrastructure while replacing the light sources can reduce investment costs and minimize disruption to production, while lower energy consumption and maintenance requirements can improve your lighting ROI.

2. Get more from your existing assets by making lighting intelligent and adaptable

Renewing industrial lighting offers an opportunity to turn lighting into an intelligent part of the factory’s infrastructure. Connected lighting systems enable manufacturers to manage lighting more effectively through scheduling, dimming, occupancy-based control, and centralized monitoring.

When connected, lighting can respond to how production areas are actually used, rather than operating at full output regardless of activity. This helps reduce wasted energy while supporting appropriate illumination for different tasks and working environments.

Connectivity also creates opportunities for proactive maintenance. Monitoring system performance can help you identify issues and plan interventions before problems arise. Better visibility into lighting assets supports more informed decisions about maintenance, upgrades, and replacement.

Light-as-a-Service (LaaS) models provide an alternative to purchasing equipment outright, potentially spreading costs over time and bundling services such as maintenance and performance management, depending on the agreement.

Circularity should guide product selection. Luminaires designed for repair and upgrading make it easier to replace drivers, LED modules, and other components rather than the whole product. Digital product identification and service information can also help installers and maintenance teams work efficiently and control costs.

3. Remanufacture instead of buying new: preserve what still works

When a straightforward upgrade is not enough, remanufacturing can retain suitable components, such as housings, while renewing critical parts including LED modules and drivers. This restores performance and keeps products and materials in use at their highest value for longer.

The suitability of this approach depends on the condition of existing products, technical feasibility, logistics, and the economics of the project. But where the right conditions exist, remanufacturing can offer manufacturers a credible alternative to buying new.

Signify has had successes with remanufactring lighting for both a major European retailer and a leading civil aerospace company in the UK. For the retailer, approximately 650 luminaires were remanufactured using new drivers and LED modules while retaining their housings. The pilot achieved a 51–59% reduction in production and transportation carbon footprint, avoided 2.7 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions, and reused 194 kilograms of materials.

Signify employed a similar approach at the aerospace’s manufacturing facility in the UK. 688 Philips GentleSpace luminaires were remanufactured, preserving the existing housings and replacing key components to improve lighting performance while supporting the company's circularity ambitions by.

The aerospace company achieved a 53% reduction in production-phase carbon footprint, equivalent to approximately 26 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions. The project also reserved significant amounts of aluminium and steel that would have been needed to fabricate new housings.

Renew your lighting, rethink your resources

For manufacturers, better lighting doesn't always mean buying new. LED-to-LED upgrades can unlock substantial energy savings, connected controls can improve efficiency and maintenance, and remanufacturing can extend product life while reducing material use and carbon emissions.

The right approach depends on the installation, operational needs, and business case. By first assessing what can be retained, repaired, upgraded, or remanufactured, manufacturers can extend asset life, reduce lifecycle costs, and support more resource-efficient operations.

About the author:

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

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2022, we had sales of EUR 7.5 billion, approximately 35,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in our operations in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for six consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.