Content and motivated employees are the key to any company''s success, and providing a clean and bright work atmosphere is the first step in providing employees the environment they need. Although this may seem simple, it can be a challenging task for industrial facilities.
When Tower Automotive set out to create a cleaner, brighter workplace for its Illinois facility, the company did its homework. Its current high pressure sodium (HPS) lighting systems simply did not produce the quality of light the global auto parts manufacturer wanted. After conducting several trial installations, Venture''s 450 and 250 watt Uni-Form® pulse start metal halide lamps and ballasts were selected to retrofit the Granite City plant''s existing lighting.
A Company with a Mission
Since its formation in 1993, Tower Automotive has become an industry leader in production of upper and lower body structures, chassis and suspension stampings, assemblies and modules. The products manufactured in the company''s 40 facilities in North and South America, the Pacific Rim and Europe are used in cars, sport utility vehicles, and trucks of customers worldwide, including Daimler Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Honda, General Motors, BMW, Nissan, Navistar, Volkswagen, Dana, Fiat, Paccat, and Mazda.
The company''s vision is to be the worldwide auto parts supplier of choice while providing an environment for growth and development. It strives to provide total customer satisfaction in quality, delivery, price, and service, and continually looks for innovative ways to grow and prosper. Tower knows that achievement of its goals is dependent on having content and motivated employees, and encourages personal and professional staff development.
On a Trial Basis
As the existing 400 watt HPS lighting approached time to group relamp, the company knew it was time not only for new lamps, but for new technology. Charged with specifying the plant''s new lighting, Tower''s facilities engineer, Staber Dearth, set forth several important criteria. He wanted the same footcandles and energy consumption as with the HPS system. For the employees, he wanted a light source that better resembled natural sunlight. Also, he knew a fast restrike time was crucial to his operations.
Dearth knew that metal halide was the clear choice for the facility but was unsure which was best, the industry''s traditional technology or newer pulse start lighting. He turned to French Gerleman, a lighting distributor in Maryland Heights, MO. The agency suggested installing lighting mock-ups to determine which technology and lamp wattages would be best for the Illinois plant.
Venture Mocks the Competition
A trial installation was conducted using 1000 watt probe start metal halide lamps in enclosed luminaires. These lamps have higher light output and were spaced further apart than the 400 watt HPS lamps. Although the facility was certainly much brighter, it was also filled with many shadows created by the light''s reflection off the heavy equipment in the plant.
The distributor also invited St. Louis Lighting Group to bid on the project and implement trial installations. Lighting representative Len Wiggins suggested doing a one-for-one replacement of the HPS systems using Venture''s Uni-Form pulse start metal halide lamps and ballasts. The 450 watt lamps ran on Venture® CWA ballasts, high efficiency units designed to enhance the lamps'' performance. They were used in conjunction with Lithonia''s prismatic highbay luminaires, eliminating shadows and making the heavy machinery areas appear significantly brighter. Uni-Form 250 watt lamps were used with low bay luminaires for another area of the facility.
Tower preferred Venture''s mock-up over the 1000 watt probe start alternative. The deciding factor was Dearth''s discovery that the pulse start lamps would restrike 60% faster than traditional metal halide technology, achieved by combining Venture''s patented formed body arc tube with half the quartz mass and higher fill pressure with ignitor starting for peak brightness in less time.
After conducting several trial installations, Venture''s 450 and 250 watt Uni-Form® pulse start metal halide lamps and ballasts were selected"Compared to the HPS lighting, the 450 watt Uni-Form lamps gave us the same light levels, lumens and power consumption," said Dearth. "More importantly, it offered excellent color uniformity and significantly lower restrike times. This will drastically reduce any loss of production time if we ever encounter a brief power outage."
Same Levels, Better Light
"Even though we achieved the same footcandles as the 400 watt HPS lighting, the pulse start metal halide lamps were favored by the plant''s employees because they perceived Venture''s lamps as having much more light," said Wiggins.
Although the pulse start lamps had the same footcandles as the HPS lamps, Tower''s staff thought that the plant was brighter because metal halide systems provide a bright white color that is much closer to daylight. Pulse start metal halide lamps have a color temperature of 3200K-4000K, resulting in a better color rendering index (the ability to depict colors accurately) of 65-70. HPS''s color rendering index is a low 20-30 because of its lower temperature, 1900K-2200K, producing a dim orange glow.
Installation of 350 Uni-Form MP 450W/C/BU/PS and 200 MP 250W/C/BU/PS lamps began in early 2000 and was completed in January 2001.
Tower Lives by Its Values
At one point, half the facility was lit with HPS and the other with metal halide. The open-rated 250 watt lamps offered 22,600 initial lumens and 90 lumens per watt while the 450 watt coated lamps gave 100 lumens per watt and 45,200 lumens -- the equivalent of a 400 watt HPS lamp -- making a dramatic difference. The area of the plant lit with HPS appeared dirty to workers and visitors because its poor color quality yielded darkness and shadows around the equipment and in corners.
In the last areas to be retrofitted, impatient employees working under HPS exclaimed, "We want that white light over here! It helps us see so much better." Even though it had been explained to them that the HPS and metal halide lamps both gave the same levels of light, they were convinced that the light from metal halide was better and brighter.
True to its value of "Involve and empower all colleagues," Tower Automotive let its employees make the decisions. The company gave its workers what they wanted and soon converted all the building''s HPS lighting to Venture''s pulse start metal halide technology.