interLED’s headquarters are located in a small town in Northamptonshire, ideally located to serve the Midlands, Home Counties and beyond. Having identified the emergence of LED’s as a viable ‘white light’ source in mid 2000’s, we eventually registered the business in 2010.
We established early on that we would concentrate on selling quality branded products and also increase our own product range manufactured in the UK or EU. There was a plethora of inexpensive but poor quality unbranded Chinese imports flooding the market. We wanted to set ourselves apart from that, which undoubtedly lost us business in the early days but we feel we are reaping the benefits of this decision now.
We certainly don’t profess to be one of the largest or most prevalent lighting businesses in the UK but that’s not to say we can’t be someday! Having started from scratch with no history or existing business we are growing organically and building the company from solid foundations. Our approach is to provide a more personal service, mainly servicing the small to medium size enterprises but picking up some of the big boys along the way.
WLN – As the Industrial Lighting category experts, how has the category been performing in the last 12 months? What are the major trends and developments?
We have seen a dramatic increase in business this year, including a very busy summer which is not always the case for the lighting industry. We are expecting this to continue for the rest of the year and into 2015. The majority of our business has been industrial based with a significant amount of enquiries and orders from the motor industry as well as warehousing and logistics. We are increasingly working with local authorities especially in high energy usage areas like underground car parks. Approximately 70% of our business is on a supply only basis to end-users or contractors and the remainder being supply and installation.
WLN – What are your core products and services: what are you best known for providing?
Our core industrial products are aimed at replacing traditional high bay fittings. We have our own branded LED high bay which is manufactured in the EU using premium quality components. We also sell other branded products from the likes of LG and Toshiba, among others.. But it’s our service that sets us aside from most other LED based businesses. We can provide everything from survey to installation …. in other words a complete LED solutions provider. Even if we just supply the fittings, we always give the customer a call and if necessary attend site to liaise with their electrical contractor.
WLN – What developments or upgrades have you made to your core products and services in the last 12 months?
Our updated interLED HB380 range of high bays now have CREE® LED chips and German manufactured inpotron driver, giving enhanced performance and reliability. They also now come as standard with 1-10v dimming. We can now add lenses on the LEDs to change the beam angle. So, on a racking aisle situation we would use a narrow beam to get the light down to the floor and not wasted over the top of the racks. More useable light and less fittings required.
WLN – What makes you the ‘go to’ supplier in your area of expertise?
We have only ever sold ‘LED’, and have spent the last 5 or so years immersed in the technology. Your national electrical wholesaler hasn’t had the benefit of our experience and understanding of LED lighting and certainly can’t offer the ‘complete’ solution. We wouldn’t deny there are some great LED businesses out there offering a similar service to interLED, but they tend to be constrained to offering a small range of their own branded products or inferior products from the far east. There are some fantastic products that come out of China and the far east generally, but there is also a lot of poor quality offerings with little in house quality control. At interLED, we sell not only our own brand but other branded products from household names. We have no brand loyalty (even to our own!) and instead, specify the right product for the application or scenario. We were the first business in the UK to sell Toshiba LED lighting in 2011 and one of the first to stock the LG electronics range of high bays and downlights and ceiling panels. We like to think we are the first on the scene with the latest products.
WLN – Have you launched any new products and services in the past year? How are they performing?
We have extended our interLED range of high bay fittings with new variants offering up to 21,000 lumens. This means we can go up to 21m high in extreme cases, although most of our customers are in the 8-16m range. We also now offer a budget product which is suitable for all general open spaces and would replace low bay or fluorescent tube fittings in situations up to 8m. We have this manufactured in the UK and can be somewhat tailored to customers’ requirements with various options available including dimming, microwave detectors and emergency options.
WLN – Which industry sectors are your customers in?
Our Industrial customers tend to be from warehousing, engineering, logistics, waste management and the automotive industry. We also increasingly have clients from local authorities and electrical contractors looking for LED expertise.
WLN – Can you name some of your major customers and tell us about the work you do for them?
Some of our current major customers include Veolia Environmental, Junair Spraybooths, Northampton Borough Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council. Our customers often consist of a number of small one-off projects direct to the end users, facility managers and building owners.
WLN – Can you tell us about your latest major projects, and what they involve?
We gained critical acclaim for Northampton Borough Council’s first major LED project involving retrofit installation of lighting at St Michaels underground multi storey car park. This has been cited in lighting journals and the press on several occasions. One of our ongoing major projects is providing a bespoke LED board and driver set for Junair Spraybooths. This is now being installed into major motor industry manufacturers spray booths and vehicle repair workshops throughout the UK and Australasia. We have been working closely with Veolia Environmental services on retrofitting all their material recycling facilities with LED high bays. The first installation started in October 2014 and we will be using an LG Electronics 180w high bay to replace metal halide 400w fittings.
WLN – Have you made any big moves recently in terms of investment in the business, recruitment and so on?
We continue to invest in development of our own products and the brand identity.There will almost certainly be an increase in staff, if not this year then definitely next year to cope with increasing demand. We want to grow organically and establish a firm base projecting the business forward in the coming years to become a major player in low energy lighting for commercial and industrial sectors.
WLN – What was your company’s single biggest achievement in the last year?
We were most delighted with securing our contract with Junair which provides us with significant repeat business. Not something that is easy to come by with a product that can last 10 years or so! We have been working with Veolia for over 12 months to come up with a suitable solution for their recycling plants, so to win that contract was particularly pleasing.
WLN – What are your plans for 2015? Are you planning to bring out any more products or services, move into new markets or enter new countries?
The interLED brand of products will continue to grow in 2015 along with expansion of our headquarters in Northants which will incorporate our own assembly plant and larger warehousing.
WLN – Are you exhibiting at any major trade shows this year?
We are not planning on exhibiting at major trade shows next year. We tend to do this on a biennial basis and intermediate years concentrating on other means of marketing. We have tended to target industry areas like logistics, food, retail type exhibitions rather than lighting or energy saving type affairs, and had some great success using that approach.
WLN – What are your predictions for the industry in 2015?
LED lighting is now main stream. In the early days we spent a great deal of time with clients just educating them to the possibilities that LED could offer. Many were sceptical and some couldn’t quite believe the energy saving achievable. Now we get calls from customers knowing exactly what they want. 2015 will continue to see good growth in the LED sector due to increasing customer awareness and a continuing improvement in market conditions generally.
Phone: 01933 418499
Email: info@interLED.co.uk
Web: www.interLED.co.uk
Facebook: interledlighting
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