Never underestimate the value of an on-site walk-through at a customer’s plant, and unlike Mick’s 18 month excursion above, an hour or so is all it usually takes. There are critical factors that don’t always get listed on Bids - that you can only know by doing a walk-through.
I remember talking with an Engineer about a lighting bid in his Steel plant, and then met him at the mill for a tour. The bid didn’t request an LED fixture with a high ambient rating, but I thought I’d take the time for a look before I sent in a quote.
Armed with Safety Glasses, Hardhat and Steel-toed boots I opened the door to the mill and was hit with a blast of hot air as I entered that almost singed my eyebrows. I looked at the Engineer and said, “I didn’t see a high ambient temp spec on the bid.”
He replied, “Well, we did see a couple of the plastic lenses on the last lights we put up get holes melted in them…but it’s really not that hot in here once you get used to it.”
LED high ambient fixtures can be far more expensive than LED low temperature rated fixtures. Not walking through the plant would have resulted in a catastrophic failure later.
