Factory Lighting

Industrial LED lighting for production floors, assembly lines, machine areas, and demanding manufacturing environments.

Factory lighting should be designed around where work happens. In manufacturing facilities, light may travel from high ceilings past machinery, structural members, cranes, and production equipment before reaching the floor, assembly station, or inspection surface.

STARLAKE provides LED factory lighting solutions covering 25W to 400W, with individual fixtures delivering up to 60,000 lumens and multiple beam, voltage, mounting, CCT, and 0–10V dimming configurations.

The design objective is to deliver required illuminance to the actual task plane with appropriate uniformity, glare control, and visibility, while controlling energy use and high-bay maintenance requirements.

Planning a new factory or replacing HID or fluorescent lighting? Send us your floor plan, mounting height, target light level, and existing fixture information for a project-specific recommendation.

Design Factory Lighting Around the Work Plane

Factories combine high ceilings, machinery, moving equipment, long operating hours, and visual tasks with different lighting requirements.

Lighting design should begin by identifying the actual task planes: assembly stations, machine areas, inspection surfaces, aisles, equipment controls, and safety markings.

Detailed assembly, machining, component identification, and inspection can require substantially more illumination than circulation or general production areas.

Approximately 50 to 70 foot-candles can serve as a reference range for many visually demanding traditional tasks, but this is not a universal factory requirement. Target illuminance depends on the task, equipment geometry, contrast, worker requirements, facility standards, and applicable lighting guidance.

Fixture-specific IES files and photometric simulation should verify task-plane illuminance, distribution, and uniformity for the final layout.

Why Lumens Alone Don’t Predict Factory Lighting Performance

Lumens measure total luminous flux, not where that light reaches after installation. This distinction becomes particularly important in high-ceiling industrial spaces.

Without suitable secondary optics and spacing, high-output LED arrays can produce:

• Hot spots beneath individual luminaires

• Dark zones where adjacent distributions do not overlap effectively

• Poor uniformity across production and circulation areas

Increasing wattage may intensify already bright areas without correcting insufficient illumination between fixtures.

Changing the optic, spacing, mounting height, orientation, or luminaire type can therefore improve task-plane performance more effectively than adding output.

STARLAKE factory lighting configurations include different optical options for varying mounting heights and floor geometries. Selection should evaluate lumens, distribution, mounting height, spacing, and work-plane performance as one system.

Choose the Right Fixture for the Factory Layout

Factory geometry determines which luminaire format can distribute light most effectively.

UFO High Bays for Open Production Floors

UFO high bays suit open manufacturing floors, workshops, machine areas, and spaces where equipment is distributed across a broad area.

STARLAKE’s current UFO factory lighting range covers 100W to 240W, with output up to 36,000 lumens and 90° or 110° beam options depending on the model.

A 90° optic provides more concentrated distribution, while a 110° beam covers a wider area. Mounting height, spacing, floor dimensions, and target illuminance determine the appropriate option.

Their compact form can also simplify placement around structural members, ducts, cable trays, cranes, and other ceiling services.

Linear High Bays for Production Lines

Linear high bays suit rectangular or linear production geometry, including assembly lines, machine rows, manufacturing cells, and aligned workstations.

STARLAKE linear high bays cover 80W to 400W, with individual models delivering up to 60,000 lumens. Current configurations support 90° distribution and suspension, chain, or ceiling mounting.

The elongated luminaire format can align distribution with long work areas rather than relying entirely on overlapping circular light patterns.

Vapor-Tight Lighting for Dusty or Damp Areas

Lower industrial areas exposed to dust, moisture, airborne contaminants, or demanding cleaning conditions may prioritize enclosure protection over high-bay output.

STARLAKE’s SS-VT vapor-tight fixture provides IP65 protection, selectable 25W to 100W configurations, output up to 12,500 lumens, and a 120° beam for suitable lower-height spaces.

IP65 addresses defined dust and water ingress conditions. Chemical exposure, hazardous locations, extreme temperatures, corrosion, and specialized washdown processes require separate evaluation.

Match Light Quality to the Manufacturing Task

Manufacturing workers may need to identify components, read markings, distinguish wiring colors, inspect finishes, or detect defects. CCT, CRI, glare, and distribution therefore need to be considered with illuminance.

STARLAKE’s current factory lighting range includes 3500K, 4000K, 5000K, and selected 5700K or 6500K configurations, depending on the fixture.

4000K and 5000K are practical starting points for many manufacturing environments. CRI becomes more important for inspection, electrical assembly, finishing, material sorting, and other operations where color recognition affects task performance.

Higher CRI cannot compensate for insufficient illuminance or poor distribution, so color quality and task-plane performance should be specified together.

Control Glare Across Long Production Shifts

High-output LEDs can create uncomfortable source brightness when luminaires enter employees’ normal viewing directions, particularly around racks, cranes, machinery, and elevated work areas.

Glare depends on fixture optics, mounting height, viewing angle, surface reflectance, workstation orientation, and surrounding brightness.

The objective is adequate task visibility without unnecessary peak brightness or abrupt transitions between bright and dark areas.

Engineer for Harsh Factory Environments

A clean electronics plant, oil-mist machine shop, moisture-exposed food-processing area, and dusty heavy-industrial facility impose different requirements on a luminaire.

Fixture selection should consider:

• Dust, moisture, and airborne contaminants

• Ambient temperature

• Vibration

• Cleaning procedures

• Maintenance access

• Required ingress protection

IP ratings describe resistance to dust and water ingress under defined test conditions, not complete environmental suitability. Chemical resistance, hazardous-location requirements, corrosion, extreme temperatures, and specialized washdown applications require separate evaluation.

Thermal Management and High-Bay Maintenance

High-output industrial fixtures must transfer heat from the LED package through the PCB, thermal interfaces, and luminaire structure into the surrounding environment.

Elevated LED junction or component temperatures can accelerate lumen depreciation and increase stress on drivers and electronic components.

This has a direct maintenance consequence. Replacing fixtures above machinery or active production lines may require lift equipment, maintenance personnel, aisle closure, or production coordination, so reliability affects operating cost as well as fixture replacement cost.

STARLAKE evaluates LED integration, thermal management, power supplies, optics, controls, and mechanical structures as one luminaire system.

Bulk production orders undergo an 8-hour aging test, while new products undergo 30 days of continuous high-temperature testing as part of product validation to identify potential electrical, component, thermal, or assembly issues.

Match Factory Electrical Systems and Lighting Controls

STARLAKE’s current factory lighting portfolio includes configurations covering 120–277V, 120–347V, and selected 277–480V inputs, depending on the fixture. Input voltage should be confirmed for each facility or production zone before selection.

Current models also support 0–10V dimming for compatible control systems.

Factory control zoning should follow production activity. An active assembly line may require full task illumination while an adjacent staging area, storage zone, peripheral aisle, or unused production cell operates at reduced output.

Occupancy sensing and daylight-responsive controls can reduce operating hours or output where appropriate, provided required task illumination is restored whenever production activity requires it.

Retrofit HID and Fluorescent Factory Lighting

Many manufacturing facilities still use metal-halide, other HID, T8, or T12 lighting systems. LED replacement can reduce connected load and maintenance, but replacement wattage should follow required site performance rather than a fixed equivalence ratio.

Before selecting a replacement, review:

1. Existing lamp and ballast wattage

2. Fixture quantity, spacing, and mounting height

3. Current measured illuminance

4. Reflector and housing condition

5. Required task-plane light level

6. Existing voltage

7. Annual operating hours

8. Control and installation requirements

A nominal 400W metal-halide fixture does not correspond to one universal LED replacement wattage. Maintained lamp output, ballast consumption, reflector condition, mounting geometry, spacing, and LED photometric distribution all affect the required replacement.

The same applies to fluorescent systems because LED and fluorescent luminaires can distribute equivalent nominal lumens differently.

For larger conversions, a photometric layout or site mock-up can verify performance before full deployment.

Calculate the Real Cost of a Factory Lighting Upgrade

Energy savings should be calculated from the existing and proposed systems rather than assumed from a standard percentage.

Consider 100 existing 400W fixtures operating 5,000 hours per year. Assume photometric verification determines that a 150W LED design maintains the required task illumination.

Existing annual energy use

400W × 100 × 5,000 hours ÷ 1,000 = 200,000 kWh

Proposed annual energy use

150W × 100 × 5,000 hours ÷ 1,000 = 75,000 kWh

Estimated annual reduction

200,000 − 75,000 = 125,000 kWh

At an assumed electricity rate of $0.12/kWh, the simplified energy-cost reduction is approximately $15,000 per year.

This example demonstrates the calculation method rather than a universal savings rate.

A complete retrofit analysis should also account for ballast consumption, installation, maintenance labor, lift rental, replacement lamps, controls, utility rebates, demand charges, and actual operating schedules.

The proposed LED system must still demonstrate the required photometric performance before these savings are treated as a viable project scenario.

Select Factory Lighting by Production Area

Different production areas can require different fixture formats and performance priorities.

These are starting points rather than fixed specifications. Ceiling height, machinery, task requirements, environment, and required illuminance determine the final configuration.

Factory Lighting Project Checklist

For project evaluation or quotation, provide:

• Factory dimensions and mounting height

• Production line and machine layout

• Existing fixture type, wattage, quantity, and spacing

• Current or target illuminance

• Precision work or inspection requirements

• Required CCT and CRI

• Input voltage

• Dust, moisture, temperature, and other environmental conditions

• Mounting method and required IP protection

• Dimming, sensors, or other control requirements

• Daily and annual operating hours

• Floor plan, lighting plan, or CAD drawing when available

These inputs allow fixture selection and photometric planning to follow the production layout and operating conditions.

Factory Lighting Engineering and Supply From STARLAKE

Factory lighting performance depends on the interaction between optics, LEDs, drivers, thermal management, mechanical construction, controls, and the industrial environment.

STARLAKE has manufactured LED lighting since 2010 and maintains 50+ engineers across optical, thermal, electrical, controls, mechanical, and product-development disciplines.

For lighting brands, distributors, contractors, importers, and project buyers, STARLAKE can support:

• Fixture and lumen-package selection

• Optical and voltage configuration

• Mounting and control integration

• Photometric and project discussions

• Product customization

• OEM and ODM development

• Certification coordination

• Production and quality control

STARLAKE operates manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen and Cambodia with approximately 280,000 sq.ft of production space, 400+ employees, and 30+ quality-control professionals.

For North American customers, warehouse operations in Ohio and California provide local inventory and fulfillment support for qualifying stocked products, while factory-direct production supports customized and larger-volume programs.

This structure supports projects requiring multiple electrical or optical configurations, certification coordination, recurring production, customized SKUs, or phased supply.

Build the Lighting System Around Your Factory

Factory lighting should deliver required illumination to the correct work surfaces while meeting distribution, uniformity, glare, electrical, environmental, control, maintenance, and lifecycle requirements.

STARLAKE combines industrial LED products with optical, electrical, thermal, mechanical, manufacturing, quality-control, and OEM/ODM capabilities for factory lighting projects.

Send us your factory dimensions, mounting height, existing fixture schedule, target light levels, and operating conditions. STARLAKE can evaluate suitable fixture type, output, optics, voltage, mounting, and control configurations for your project.

FAQ