Warehouse lighting is a mandatory cost to be borne by businesses since warehouses are a necessary burden. So, should you keep these costs to the minimum?
The answer depends on how efficient the business perceives its distribution network to be. Logistics has become a buzzword with regard to businesses, so efficiency in the big sheds of warehouses has become crucial.
It is a fool’s errand to spend as little as possible. The less which gets to spend on lighting, more will be spent on dealing with staff turnover, damaged goods, returns as well as general incompetence. The reason is that warehouse staff will like to see what they are doing and read clearly labels on boxes and products.
You need to do the following while lighting up a warehouse:
Know What to Get
You can consult design guides to know what the recommended lighting levels for warehousing are. The levels of lighting are based on the level of detail expected from staff. Packing workers need to be capable of reading labels like distinguishing the number 3 from 8.
Also, you must devote some effort for maintenance of automated lighting mechanism. This is better than hauling around of temporary lighting.
Understand Landscape of Warehouse
Most warehouses are tall structures with enough room for triple-tier shelving and vertical storage. But the higher you work near to the ceiling, the more is the lighting required. If you have canyon like aisles, then you must have lighting dedicated to a layout of an aisle. The rule of thumb is that lighting serving aisles will be more expensive than general lighting, but added cost will be offset by the efficiency of multiple storage tiers.
Control Use of Energy
You must evaluate how a warehouse works. It may be that it is not necessary to illuminate the complete building all the time. Aisle-lighting schemes are increasingly using lighting controls. For instance, if no one is there in the aisle, then lighting drops automatically to low level, cutting energy expenditure.
High-Quality Fittings for Light
Avoid being tempted by the cheapest light fittings on offer- they may have unexpected costs. For instance, the new generation LED high bay lighting is highly effective in terms of quantum of light which gets delivered per watt. But it may cause problems like super brilliant light impeding the way of work of high-level shelving tasks which could prove to be dangerous.
Know Light Sources
Currently, there are three light sources useful in warehouse lighting. The first is the metal halides which were very popular in the 1990’s. But all benefits of such lights can be provided by the second type, called as LED lighting. Also, LED does better by allowing capacity for dimming. In the energy conscious era, this implies death knell for metal halide lighting. Thus, industrial warehouse LED lighting is very popular.
The third technology is the fluorescent tube, which is holding out against the march from LED lights. The current generation of T5 tubes exhibits an efficiency which is sought by LED lighting. The T5 fluorescents are thus a good source for warehouse lighting. Especially, aisle schemes function well since sideways distribution emerging from fluorescent lights outperform their LED equivalent, making it ideal for lighting up high shelves.
These are all some aspects of choosing to light for industrial warehouses.
