Metal Sales Manufacturing Lowers Energy And Maintenance Costs With Universal’s LED Linear High Bay Luminaires

Founded in 1963, Metal Sales Manufacturing Corporation has steadily grown from a single facility to 21 locations across the United States. The company’s 100,000 sq. ft. facility in Rogers, Minnesota is both a manufacturing location and storage area for the architectural metal components made there, including roofing panels, siding panels and accessories that are then shipped to customers and installed by local contractors and builders.

Metal Sales Manufacturing has already upgraded some of its other facilities to LED lighting, and they were impressed with the technology’s energy savings and reduced maintenance. “We had a mixture of T8 and T5 fluorescent lamps in our location that had been there for around 20 years,” said Carey Cross, general manager of the Rogers facility. “We were wanting to get better lighting in here and to eliminate the maintenance hassles of constantly changing fluorescent lamps.”

In consultation with Universal distributor Crescent Electric, Metal Sales Manufacturing chose to install 166 BLC48 LED Linear High Bay Fixtures in the Rogers facility.

“Installation was very easy,” said Cross.“ The crew just unplugged the fluorescent lamps and plugged in the new ones.”

Cross immediately noticed a dramatic difference in the quality of light. Universal’s LED technology provides very consistent color temperatures with none of the flickering and intensity problems associated with fluorescent lighting. “During the installation, we could compare the LED lighting with the fluorescent and the LED fixtures created almost a wall of light in comparison. When we stood in the LED-lit areas and looked at the fluorescent lighting, it was like peering into a cave.” Cross added that the 42 employees at the facility have already noticed a huge difference in lighting quality.

“When we started working with Crescent on the rebates and ROI calculations, the switch to LED was a no-brainer,” said Cross. “We estimate that the installation will have a payback period of just over two years. It’s hard to find a capital project where you get a payback that fast.”