O’Neal Steel | Industrial

BACKGROUND

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, O’Neal Steel (“The Metals Company”) is the nation’s largest privately owned full-line metal service center firm. The company processes and adds value to steel, aluminum, and alloy for use in heavy industry, including over-the-road trucks, forklifts, railroad cars, cranes, and more. With origins as a humble fabrication house begun in 1921, O’Neal Steel today boasts more than 82 facilities and offices in the United States, the U.K., Canada, and six other countries.

CHALLENGE

O’Neal Steel chose to complete lighting retrofit projects in many of its
facilities to reduce energy costs, increase safety, and reduce errors on the production floor. The company was seeking a partner with an excellent reputation for service and the highest quality lighting fixtures to take over the project. O’Neal’s facilities have very high ceilings, which added difficulty, and XtraLight would have to work around warehouse activities as O’Neal needed to keep its cranes running around the clock.

SOLUTION

In addition to a lighting audit, fixture design and manufacture, and installation for O’Neal Steel, XtraLight also offered its experience and support to ensure a seamless “turnkey” project. O’Neal engaged XtraLight to retrofit 15 of their facilities, replacing old HPS, strip fluorescent, and metal halide fixtures with efficient and reliable T5 and T8 fixtures and lamps.

XtraLight’s solution resulted in:

• 32.11% in energy savings per year
• $104,701 in total savings per year

Although deeper energy saving could have been met, XtraLight recommended only installing a select few occupancy sensors. For this installation, safety was first priority and it was vital to keep areas of the warehouses well lit. This not only reduced O’Neal’s exposure to risk, but helped them maintain their high safety record.