Bluestone was recently published in the print magazine of Illumination in Focus for their work with Mack Technologies. From the article:
Mack Technologies, a contract manufacturer, has completed a retrofit of its Westford, MA, facility by installing LED-based lighting in the factory and manufacturing areas and Super T8 fluorescent lighting in office areas. The project was driven by both social responsibility concerns and the potential long-term energy savings — the latter projected at 420,871 kWh annually. Energy-efficient fluorescent and LED fixtures combined with network-based control on a fixture basis enabled the significant reduction.
The project delivered secondary benefits: lighting quality is improved, especially in the factory, and Mack expects to realize substantial maintenance savings. In addition, the cooler-running LED lighting will reduce air conditioning energy usage.
The Mack Technologies facility manufactures products on a contract basis, meaning that the actual work varies by project. In general, the facility includes an area where the company assembles printed circuit boards using a largely automated production line. A second area is dedicated to system-level assembly, or what the company calls box build, where much of the assembly work is done by hand.
The facility was constructed in 1988, and a portion of the former lighting was original. The entire facility was lit with fluorescent fixtures, mostly T8 but also a small percentage of T5. In the 47,000-ft2 factory and 21,000-ft2 warehouse areas, there were previously 739 fixtures — mostly four-lamp fixtures.
Mack commissioned Bluestone Energy Services to assist with the project. Bluestone offers energy-efficiency-engineering and project-development services. Bluestone recommended what would become largely a transition to LED lighting, although the decision on that direction was one Mack approached carefully.
