Luxonic Lighting are a wholly British owned UK based manufacturer and have provided the best in luminaire and control technology to various markets for 25 years. Our technical expertise is second to none and our product and optical designers fully understand the need for well designed, cost effective solutions that use the best manufacturing techniques and provide the best optical design to ensure that our clients receive competitive, efficient, aesthetically pleasing products that do exactly what is required of them. Our work in the logistics market over recent years has proven that these base principles of our business are fundamental to our success. Many warehouse & logistics clients have benefited from our lighting solutions, often returning such good results that they come back for more of the same. Our aim is to tell this story to as much of the market as possible such that we can continue to provide energy saving solutions that our clients benefit from in every respect!
Warehouse & Logistics News – What does your job involve day to day? Has your role changed since last year?
The day to day roll involves us meeting with clients to discuss their lighting requirements, carrying out surveys of their existing installation and advising of the best action that can be taken to ensure they are maximising their savings, not only in energy and financial terms, but with their inevitable CO2 emissions as well. Over the last year, energy costs have continued to increase and hence the requests from the market for our proposals have only become more urgent.
W&LN – 2011: how was it for you and Luxonic?
Here at Luxonic we believe in changing our business model to suit our clients’ needs as well as the financial climate. As a result our customer relations are stronger than ever and we are moving forward and growing as a business.
W&LN – What is your particular proposition for customers in the warehouse & logistics sector? Has that changed since last year?
Our greatest proposition to our clients is to save substantial amounts of money by reducing their electricity usage. We are able to do this by changing their inefficient old lighting for more efficient cost effective products that in time pay for themselves, something we like to call a no brainer!
W&LN – How has the Warehouse Lighting sector been performing in 2011? What do you see as the most important recent developments in the sector?
Our experience is that opportunities have arisen due to the financial pressures on the global market and environment commitments that individual companies have made. We still believe there is a lot of businesses out there that have not considered lighting as an energy/money saving scheme and hence something we want to continue to talk to our clients about.
W&LN – Have you moved into any new business areas during 2011?
We have designed and developed our new ICELUX LED Cold Store product that we will be launching shortly. This has received excellent initial feedback from our clients in this market sector and we will be able to provide individual case studies in the very near future.
W&LN – Has your company grown in the last 12 months?
In an uncertain financial climate a lot of companies are struggling to maintain their level of sales let alone grow as a business. We are pleased to say however, that our business continues to grow our already extensive client base and also continues to provide a first class service to the projects that these clients ask us to work on. We have a planned strategy in place to provide growth of 20% in the coming year which is presently on target!
W&LN – Have you been investing in improving your premises, taking on more staff, upgrading your website, enhancing your IT etc in 2011?
We moved to a new location 5 years ago which was a massive move for us but a great move, our facilities are also a great showcase for our clients to come and view our systems/products. In doing this we improved our business by increasing our production and warehouse facilities, taking on more staff to deal with the increased demand, and continue to provide some of the best in house training required in our industry. We launched our new look website six months ago and we are constantly updating it with new products, case studies and much more. We will also be launching our new comprehensive catalogue in early 2012.
W&LN – How are your existing products and services doing?
Our existing products and services are always undergoing improvements which is natural within a technically based business like ours. As technology changes, so we have to keep our product and services at the forefront of luminaire development. The relatively recent advent of the use of LED’s in our industry as a more general light source is a classic example of this, and hence a good deal of our R&D budget, and time is spent developing our new ranges using this technology.
W&LN – Have you launched any new products or services in 2011? What are they, and how are they performing?
We have launched several new products to the lighting industry, the first one that will get the chilled food and cold store Logistics market going is our ICELUX range of luminaires. We can deliver a better performing lit environment for less with no hang-ups on maintenance, complete peace of mind you might say.
We have also Launched our new Broadlighter BLG office luminaire which is 96% efficient and out performs the majority of our competitors’ products for office lighting!
W&LN – What’s been your company’s single biggest achievement in business this year
Over the past year we have achieved so much with our clients from lighting design and supply of a special needs school in London, to a full lighting and controls package to the new Ordinance Survey in Southampton, but keeping purely to Logistics, it’s difficult to say. We would probably have to say reducing our clients use of electricity and the impact that that has on the environment is our biggest achievement, whilst vastly improving their lit environment.
W&LN – What was your personal favourite business moment in 2011?
The best business moment for us has to be a project we worked on with a transportation company. They were planning a move to larger premises, due to taking on new clients and this was considered to be a big risk for them for many reasons and hence were keen to do everything just right. We spent a lot of time designing the lighting to suit their warehouse layout and requirements and we are pleased to say that the move has been very successful. This particular company are now taking on another two distribution centres in early 2012 which we will be working with them on.
W&LN – If your company had to go through 2011 again, what would you do differently?
I don’t think we would have done anything significant differently.
W&LN – Do you operate in any other countries besides the UK? How are you getting on there? Have you gone into any new countries in 2011?
We launched our new warehouse lighting product in Germany last year at the Cemat show in Hannover and we have also now started a manufacturing facility in the United Arab Emirates.
W&LN – Have you won any awards in 2011, or been accredited to any new industry standards during this time?
We haven’t spent time entering awards competitions be honest. We’d rather spend time looking for the next opportunity to allow us to sell our products and solutions and help our clients realise the savings that they bring. We are presently working towards ISO14001 accreditation and will gain this during 2012. This will accompany our ISO9001 accreditation that we value highly and have had for some time now.
W&LN – Which industry sectors are your customers in? What applications do people use your products/services for?
Other market sectors that we are involved in outside of logistics are Retail, Commercial Offices, Education, Healthcare and clean room lighting, and Industrial Lighting. We also offer a complete package of lighting controls which can range from simply switching a light on and off within an corridor or toilet area to a fully addressable network based system where every light fitting, switch, sensor and other components can be addressed to do anything within the building. One of our many strengths comes from our ability to provide luminaires, controls and modular wiring packages making us the inimitable one stop shop!
W&LN – Do you sell your products direct or through distributors? Has that strategy changed in the last year?
Our strategy has always remained the same in terms of route to market primarily consisting of the specification market through M&E consultants and architects, design and build contractors, and end users. The only thing that may change is the percentage level of each that we get involved with year by year.
W&LN – Which trade shows did you exhibit at in 2011? How were they?
We have exhibited at a range of large, national trade shows this year and although they are still extremely useful, many clients can’t spare as much time to attend the show as they once could. As part of the Warehouse Technology Group (WTG) we also ran a show in Manchester, where a seminar from each associate member of the group provided fantastic product visibility to a smaller, more targeted audience.
W&LN – As the Christmas period is traditionally the busiest time of year for the UK warehousing and logistics industry, what challenges has your company been facing?
With the busiest time of year for warehousing and logistics businesses being around Christmas, inevitably the projects we are working on are often put on hold until after this period. Let’s face it, if you are replacing lighting then there would be a natural interruption in normal operation to allow this to be done and this simply cannot happen when you are at your busiest.
W&LN – As a company, what are your new year’s resolutions for 2012?
Well apart from not starting 2012 with a hangover, we would like to continue our level of customer support and drive our specification opportunities forward.
W&LN – What are your plans for 2012?
During 2012 we will be making a big push into the chilled foods and cold store sector with our new ICELUX product and this will prove to be of great benefit to our clients we feel sure.
W&LN – Where do you see your company in three years’ time?
Our business has embarked on an aggressive growth plan and hence we are determined to achieve this over the next three years. Continual improvement is key within this industry as our clients always expect better and it is up to us do better and deliver better.
W&LN – And finally, what would you like Father Christmas to bring your company in 2012?!
Personally we would all like a holiday on a beach, but as a business, good fortune and prosperity would be nice!
Luxonic Lighting plc
Tel: 01256 363090
Email: info@luxonic.co.uk
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