3D Luminaires: Innovations for a more sustainable world

April 21, 2020

The planet is facing a climate emergency. Governments and companies are under mounting pressure to curb emissions and create a more sustainable world. At the same time, the pace of technological change is faster than ever as we become more connected. Lighting is contributing to solving both issues in some very surprising ways.

 

Signify is excited to expand its offering of 3D Printed Luminaires with 3D printing factories in the US, India and Indonesia. The company has perfected this highly flexible, more sustainable form of manufacturing, using a 100% recyclable polycarbonate material, which allows luminaires to be designed or tailored to customer’s exact needs and recycled at the end of their life. This sustainable form of manufacturing supports a circular economy in the US and Europe by establishing and expanding the first product line since the creation in 2017.

 

Signify’s investment in 3D printing further illustrates the company’s commitment to better serving its customers while reducing their, and its own, carbon footprint. A typical manufactured luminaire (excluding electronics and optics) has a 47% lower carbon footprint than a conventionally manufactured metal luminaire. Nearly every component may be reused or recycled, supporting the concept of a circular economy.

“I’m excited to share that we are the first major lighting manufacture to produce professional 3D printed luminaires. By expanding our reach into the North American market with an existing portfolio, that has been successful in Europe, we are able to offer our customers new and sustainable products that are not currently offered in our portfolio today,” said Matthew Wall, North American Product Marketing Manager for 3D Printed Luminaires at Signify. “We are excited to announce that we will be coming out with a variety of new products in 2020 and while most lighting manufacturers are moving their manufacturing outside of the United States we will be establishing our manufacturing in Littlestown Pennsylvania and operations out of our Burlington Massachusetts location. We can print track, downlights, highbays as well as products currently not offered in the US portfolio from decorative pendants to decorative high lumen highbay luminaires.”

“By offering 3D Printing solutions locally our specification and design community can work with the 3D Luminaire group to develop a concept on paper, see that concept in days, and a fully developed product in a matter of weeks. Compare this to the traditional product development time frame of 10-14 months from concept to final design. It is truly groundbreaking. Signify also has an Industrial design group that our design community can work with, conveniently located in our Burlington Massachusetts office to work out customized design concepts.”

 

Customers will also have the ability to tailor existing designs in a newly US launched web based tool.

Try it yourself with the 3D Printing online configurator.

 

Signify 3D printed luminaires have a lower carbon footprint than traditionally built metal luminaires. They weigh less, which enables Signify to reduce the carbon emissions in shipping by 35%. By keeping production in the US, we reduce the footprint even further. And of course, LED lighting is more energy efficient than conventional lighting.

The 3D Printed Luminaires success range from Albert Heijn, the Dutch supermarket chain to M&S (Marks and Spencer, a UK retailer.) “We’ve been working hard to create a greener, low carbon M&S for a number of years and were proud to become the first major retailer to be carbon neutral back in 2012,” said Oliver Knowles, Research & Development Manager within the Property Group at M&S. “3D printing has been around for a while, but these luminaires are the first real retail lighting application we’ve seen that improves the sustainability of our stores and are extremely complementary to our sustainability strategy. The potential for these fittings is enormous, both from an energy and cost-efficiency perspective. They are printed on demand to fit perfectly without need for adjustment or cutting into our ceilings. M&S is leading the way as the first major UK retailer to take this step.”