When business growth demanded a move to a more spacious warehouse and distribution facility, officials with MedSafe wanted to upgrade to energy efficient lights that didn’t require long warm up periods.
 
As a leading national supplier of occupational, health and safety equipment, MedSafe’s primary distribution facility near Houston, TX is strategically located to provide critical disaster relief supplies in the aftermath of a hurricane or tropical Gulf Coast storm. But, this optimum location frequently puts the facility itself in the direct path of severe weather.
 
So when MedLife moved into a new facility, they decided on Dialight’s high-efficiency, long-life DuroSite LED High Bay and area lighting fixtures to deliver energy savings and crisp, clear white light, and also instant restrike to eliminate downtime in the wake of a power outage.
 
With 141 DuroSite LED High Bay interior fixtures and 18 exterior area lights in place at its new facility, MedSafe can now light four-times the square footage at the exact same cost as its previous building and be back up and running in mere minutes.
 
But, in an area where severe weather is often a threat, MedSafe employs an aggressive disaster preparedness program — one that demands they be up and running immediately after a hurricane hits. At its previous facility, a power outage meant as much as 15 minutes of downtime spent waiting for its 400-Watt metal halide and fluorescent lights to restrike and provide the necessary light to get back to work packing and shipping critical supplies.
 
“We’ve always been about embracing new technology to help us do our job better,” said Burk Shaw president of MedSafe. “This was one of the main reasons we opted for upgraded lighting at our new facility. When we first started the design, both the general contractor and electrician were skeptical, but I was intent on using LED lighting and they ended up loving it and even selling some additional units.”
 
At its new 125,000-square-foot distribution facility, MedSafe installed 141 Dialight DuroSite LED High Bay fixtures at a height of 28 feet. Aiming to achieve 20 foot-candles of light output per fixture, the Dialight High Bays exceeded that goal, delivering 24 foot-candles of crisp, clean white light.
 
“Our employees are enjoying the cleaner, brighter, whiter lighting, and it’s also cooler,” Shaw said. “And, because there’s no yellowing of the cowling, the improved lighting allows our order processors to see their paperwork more clearly and fill orders more accurately.”
 
Not only is MedSafe able to light four times the area at the same overall cost, but the company was also able to save money by investing in a smaller generator to provide backup power in the event of an outage. And, with virtually no warm-up time required, the lights are back on in an instant, to keep vital storm recovery and cleanup products flowing.
 
In addition to the energy savings and quality of lighting, the reduced maintenance cost of the Dialight fixtures is also a direct benefit for MedSafe. Backed by Dialight’s 5-year warranty, the fixtures will likely last twice as long, eliminating the costly and time-consuming bulb changes required by traditional metal halide fixtures for a much lower total cost of ownership compared with conventional lighting.
 
“The local Dialight sales manager was extremely helpful in providing ROI calculators,
measuring our current lighting needs and working with our engineer to ensure we achieved the proper lighting in our new facility,” Shaw said. “We definitely would embrace adding Dialight to other new facilities and retrofitting our old facilities as we upgrade and enhance those distribution points.”