More Companies Are Outfitting Warehouses With ‘Smart’ Lights

In a drive to improve efficiency, some companies have concluded that their overhead lights are bringing them down. Industrial lighting, which shines on everything from the aisles of warehouses to the parking lots at car dealerships, can be one of the biggest expenses a corporation has. Often based on technology that is decades old, some of these giant lights are electricity hogs and cash sponges. As a result, a growing group of businesses are experimenting with “smart” lighting systems that have the potential to cut energy bills deeply.

Quality Bicycle Products, a wholesaler of bicycle parts and products, is one of those businesses. Although most of the Bloomington, Minn.-based company’s U.S. facilities are outfitted with traditional fluorescent tube lighting, the company went in a different direction in the warehouse at its new 122,000-square-foot distribution center in Lancaster, Pa., installing light emitting diode, or LED, technology from Boston-based Digital Lumens Inc.