Page 65 - Lighting Magazine August 2018

A er 25 years of reporting on the resi- dential sector of the lighting business, I have a good understanding of the relationship between manufacturers’ reps and lighting showrooms. In part,
it involves educating the sales sta about the latest products so that they can relay those bene ts to consumers, plus o ering merchandising tools that help showrooms raise their bo om lines. There are other important responsibilities, of course, but I want to focus on the education/selling process speci cally.
Since I a end Lightfair, LEDucation, Strategies in Light, and The LED Show, I am aware of the contract/commercial side of the business from the product perspective – a er all, there is some cross- over between the sectors, and even more so since LEDs have become more prevalent. For this issue’s focus on sales reps, I wanted to increase my knowl- edge by tagging along with commercial lighting reps as they made the rounds with a new product from California-based Optec LED Lighting.
Je Gatzow, Vice President of California-based lighting manufacturer Optec, and the sales reps from the Wisconsin-based agency Spectrum Lighting & Controls – which covers the state of Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, and northern Illinois from its o ces in Waukesha, Madison, and Green Bay – put together a varied experience for me by holding meetings at three leading companies in the Milwaukee area: Ring & DuChateau Consulting En- gineers, whose 80-person sta o ers mechanical and electrical systems design along with planning, studies, and commissioning in sectors that include healthcare and education; the 44-person electrical contractor rm of Uihlein Electric, which also pro- vides technology solutions and building automation support; and Quad/Graphics, the second-largest print and integrated media solutions provider which employs 22,500 people worldwide in 60+ facilities.
First, I wanted to know what “we” were demon- strating. Optec LED Lighting has been a leader in exterior LED signage/electronic message centers for 30 years (under the name Optec Displays), so when LEDs started undergoing rapid development for commercial lighting purposes, it was already ahead of the curve when it came to developing and utilizing LED components. The manufacturer currently o ers a full line of interior high bays, area lights, plus architectural exterior xtures and wall packs.
The xtures we showcased on our road trip are the new OLA1 Area Light Series and the OLHB2 Linear Highbays (both featured at the company’s booth at Lightfair in Chicago). “We’re o ering high performance, long-life, a 10-year warranty and some distinctive features, such as control options, choices in color temperatures, and some bells and whistles,” Gatzow told me. “Architects and contractors want to work with reputable brands because they don’t want to be on the hook for products [in their proj- ects] that aren’t well-serviced.”
Optec’s 30 years of experience in the LED elec- tronic signage business has led to products that have good thermals. “Think of electronic signs that are on 24/7 in harsh environments and sit in the heat as well as [give o ] heat,” Gatzow said, adding, “The signage/display industry is inherently more service- oriented by its nature because of electrical, thermal, and optical concerns. Because of our three decades of experience, we know how to design, engineer, and value-engineer a product.”
Gatzow pointed out that LEDs have changed how “end of life” is determined. Since LEDs degrade evenly over time, “usefulness” has become the new evaluation criteria for light levels. LED-powered xtures will not have burned-out bulbs to indicate replacement – as it would with HID, incandescent, or uorescent sources – instead, light loss is o en as- sessed by using a light meter, and a facilities manager might not notice the subtle loss. A good commercial lighting rep will keep an eye on maintenance issues.
What was interesting to me over the course of the day, was how the conversation was vastly di erent for each customer we called on. Our rst stop was at Ring & DuChateau, a renowned engineering rm in the healthcare eld with six employees speci cally dedicated to lighting. Here, the client was most con- cerned about the optics of the xture.
Gatzow pulled out a spec sheet to go over the optics with the client, point by point. “These are rst-generation optics that meet IES standards,” Gatzow noted, explaining to me and the client that ne-tuning optics is a continual process, and there- fore improvements can be expected.
“[Good xture design] starts with the optics, and ge ing it right is tough for many companies. Our goal is to produce good light without glare. We put optics rst and foremost.” The optics portion is so impor- tant, I learned, that there is a long back-and-forth process between the simulation stage to tooling and then production.
LEDs have changed how “end
of life” is determined.
Rep Ride-along
august 2018 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 61
opposite page:
The front entrance of Quad/Graphics
Je Gatzow of Optec LED Lighting goes over the optics and spec sheets regarding the product line with Spectrum Lighting rep Veronica Reichert and Holly Bloomquist of Ring & DuChateau.