Yanco Ltd

02-05-2024

Yanco are manufacturers of insecticide products for a global market, supplying the UK, Europe, Africa and the United States. Many of their production processes utilise unique technologies and require a clean room environment to ensure a high quality, safe product is created. In order to facilitate this, the environment demands a high level of quality light, along with excellent uniformity for the fine work and inspection areas. Novah were asked to survey a small part of the facility initially with a view to beginning the lighting upgrade process, to help improve the lighting, whilst providing energy and maintenance cost savings.

Lighting objectives

Yanco wished to increase lighting levels in the areas Novah initially surveyed and produced lighting schemes for, however once Yanco had seen how quickly the return on investment could pay for itself, it increased the project scope to the entire site, at which point Novah were asked to survey the entire facility and provide schemes and a total return on investment, broken down into the various sections of the business, to allow the client to see where the main savings would come from initially and what impact the complete upgrade would have over time. Once these figures were analysed by Yanco’s Finance Director, Chris Pitts, it was felt the entire site would benefit from the upgrade.

How did Novah approach this project?

After the initial lighting survey, a lighting scheme for each area was created, in order to meet regulations, or in certain cases, exceed the regulations to meet the clients requirements. This allowed Novah to reduce the number of fittings in many areas, and also change some of the lighting positions as the layout of the business had evolved and the technological advancements in our lighting products allowed for this. Novah demonstrated the products to the client to help them assess the benefits of the technology, and consider the various options available in terms of lighting controls and emergency facilities and signage (either built in or stand alone).

Challenges

The project needed to work within an allocated budget to ensure a specific payback could be achieved, in line with commercial considerations. Therefore by using the latest, highly efficient A rated products as developed by Novah, Yanco were able to achieve this. The running costs and energy savings alone, from the use of higher efficiency LED products, rather than standard over the counter LED products provided this short return on investment solution.

Novah solutions

Novah used our latest A energy rated Sirius with quick connect microwave sensors with built in daylight saving technology in all the production and warehouse environments – these areas produce the highest consumption and therefore the quickest payback for the business. These were complimented by the Hera range of stand alone emergency products, including twin spots, bulk heads and running men, all self test. In additional a number of linear Solray battens and Barracuda non corrosives have been used to support local lighting above close detail machinery and in storage areas. The offices utilised the Horizon UGR>19 LED panel, both standard and emergency, and communal areas were updated with Ellipse LED downlights. The exterior lighting used a blend of architectural Rhea bulkheads at low level, Ava asymmetric LED floodlamps for signage and walkways, and Onyx floodlamps for the transportation yard.

Outcomes

Energy consumption has dropped dramatically as a direct result of the production and warehouse lighting, especially by tweaking the on board lighting controls, which ensures the lighting is either off when not activated, or when the natural sunlight is flooding through the skylights, which are in perfect condition, and so help to light the areas throughout the day. The production is lit to a far higher light level than pre upgrade, and so staff can see their workstations more clearly and this helps with productivity by reducing ‘shadowing’ and providing a superior light quality. The overall feel across the site is clean and modern, and the lighting further enhances this. The on-site maintenance is now zero for the lighting, which provides its own cost savings.

Customer feedback

‘We were looking at the various cost saving measures required to ensure our continuous improvement is on target, and after analysis it became apparent that the lighting of the whole facility, including production, warehousing and office / lab areas would provide huge benefits to the business if carried out effectively. At this point we engaged Novah who came and provided a full site survey, including lighting schemes to make sure we would be able to improve our overall lighting whilst reducing energy consumption – especially given the huge rises in energy costs. Novah have been incredibly professional throughout the process and held our hands to guide us on the best way to minimise our usage of lighting throughout the whole site, whilst maintaining the aesthetic of the building. As their products are energy rated at A, this was an obvious choice for us, and using their built in controls for movement and daylight energy saving has helped us further reduce our energy costs – thank you to Craig and the team’. Glen Smith – Managing Director