A regional logistics operator was burning through electricity and maintenance hours on aging metal halide and fluorescent fixtures across a 24/7 distribution center. Echelon delivered a turnkey LED retrofit in three weeks, cut lighting costs 63% from month one, and did the entire install on nights and weekends without losing a single shift.
REQUEST A SIMILAR ANALYSISRegional third-party logistics operator running pick, pack, and ship operations on a 24/7 schedule. Inbound and outbound truck doors across both long sides of the building.
Single-story facility with high-bay racking aisles, dock zones, pack-out areas, and back-office workspace. Ceiling heights between 28 and 32 feet across the warehouse floor.
Aging 400W metal halide high-bays on the warehouse floor, T8 fluorescent troffers in office and pack-out zones, and HID wall packs at dock doors and exterior perimeter.
The facility was carrying three problems at once, each making the others worse:
The procurement team had received two prior LED retrofit bids that quoted occupied-hours work with rolling shutdowns across zones. Both were rejected. Echelon was brought in to design around the operating reality, not the other way around.
Three engineering choices made the 63% reduction possible — without them the project would have looked like a routine like-for-like swap.
Rather than swap 400W metal halides one-for-one, Echelon's engineers ran a full photometric layout in AGi32. The result: fewer fixtures than the existing layout, properly aimed to deliver uniform foot-candle levels across racking aisles instead of pooling light in the wrong spots.
DLC-listed LED high-bay fixtures with integral occupancy sensors and dimming. Aisles in low-traffic zones drop to a baseline output and ramp to full when forklifts approach — capturing additional savings on top of the LED swap itself.
The install was sequenced section-by-section during off-peak shift windows. Crews worked nights and weekends, completed each zone end-to-end before moving to the next, and never touched an active operational area during productive hours.
On-site fixture inventory, energy baseline measurement, photometric design, rebate pre-approval submitted to the utility under the customer's name. ROI report delivered before any work order signed.
Started in the dock and pack-out zones with the highest fixture density and lowest disruption risk. Crews worked overnight shifts. As-built drawings updated daily and shared with the operations team each morning.
Main warehouse high-bay replacement progressed aisle-by-aisle. Controls programming validated zone-by-zone. Site walks with the operations manager at the end of each shift to confirm production wasn't affected.
Final zones (office, exterior wall packs, dock doors) completed. Full commissioning, controls programming verified, rebate documentation submitted. 30-day metered savings report scheduled before final invoice.
The first month's utility bill showed the project paying for itself faster than the original ROI projection. Three results stood out:
Beyond the metered numbers, the operations team flagged two qualitative wins: brighter, more uniform light levels in the racking aisles improved order-pick accuracy, and exterior dock area improvements reduced after-dark slip-and-fall risk during winter shift changes.
"Echelon retrofitted our 280,000 sq ft distribution center in three weeks. We saw a 63% reduction in lighting costs from month one — and the crew was immaculate."Mark T., Director of Operations — Regional Logistics Co.
On-site fixture inventory, energy baseline, photometric design, and full ROI report — delivered in 48 hours, no cost, no obligation.
DLC-listed fixtures, AGi32 photometric design, OSHA-certified crews, and full commissioning with 30-day metered savings verification.
Rebate identification, pre-approval, documentation, and submission under your name. Typically offsets 20–40% of total project cost.
Occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting, and centralized dimming that add 10–30% additional savings on top of the LED retrofit.