McRae Industries | Mt. Gilead, NC
McRae Industries, a company that has been designing and manufacturing footwear products for more than 50 years, lowered energy and maintenance costs by $19,594 per year by installing XtraLight LED products.
- New light levels significantly contribute to a safer, more productive work environment.
- LED Retrofit Cover Kits and LED Retrofit Troffer Kits converted the large quantity of fluorescent lighting that burned 256,792 kilowatts per year.
The Opportunity
As a company that’s dedicated to manufacturing high quality footwear under several brand names, it’s also committed to providing a safe work environment that allows its employees to be more productive. Its round the clock operations require the lights to always be on, but lamp failures and  replacements of failed fluorescents created lighting inconsistencies throughout the building. Plus maintenance was inconvenient as it required trained personnel and special equipment to maneuver around the machinery. When leadership was motivated to replace the legacy lighting with more energy-efficient options, they partnered with XtraLight to help create a consistent look in the plant while reducing energy and maintenance needs.
Our Solution
After conducting an on-site lighting audit of the McRae Industries facility, it was determined that two XtraLight LED retrofit kits would be the best solution for this industrial application. The Retrofit Troffer Kit (RTK) is a low profile retrofit kit for three lamp T8 luminaires with prismatic or parabolic diffusers. The RTK is perfect for converting recessed troffers to LED and offers custom configurations. The Retrofit Cover Kit (RCK) is a low profile retrofit cover kit for replacing existing strip channels from F32 T8 or F54 T5HO to 15W T8 LED tubes. The RCK is available in 4 or 8 foot strips, in two or four lamps and is easily installed.
Overall, 541 RCK kits and 45 RTK kits were installed to replace the existing fluorescents.
The Benefits
The new LED lighting has tremendous operating advantages over the existing lighting, leading to a significant payback in just under two years. In addition to saving 188,311 kWh annually, the total savings over the life of the products (10 years) is $195,940. The RTK and RCK LED kits use a fraction of the wattage, have a longer rated life, will have less lumen depreciation over time and are backed by a 10 year warranty. This means they will see a greater reduction in labor and rental equipment cost needed to change lamps and ballast, as well as material cost.
In addition to their cost savings, the company has created a positive impact on the environment. By partnering with XtraLight, this lighting project immediately reduced electrical consumption, which reduces annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 289,999 lbs., sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 1,138 lbs., and nitrogen oxide (NO2) emissions by 559 lbs. This spares an equivalent of 135,513 lbs. of coal burned annually to make electricity and either 36 equivalent acres of forest added or 25 cars equivalent removed from the road.
Download the case study here: Industrial_McRaeIndustries.pdf (1.2 mb)
