Printed packaging films producer TCL Packaging has invested in a project to improve lighting at its production facility in Telford, whilst reducing environmental impact and cutting energy costs by almost 80%.
400W metal halide lamps were replaced with 99 LEDs to reduce wattage. In the production and storage area, the new LEDs are rated at 175W and in the company’s warehouse, the new lamps are 86W. Both are set at only 50% usage with daylight-harvesting being used. This automatically reduces the power to the lights if the sunlight is bright. Movement sensors in the warehouse drop the power to 10% if there is no movement for 15 minutes.
The first phase of the company’s lighting replacement project involved the ceiling lights in the 70,000 square feet production area. Light levels from the replacement bulbs have also doubled the Lux levels. The company specified a colour temperature of 5000 kelvin (known as D50 light) to aid colour matching of printed films. This means that print quality inspection processes have also gained from the new installation.
During February the company will start the second phase of replacement lighting in the proofing zone, office suites and exterior lights where all bulbs will be exchanged for LED’s.
The 80% reduction in energy costs so far means that £36K invested for the first phase of the company’s light-replacement project has a pay-back of just 18 months.