LED Lighting Upgrade Will Save Manufacturer $150K Per Year

The retrofit will improve light levels at WernerCo’s 500,000-square-foot facility and lower the Midwest location’s lighting bill by 60%

An interior LED lighting upgrade at one of WernerCo’s Illinois-based, jobsite equipment manufacturing facilities has lowered the international manufacturer’s power usage, resulting in an estimated annual savings of $156,000. The project was completed by Fairbanks Energy Services, a full-service design/build energy efficiency firm and developer of comprehensive commercial and industrial (C&I) projects.

lighting upgrade
LED lighting installed for a WernerCo manufacturing facility by Fairbanks Energy Services (Photo: Fairbanks Energy Services)

Fairbanks Energy Services designed the LED lighting upgrade to deliver three primary results for Werner:

  • Improve sustainability, one of Werner’s core corporate values
  • Reduce energy use and solve light level issues to improve safety onsite
  • Lower annual operational expenditure on energy for highly productive, 24/7 facility

Faced with low light levels, aging building infrastructure, and some existing lighting issues, Werner brought in Crescent Electrical Supply and Fairbanks Energy Services to design a turnkey project and achieve a payback period of under two years to improve efficiency at the Midwest facility. Fairbanks Energy collaborated with Crescent to source best-in-class equipment for the upgrade.

Installed across the 500,000-square-foot property, the LED lighting solutions are estimated to lower annual energy use by over 1,473,000 kWh. Of the 1,750 lights installed, over 900 were high-bay fixtures, set to a variety of lumen outputs based on their ceiling heights and work areas. This project increased light levels in the production area by 60% while decreasing energy use from lighting by 60% and resulting in a 1.6 year payback.

“We are excited to see the visual and economic results of this sustainability project already making a difference,” said Lisa Urbina, Maintenance Lead at WernerCo. “With 24/7 production at this site, we needed specific light levels to create a safe and productive working environment. The Fairbanks Energy team designed the right LED lighting project that delivered on the requirements from both finance and operations teams.”

“From start to finish, this project was engineered to produce the results Werner needed: specific light levels and a two year, or better, ROI,” said Rob Golden, Vice President of the Midwest Region at Fairbanks Energy Services. “The national reach of Fairbanks Energy Services means we could provide industry best practice solutions with the right financial scope for a successful upgrade that dozens of other Midwest manufacturers should also consider.”

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