Manufacturer cuts annual lighting costs by more than 90%

Germany-based DiloSpinnbau manufactures universal and high-capacity carding machines used to process non-woven fibers. Its 71,000-square-foot manufacturing facility serves customers in 80 countries. The company recently replaced the facility’s fluorescent lighting system with a controllable LED lighting solution, cutting annual lighting costs by 91%.

Hartmut Freund, technical director for DiloSpinnbau, says the company had been searching for years to identify a lighting solution that met its needs, “one that not only delivered the light quality and energy savings we were looking for, but also a payback that ensured the investment made sense.”

The new maintenance-free lighting system (Digital Lumens, digitallumens.com) eliminates the re-lamping and re-ballasting costs associated with the previous T8 fluorescent fixtures. The new setup includes efficient LED bulbs connected by an intelligent lighting system. The system automatically adjusts for the available light coming through windows and skylights, increasing energy savings by an additional 35%.

Occupancy sensors ensure lights are only on when needed, and Freund notes an improvement in the quality of light as well as the facility’s working conditions.

“Never before have we had this level of control over lighting within our facility, nor the visibility into how lighting is being used—by kWh, occupancy patterns and utilization rates—to support day-to-day operations,” says Freund. “It’s a remarkably intuitive way of thinking about lighting, with very real impact on light quality, efficiency and bottom-line savings.”

The company now estimates it is saving more than 351,000 kWh of electricity and 64 tons of CO2 annually. It also expects a return on investment within 1.7 years, with annual savings in excess of $94,000, or more than $528,000 over five years.