Calif. The improvements have been 36 BOEING FRONTIERS / OCTOBER 2013 popular with employees, according to John Rainwaters, a manufacturing analyst with the C-17 program, which now is developing plans to install LED lighting in three remaining production bays. “You could see the difference from quite a distance when you walked into the building,” Rainwaters said. In St. Louis, in response to a request from employees, management replaced fluorescent lights in wing stands with LED lighting. The stands are positioned to get better lighting beneath the wings and on other areas of the airplane. Employees are enthusiastic about the improvement, said Bobby Deadmond, manager of F-15 final assembly. And the lights are expected to last approximately 10 years—not six months, which is the case with the fluorescents, he explained. They also use 50 percent less electricity. “With a life of 10 years, that’s 20 times a maintenance guy doesn’t have to come over, take the lens off and change the bulbs out,” Deadmond said. “Plus, when you switch them on, they come on immediately. And you get a lot more light, with fewer shadows. It’s just a totally different lighting experience.” In a pilot project, Boeing recently replaced lights in a small Huntsville, Ala., employee parking lot with new LED lights. While the old lighting appeared a greenish yellow, the new lights are much crisper, blue-white in color and more effective in lighting the area, Warner said. The results encouraged Huntsville Site Services to proceed with a project to replace all remaining parking lot and roadway lighting with LEDs. So far, Boeing has focused on installing LED lighting in large areas, such as factories and parking lots. While there has been some use of LED in office buildings, Warner said there is no rush to replace existing, already highly efficient fluorescent lights. “The technology behind the large LED fixtures for industrial areas is more mature,” he said, “so that’s where we’re focusing our attention right now.” Warner noted, however, that the company recently installed LED lighting during the renovation of an office building near Boeing Field in Seattle. That pilot project has been working out well. LED has replaced fluorescent lighting in some other areas, too. In some cases, LED lighting projects are financed with the support of local electric utilities through their energy conservation programs. For example, the LED lighting installation at Boeing’s Integrated Aircraft Systems Laboratory was done in partnership with Seattle City Light, Telford said. The employee Green Team that asked for more-efficient lighting in that project, which was completed last year, also requested that lighting in the high-bay area be divided into zones. So instead of having one switch to light all high-bay areas, various laboratory areas would have control over their own lighting. That way it would not be necessary to light the entire facility to serve isolated testing that operated overnight. “Shifting over to LED was an exciting experience,” Telford said. “It is cuttingedge technology and there’s always a little risk in doing something new. But it has proved to be very successful.” n william.j.seil@boeing.com “With a life of 10 years, that’s 20 times a maintenance guy doesn’t have to come over, take the lens off and change the bulbs out.” – Bobby Deadmond, manager of F-15 final assembly PHOTO: John Rainwaters, a manufacturing analyst with the C-17 program in Long Beach, Calif., says the new LED lights cast a noticeable difference. Paul Piner/Boeing
Frontiers October 2013 Issue
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