Light Fixture Management and the TimeLine Tracking Systemp

Current State (Reactive)

Industrial, commercial and multi-site enterprises spread over a wide geographic area have tens of thousands of light fixtures of many different types, which require periodic maintenance and repair. For example a retail chain or property management operation that includes hundreds of satellite locations in different territories, may be the responsibility of a single central office.

Presently the maintenance and repair of light fixtures in many of these types of situations is carried out on an ad hoc basis. For example a tenant, employee, security guard, building electrician, caretaker, or other individual identifies a light fixture in need of repair. The property manager, service centre or lighting service provider is notified and issues a work order. The maintenance department or repair personnel will undertake or arrange for the repair of the light fixture.

Tracking the maintenance histories of light fixtures to identify latent problems, defects, or difficulties that repair personnel may encounter in effecting a repair is almost impossible. Some repairs may include identifying the electrical circuit supplying power to a particular light fixture so that it can be deactivated to effect a repair as required by the Electrical Safety Authority. Other repairs may require additional personnel, special ladders or other hardware. Not knowing these requirements in advance can result in an inefficient use of labour, potential parts inventory shortages and health & safety concerns. In other cases the owner or tenant may end up paying for the cost of repairing lighting fixtures or components which may still be under warranty. Defective lamps, ballasts, relays or other items that are still under warranty are not apparent without a history of the fixture.

The repair and maintenance of light fixtures in large commercial structures and complexes is presently reactive in that it is usually tenant driven – the tenant (via telephone, fax or internet) initiates the call for fixture repair. This reactive position leads to a number of disadvantages. For example “light-out” or “repair required” generates an excessive number of telephone calls to the service centre and paperwork. Further, the inefficient use of repair personnel, haphazard replacement parts inventory to initiate the fixture repair, the inability to identify problematic fixtures or components and attendant costs associated with the thousands of light fixtures in the building or complex are a concern. These costs can be substantial.

Future State (Proactive)

The TimeLine Tracking System® is a patented¹ light fixture management system that tracks the location, history and operating characteristics of light fixtures in large industrial, commercial, multi-site locations and facilities with group applications such as retail chain operations.

An employee, building electrician, caretaker, or a security guard who normally makes rounds through the facility can be supplied with a “Frogger” - a light tracking device, and is charged with the responsibility to identify “light-out” or “repair required” fixtures. At the end of the observer’s rounds, the information is downloaded into a computer. The system allows Property Managers the opportunity to identify problem areas and to take preemptive action to relamp or repair fixtures before the occupants are even aware there is a problem. In short, a proactive property because telephone calls to the service centre requesting “light-out” or “repair required” services are reduced. The computer can then be programmed to establish a repair route based on the location of the light fixtures identified as being in need of repair. The repair route can form part of a maintenance report that may also include the type of lamp or other component that may be required for the specific light fixture needing maintenance or repair. The maintenance report may also include whether the fixture is still under warranty, has a history of problems or other information such as special equipment requirements like ladders, electrical circuit deactivation or special tenant needs like company contact or hours of work etc.

A personal computer comprises a database for receiving the information collected by the observer. The database can be customized to capture many different types of information relating to a specific light fixture. The system provides for the ability to record the date of installation, fixture type, lamp type, ballast type, prior repair dates, service personnel identification such as an outside contractor or an inside staff member, electrical room location, electrical panel and electrical circuit identification, base building or emergency fixture and much more.

With this information, the computer can generate a report. An example would be a quarterly “lighting activity report” (Figure 1) that can be custom tailored to the requirements of the property manager or other user. The lighting activity report can allow for the grouping of fixtures to a specific tenant thereby allowing the property manager to identify problem multi-floor tenant areas within a facility that have a higher lamp or ballast failure rate than would normally be acceptable. Since the “work day” is now undefined (I.e., no longer Monday to Friday, from 8 AM to 5 PM) the system allows the property manager the opportunity to relamp or reballast  specific tenant areas of the facility based on “real-time” failure rates versus some hypothetical date in about 36 months as determined by others. Semi-annual updates of the database provide users with current “real-time” data to ensure that the entire facilities database information is current.

The system can be applied over a wide geographic area. For example in retail applications or in multi-site facilities in which an enterprise maintains a head office and a number of satellite locations, an “on call” or “tenant initiated” repair request is made of the lighting service provider or property management company. The reactive fixture repair made on an ad hoc or periodic inspection basis can now become proactive by using this system.

The TimeLine Tracking System® also allows individual sites to download the “light out” or “repair required” information by the satellite site(s) to a host server at the head office (or other designated location) since this communication link already exists in modern business (retail and otherwise). The information can then be maintained in a master database. Lighting information for an entire chain or enterprise can be accessed from the central server on a “real-time” basis, facilitating maintenance and analysis of lighting fixtures. This substantially reduces the number of “on call” maintenance service requests required from a lighting service provider for retail applications or  “panic service” requests from tenants for property management applications. Planning and future budget allocations are also more accurate as a result of the ability to become proactive in determining problem lighting areas for commercial developers and retail enterprises.

® Registered trademark of Northern Light Technology Inc.

(1) Patented USA & Canada