LEDVANCE, one of the global leaders in general lighting for professional users and end consumers, has played an instrumental part in helping Carlsberg’s logistics center reduce energy consumption by light by 50 percent – resulting in savings of 650,000 kWh and 400 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
At Carlsberg’s Logistic Center in the town of Høje Tåstrup in Denmark, the 180 employees work hard to get the daily shipment of 2,500 pallets of beer and other beverages off to stores, bars, and restaurants in a safe and timely manner. There are many safety measures throughout the logistics centre that aim to protect employees from accidents. Walking and driving zones are clearly marked, warning tape to mark the potentially dangerous places, and video resources – all aim to educate, inform and integrate safety at the forefront of their operations and propel a ‘zero accidents’ ambition.
Since the logistic center is open around the clock, all year round, proper lighting matters a great deal for improved safety: A clear and homogenous lighting of work and circulation areas facilitates orientation and can help to reduce accidents.
Carlsberg was fully conscious of the outdated and inadequate lighting system that was serving the five large warehouses and the outside area before the lighting upgrade. The current conventional low light in some parts of the warehouse interior as well as exterior sometimes made it hard to navigate and work top efficiently. The ramifications on safety, productivity, and overall employee stimulus – especially for night shifts, were all too significant to ignore. Not to mention, the problem of fluorescent tubes and metal halide lamps burning out during operational hours and not being replaced due to the disruptive downtime a replacement would entail.
A natural step towards a better working environment
In their efforts to improve productivity, an improvement of the lighting was the next natural step. “Not only would a switch from conventional lighting to LED lighting provide us with a 50 percent saving on electricity costs and a large saving of CO2 emissions, but we also needed energy-efficient, flexible lighting solutions that were a better fit for our purpose,” says Jesper Larsen, Head of Distribution at Carlsberg.
A proposal for a lighting upgrade prepared by the electrical contractor Michael Hansson from Kvalitek outlined a plan that would improve the lighting quality significantly for the day, evening and night shift operations, thus satisfying Carlsberg’s demands for a more sustainable, efficient, productive logistics centre.
600 new LED luminaires from LEDVANCE
In the five large warehouses, the conventional luminaires, each fitted with three 58 W T8 fluorescent tubes (4000K), were replaced with Damp Proof 55 W / 4000 K LED luminaires from LEDVANCE. Besides their very good efficiency of 115 lm/W, the luminaires were selected for their high luminous flux of 6400 lumen, their neutral white colour temperature of 4000 K and their ability to live up to all norms required at Carlsberg Logistic Center. With a lifetime of 50.000 h (L70 / B50) the LED luminaires last about 2.5 times longer than the conventional types.
The conventional lighting burned out frequently in the outdoor and loading ramp areas. This is where powerful metal halide spotlights had to light the driving paths for the trucks when loading and unloading. With the new effective LED lighting upgrade, it will be a very long time between replacements, since the new LED Floodlights 200W have a lifetime that is about 5 times longer. Additionally, employees benefit from the very homogenous and bright light of the new LED Floodlights with a luminous flux of 20,000 lumen. The Floodlights are also used to illuminate the facades of the buildings.
All in all, the lighting has been significantly improved. All the way through, Kvalitek has worked on improving the light system for increased energy savings, a higher quality of illumination and sustainability. These benefits and attributes explain why Kvalitek chose to use LED luminaires from LEDVANCE.
According to Michael Hansson from Kvalitek, the main reason why he chose LEDVANCE as the supplier: “The products are of a very high quality. Not only is the light efficiency high, but the luminaires are also of such a good quality and long-lasting. With a lifetime of up to 50,000 operational hours, which for many means a lifetime of up to 15 years, they normally don’t have to be replaced until the buildings are reconstructed or renovated – not because they break or burn out. That is probably also why LEDVANCE offers a guarantee of up to five years for many of their luminaires.”
