Manufacturing LED Lighting: Safety, Quality, Considerations Productivity, and Cost

Many elements go into creating a successful manufacturing facility, and good lighting is one component that should not be overlooked. Good lighting in an industrial facility can keep workers safe and more productive, and a cheerful, well-lit workplace can be good for morale.

Manufacturing lighting is the purposeful design, selection, and control of illumination across production floors, warehouses, machine cells, inspection stations, and exterior/ancillary spaces so people can work safely, accurately, and efficiently while minimizing energy and maintenance costs.

In this unified guie we cover why high‑quality lighting impacts safety, quality, productivity, morale, and costs; why LEDs are ideal for harsh industrial environments; retrofit strategies and ROI; color rendering and flicker safety; explosion‑proof applications; smart controls; design considerations; case studies; and how Relumination plans, implements, and supports turnkey upgrades.

Key takeaways: replacing outdated metal halide, high‑pressure sodium, and fluorescent high‑bays with LED can reduce utility costs by 30–70% (and up to 90% with advanced controls), improve visibility and true color rendition, eliminate warm‑up and flicker, reduce A/C load, extend lifecycles (often 50,000–60,000 hours with multi‑year warranties), boost morale and throughput, and lower maintenance—frequently with a fast payback accelerated by rebates and incentives.

The Importance of High‑Quality Manufacturing Lighting

When operating a manufacturing facility there are a lot of different competing concerns that need to be addressed and considered, pulling one’s attention in many different directions at once.

Safety, quality, productivity, costs, and employee morale are all at the top of this list, and oftentimes every issue facing a plant manager boils down to one of these issues. Few actions that a facility can take will impact several of these; even fewer will impact all of these considerations.

One item in particular will positively impact all of these areas, and it’s one of the simplest most cost‑effective ways to address all of these issues. Ready for it? Good quality manufacturing lighting.

Safety

Safety is always a top concern when running a manufacturing facility. Trip and fall accidents and hand injuries are always on the top of OSHA’s list of injuries each year. There are many actions that can be taken to help alleviate these injuries, but toward the top of that list is replacing old inefficient lighting with brand new, brighter, and more efficient lighting.

Dimly lit walkways and aisles suddenly become well lit, allowing workers to quickly identify objects left in the walkway. Employees stop squinting at their dark work stations and instead easily see potentially hazardous objects before they place their hands near them. It sounds so simple, but simply changing the environment into a well‑lit area heads off a huge percent of potential accidents. You never hear about a worker tripping over a misplaced pallet because it was too easy to see.

Quality

Every production process is always striving to have a perfect quality control process, but inevitably there is always something that makes its way to the customer. Function tests and spot checking catch many of these issues, but they often focus on the functioning of the product, not on how it looks. Small blemishes and scratches are often left to the human eye to identify and address. If your customer has better lighting than you, blemishes and scratches that are invisible in the shadows of your dimly lit production line are spotted a mile away under the bright lights of brand‑new industrial lighting or a sunny day in the field. Don’t risk it. Install ample amounts of energy‑efficient lights throughout your facility and hard‑to‑see scratches, dents, and blemishes will all jump out at your employees and inspectors, minimizing the chance that they will turn up at a customer site.

Productivity and Morale

When a worker is searching through the shadows for a dropped part or to identify the part number listed on a box, they are wasting valuable time they could be using to produce product. Don’t throw this valuable time away. Ensure that there is more than enough light on your production line and in your warehouse so that your hard‑working employees are focused on their jobs, and not on trying to read a label in the dark. This speaks to the morale of your workforce as well. If they are constantly squinting to do their jobs or walking into work in a dark dimly lit facility, it brings their morale down. Brighten up their workspaces with brand‑new bright energy‑efficient lighting and suddenly walking into work isn’t depressing. Good quality lighting boosts the morale, and subsequently the productivity of every employee on your manufacturing floor.

Cost

Many older manufacturing facilities have old outdated lighting. It’s easy to just keep using these old lights and not realize how much they are costing you. New energy‑efficient lighting often saves so much on energy costs that they quickly pay for themselves in lower utility bills. This is even more true if you can utilize power company incentives or if your facility is charged rates based on peak load. This speeds up the already short payback period. These cost savings are even higher when you think of all of the additional gains listed above simply by replacing your old existing lighting with new energy‑efficient lighting.

When you consider all of the benefits of updating your manufacturing lighting, it’s hard to think of a single investment that would impact as many aspects of your business as energy‑efficient lighting.

Case Study: Martisa (Barcelona) — From HPS to LED

With energy costs on the rise, the word on the tips of the tongues of manufacturers is how to conserve energy and spend less. It’s time to eliminate those inefficient, dim fluorescent and high‑pressure sodium high‑bay lights and install LED lighting. Martisa, a Spanish manufacturing company in Barcelona that produces metal parts for automobiles, had problems with its 400‑watt high‑pressure sodium lamps throughout its facility. The color rendering of the lamps was so poor that employees could not see the true colors of items in the facility. Also, if there were a power outage, the lights would take at least 10 minutes to return. Martisa also spent a considerable amount of money on maintaining the lights, including buying new lamps and renting the platform to access them.

To solve these problems, Martisa installed 150‑watt Durosite LED high‑bay lights throughout the facility, reducing its energy consumption from lighting by 69%. The facility no longer has to wait for the lights to come on after a power outage because LEDs turn on full power as soon as you hit the switch. The lighting no longer flickers or dims, and the improved color rendering allows employees to see true colors. With a 60,000‑hour lifetime and 5‑year warranty on the new lamps, Martisa can focus less on electricity and maintenance costs and more on its products.

Why LEDs Are Ideal for Manufacturing Lighting

Not all manufacturing environments are the same. Some are less forgiving than others. In fact, some are extremely unforgiving. Cement production plants are one example: limestone crushing operations, milling machines, and a gigantic hot kiln that rotates. Cement powder is blown through pipes under pressure, and sometimes they leak and spray cement dust into the air. In short, the plants are noisy, full of vibration, hot (in some areas), and sometimes dusty with highly abrasive cement powder. While such an environment can be hard on workers, it’s very hard on the machines themselves. Good lighting in such a place and in other similarly difficult manufacturing environments is critical to worker productivity and especially to their safety.

Unfortunately, old technology lighting such as incandescent and fluorescent lights is innately fragile. Simply put, they are based on a filament or gas encased in a glass bulb or tube. Yes, you can place them out of “harm’s way” such as on high ceilings, but they’re not out of the reach of the intense vibration of these plants, which penetrate the walls and ceilings. In the case of incandescent lights, most of the electricity they consume turns into heat, which makes an uncomfortable environment even more uncomfortable. In addition, these aren’t the best lights from a worker safety standpoint because they are relatively dim for the energy consumed.

If you’re the plant manager of such a facility, doesn’t it make sense to install rugged lighting that can take the heat, vibration, and other abuses? LED lighting is innately rugged because it’s solid state. It’s essentially a solid diode that emits light. There’s no glass bulbs, shells, or other fragile components. Another benefit is they last substantially longer than other types of lighting. Unlike incandescent bulbs, LED lights aren’t primarily heat‑producing devices that put out a little bit of light.

Most of the electricity they consume produces light. This means you have a brightly lit facility that consumes less power for its lighting. It means a safer environment for your hard‑working employees. There are many types of LED lights. Not only can you place them high overhead, you can place smaller lights on the machines or even in the machines. Solid‑state LEDs resist vibration. Less heat production makes them more desirable from a fire hazard point of view.

LEDs and Safer Manufacturing: Color, Flicker, Reliability

Most manufacturing environments are dangerous, and cause injuries and fatalities each year. Hard hats, eye protection, safety devices, guard rails, and numerous work procedures are used to combat the problem. At the very top of these safety measures is good lighting. Without good vision, work safety is impossible. Providing your workforce with safe lighting is best done with LEDs for the following reasons:

Bright, Unidirectional Light

With older technologies, providing a brightly lit work area conflicts with economics. The reason is their energy inefficiency. LEDs produce less waste heat, and therefore provide bright lighting without high energy bills. LED light is also unidirectional, which means most of it goes exactly where it’s needed: at the work area.

True Color Rendition

Accurate color perception is important in manufacturing environments. The colors of warning signs are chosen for specific reasons. The colors red and yellow are commonly used for hazard signs. Lighting that distorts true colors diminishes the effectiveness of these signs. Instrumentation and control panels often rely on color. Emergency stop buttons are commonly colored red, and finding them in an emergency is difficult in the presence of color distortion. LEDs produce a white light that mimics natural sunlight and therefore provide true color rendition.

Reliability and Predictable End‑of‑Life

Solid state LEDs are tougher, last longer, and resist vibration better than lighting made with glass bulbs and tubes. They won’t suddenly burn out. When they reach the end of their life, they dim gradually. This gives you plenty of time to replace them—and minimizes surprise outages in critical zones.

No Flicker (No Strobe Hazard)

Fluorescent lighting flickers near the end of its useful life. This is dangerous because the flickering may cause a strobe effect, which makes some types of moving machinery appear stationary. This is extremely dangerous, especially in noisy environments where you can’t rely on sound to tell you when the machine is running. When used with the right high‑quality power supply, LEDs don’t flicker.

Design Considerations: Cost, Adequacy, Placement, Resilience

Many elements go into creating a successful manufacturing facility, and good lighting is one component that should not be overlooked. Good lighting in an industrial facility can keep workers safe and more productive, and a cheerful, well‑lit workplace can be good for morale. However, careful consideration must be given to the lighting system, since not just any lamp will do.

Cost

In today’s global manufacturing environment there is a level of competition unknown to our predecessors, and companies must keep costs low in order to come out on top. Outdated lighting can eat up large amounts of energy and require frequent, costly bulb replacements. Less money spent on operating costs means higher profits overall, so products that offer great performance while keeping plant energy and maintenance costs low are an excellent investment.

Adequate Lighting Levels & Placement

Poor light levels can make it more difficult, or even dangerous, for workers to do their jobs. Many tasks performed on the production floor require great attention to detail. Safety is paramount and workers must have adequate lighting to avoid potential hazards. Manufacturing plants often have high ceilings, so lights must be powerful enough to reach the work floor. Consideration should also be given to color and placement of lights to optimize lighting levels in the facility.

Resilience to Industrial Conditions

The conditions found in an industrial environment are harsher than those of, say, a shopping mall or high school gymnasium. Manufacturing lighting must be resilient enough to withstand high humidity, heat, vibrations, chemicals, and large equipment that could damage it. At Relumination, our seasoned professionals are well‑versed in manufacturing lighting design and will work with you to design a lighting layout that is ideal for your facility.

Explosion‑Proof LED Lighting: Where Safety Comes First

Lighting is one fixture of a manufacturing facility that has impending dangers. In industries that operate with flammable gases, chemicals, dust, and vapors, lights may cause an explosion and fire. These fixtures may blow and let off a spark that will explode when they ignite any flammable elements. Therefore, the National Electric Code (NEC) has set protection techniques that prevent an explosion that is caused by lighting. They involve the installation of LED Explosion Proof Lighting, which helps avert a fire or explosion.

What Is LED Explosion‑Proof Lighting?

Explosion‑proof lighting involves encasing the light fixtures, to prevent them from being a source of ignition. Their design can withstand an internal explosion and will not spread any sparks from the enclosure. These LED products come in different wattages, sizes, and styles, and safeguard everyone in the industry.

Where to Install

Explosion‑proof techniques are approved in specific working environments:

• Class I Division 1: Areas where flammable vapors, gases, and liquids are applied and always present.
• Class I Division 2: Areas with ignitable vapors, gases, and liquids that are not regularly present in daily operations. Class I ignitable elements include propane, acetylene, benzene, butane, hydrogen, and methane.
• Class II Division 1: Areas where, in normal working conditions, there are flammable dusts.
• Class II Division 2: Areas where combustible dust is present during unusual industrial operations. Class II combustibles include carbon, charcoal and metal dust, flour, wood, and plastics.
• Class III: Operations where ignitable fibers and materials such as sawdust and cotton are present.

Keep Safe with Explosion‑Proof Lighting. Keep your industrial facility safe for everyone by installing LED explosion‑proof lighting. They will lessen the risks of fire ignition and explosion that cause workplace injuries and accidents. Relumination can help you meet NEC requirements with the ideal products and professional installation.

How LED Technology Benefits Manufacturing Operations

Increased global competition has forced manufacturers to produce goods more efficiently. That demands less time‑intensive, resource‑intensive, and energy‑intensive processes. Beyond the process itself, the energy consumption of the entire plant matters—and keeping your plant well‑lit over multiple shifts consumes significant energy. If you aren’t using LED lighting, then you stand to gain substantial energy savings. Why turn your money into waste heat using old and inefficient lighting?

Beyond the energy savings, LED technology benefits your manufacturing operations in many other ways including:

• Increased worker productivity. LEDs produce a white light similar to daylight (without UV). This reduces eyestrain and worker fatigue. Daylight‑like light also boosts mood, alertness, and productivity.
• Accuracy in production tasks. The colors of objects as they appear to the human eye depend on the lighting source. The fuller spectrum light of LEDs improves color perception, which is important in many production tasks. This reduces mistakes.
• Reduced maintenance costs. The longer working life of LEDs translates to reduced maintenance costs—including labor and the cost of using specialized equipment for reaching high ceilings. LEDs are also vibration resistant, increasing their longevity in vibration‑filled environments.
• Reduced air conditioning costs. The extensive lighting of manufacturing facilities produces waste heat that adds to the A/C load. Using cooler LED lighting reduces your air conditioning costs and increases worker comfort.
• A more professional appearance. A clean floor isn’t enough when the area is dimly lit. The bright white light of LEDs remedies this. The appearance of your facilities affects worker morale and influences the decisions of touring VIPs.

All the above as well as reduced energy consumption serve to increase the efficiency and productivity of your plant, which in turn increases competitiveness.

Retrofitting Manufacturing Facilities: Savings, Controls, and No Disruption

Retrofitting a production facility’s lighting has many benefits. So many manufacturing facilities use metal halide high‑bay fixtures or fluorescent lighting. While these have advantages over some other systems, LED lighting offers many benefits, making a retrofit a sound business decision. Every business wants to lower operating costs, maximize productivity, and increase employee morale. Installing the latest lighting systems can achieve all three.

Cost‑Effective

Cost savings are the obvious benefit. Utility costs can be reduced by as much as 70%, but even a 30–50% saving can make a lot of sense when taken over three or four years. This sort of saving not only delivers a quick ROI, but in future years it continues to deliver lower energy and operating costs. In many states, there are utility rebates and incentives available to companies that install energy‑efficient lighting and controls. We are experts in navigating how you can qualify for these incentives and will handle the application process on your behalf. Those incentives help to deliver an even faster ROI.

Another potential saving from an LED lighting system is that the heat generated by older systems disappears. That can have a direct impact on cooling needs and A/C costs.

Advanced Controls (Up to 90% Savings)

Lighting controls such as occupancy sensing, task tuning, daylight harvesting, progressive dimming, automatic setbacks, and programmable control zoning can assist a facility to achieve up to 90% energy savings and maintain safe, comfortable light levels across the facility. Motion sensors mean that local area lighting can be dimmed when that area is free of activity and instantly fully illuminated when sensors detect activity.

Higher Productivity, Safety, and Morale

Employees working in a well‑lit area are less likely to make simple mistakes, for no other reason than they can see exactly what they are doing. Improved lighting also improves safety by enabling employees to avoid potential mishaps and accidents. Nothing disrupts productivity and lowers morale like a serious accident. On a minor note, LEDs do not buzz, so that little irritation disappears—which can also improve morale and productivity.

No Productivity Disruption

We will work around your systems and schedules to ensure your productivity is not disrupted. Many facilities have regular preventive maintenance, repair, and new equipment installation events. We can work with your teams to do our work while projects like these are in hand. Our goal is to perform implementation around your schedule to minimize disruption to your business.

The Takeaway: There are many benefits, both immediate and long‑term, to retrofit your manufacturing plant’s lighting. The decision is based on knowledge—contact us to learn more and arrange an initial consultation.

LED + Controls for Manufacturing: What to Specify (and Why)

In today’s competitive manufacturing world, reducing costs can be the difference between profit and loss. Lighting is one of the least expensive ways to trim costs. As well as trimming costs, lighting has been proven to boost worker morale and bring a positive mood into your space. Relumination is dedicated to helping commercial and industrial businesses reduce overhead costs, conserve electricity, minimize facility management expenses, and lower their environmental impact.

Benefits of Manufacturing Lighting Solutions

• Reduced lighting, electricity, and maintenance costs
• Improved lighting colors, levels, consistency, and layout, leading to increased productivity
• Longer fixture/lamp life span, resulting in no production shutdown
• Zero lost workdays due to improved safety
• Reduces production turn‑backs/mistakes

Why LED Is Better for Manufacturing Facilities

• Outdated incandescent or fluorescent fixtures won’t provide proper lighting
• LED uses a fraction of the power compared to traditional bulbs, making them energy efficient
• LED generates less heat, making it easier to keep a large facility cooler
• LED is durable and can hold up in most workplace environments

Note on lifetime: Industrial‑grade LED fixtures commonly specify 50,000–60,000 hours (and more) to L70, supporting multi‑year service intervals.

Why Controls Help Manufacturing Facilities

• Dimming controls
• Programmable control zoning
• Sequence of operations
• Motion sensing
• Humidity/Temperature monitoring
• Data collection

Utilizing LED lighting paired with controls in your manufacturing facility will benefit budget, productivity, and employees. LEDs will help take your lighting to the next level, reducing overall maintenance and operating costs. You have control over the rest of your building, and having control over your lights is essential, too.

Compliance, Expectations, and the Business Case

If You Don’t Think Lighting Has A Big Effect… maybe it’s because the impact of poor lighting has not been fully realized. When updating lighting to the best level, you’ll notice improvements in the following 4 areas:

1. Safety. The average manufacturing facility undoubtedly complies with government safety regulations (this includes OSHA’s lighting requirements). This compliance, however, probably doesn’t require optimal lighting. Logically, less than great lighting creates less than great safety, which allows for excess workplace accidents. Great lighting makes a manufacturing business as safe/efficient as possible.
2. Mood. A poorly lit work area carries a subliminal message of drudgery. A well‑lit facility promotes a positive atmosphere of cutting‑edge production. Improved morale is the intangible by‑product.
3. Productivity. When a business provides a premium workplace, productivity can reach its apex because lighting does not become an obstacle to peak performance.
4. Expense. Lighting improvements cut expenses in more ways than one. Increased productivity is, in effect, reduced expense. Fewer workplace injuries further cut unnecessary cost. And the obvious savings come in the form of state‑of‑the‑art fixtures that operate at a tremendously low cost—today’s lighting lineup is amazingly energy‑efficient.

Policy, Incentives, and Measurable Gains

Fact OR fiction? In 2012 the United States enacted legislation that will completely phase out the production of incandescent light bulbs. By the end of that year 40, 60, 75, and 100‑watt bulbs would no longer be produced. FACT! These changes are having a revolutionary impact on everything from the environment to helping businesses save money with more efficient and better quality lighting options. One of the industries seeing some of the largest return on investment (ROI) is manufacturing.

Three headline benefits:

1. Tax savings. By switching from traditional bulbs to manufacturing lighting from LED sources, businesses can see benefits in tax savings, energy rebates, longer lighting life, and huge energy savings.
2. Longer lighting lifespan. Manufacturing plants around the world are seeing up to an 85% cost reduction and an increased lifespan up to 60,000 hours.
3. Worker productivity. One noticeable and unexpected benefit is worker productivity. LED lights seem to cause much less eye strain in manufacturing facilities. Workers are reporting far less fatigue from the more efficient lighting, and it is estimated that they are 6–8% more productive because of it.

LEDs are 50–90% more energy‑efficient and longer lasting than traditional lighting. Lights are for lighting, not heating. Why spend an excessive amount on lighting that wastes heat and lasts a short time?

Practical Advantages in Daily Operations

Vibration resistance. Manufacturing plants are often full of noisy and vibrating machinery. The vibration of some operations is so intense that it permeates walls, floors, and ceilings. Because of their superior vibration resistance, LED lights are ideal for such difficult environments.

Low operating temperatures. Given their low energy consumption, it is no surprise that LEDs put out very little waste heat. This makes them ideal for refrigerated storage areas and warehouses. Using inefficient lighting is like placing multiple heaters inside a refrigerator.

Lighting directionality & brightening effect. LEDs are good at emitting light in one direction, perfect for lighting up work areas where assembly, machining, and inspection require good lighting. This highly directional light is pure white.

Long life. This attribute reduces maintenance costs. The enormous number of lights used in many facilities adds up to a significant replacement cost. Replacing lights in hard‑to‑reach places (very high ceilings) is expensive because it may require rented equipment such as bucket trucks.

Compact design. While LEDs can illuminate the largest areas, they can also light up very small spaces such as the inside of a machine.

Controls and daylight. LED lights can be readily dimmed. When combined with photo sensors, further energy savings are possible by taking advantage of natural light coming in through windows. Warehouses can save energy by altering brightness according to the frequency that people access each area.

How Relumination Helps: From Audit to ROI (Turnkey)

Relumination is dedicated to helping commercial and industrial businesses reduce overhead costs, conserve electricity, minimize facility management expenses, and lower environmental impact—while improving quality of light.

What we do for manufacturers:

• Assessment & Goals. We listen to safety, quality, throughput, and cost targets and document existing conditions.
• Engineered Lighting Design. We specify LED fixtures and control strategies (occupancy, daylight, task tuning, progressive dimming) tailored to each space type—high‑bays, task lights, machine lights, inspection, aisles, and exteriors.
• Resilience & Compliance. We select fixtures for vibration, heat, chemical exposure, and NEC class/division requirements where applicable (including explosion‑proof rated equipment).
• Implementation Around Your Schedule. We work around your systems and shifts so productivity is not disrupted, aligning with shutdowns or PM windows.
• Incentives & Financing. We navigate utility rebates and incentives and can provide models of energy, maintenance, and A/C savings to clarify ROI.
• Training & Support. We train staff on controls, provide warranty and service, and monitor outcomes against goals.

Outcome: Reduced energy and maintenance costs, improved visibility and safety, higher morale and productivity, and a facility that looks and performs like a leader.

Conclusion: Light the Work—Safely, Clearly, Efficiently

Manufacturing lighting isn’t a back‑burner decision. It’s a front‑line lever for safety, quality, productivity, morale, and cost. From Martisa’s 69% lighting energy reduction and elimination of warm‑up delays to explosion‑proof upgrades that protect in hazardous classes and divisions, the throughline is clear: LED lighting is rugged, efficient, directional, reliable, and safer. It delivers true color rendition, no flicker, low heat, and long life—and when paired with smart controls, it can push savings toward 90% while keeping light exactly where and when it’s needed.

Lighting upgrades also reduce A/C load, cut maintenance, and project professionalism to employees and visitors alike. In a world of global competition and thin margins, lights that light (not heat) are a strategic advantage.

Relumination brings the design expertise, implementation discipline, and incentive know‑how to make your retrofit smooth and your ROI compelling.

Contact us to request a free manufacturing lighting assessment and see how quickly better lighting will improve safety, boost throughput, and reduce operating costs across your plant