April 14, 2023
5 Things to Know: Week Ending April 15
HLB & lighting brands collaborate pro bono. Signify and Deco Lighting to appear in court.
Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed.
1. HLB, Lumenpulse, ETC & Barbizon Collaborate on Historic Bridge Project
In Selma, Alabama a public forum relating to the Edmund Pettus Bridge lighting upgrade project will take place at the Tabernacle Baptist Church on April 18 at 6 p.m. The bridge is best known for a being the site of a historic 1965 Civil Rights Movement known as Bloody Sunday.
Lighting Selma, the non-profit organization that is raising money for the bridge relighting, reports that in 2020, HLB Lighting Design prioritized the Edmund Pettus Bridge project and offered to do all the design work free of charge. HLB then invited other companies to join the project, all offering their impressive services pro bono as well. Those partners include:
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Lumenpulse designs and manufactures high-performance and sustainable LED solutions for urban environments.
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ETC provides innovative lighting and rigging solutions.
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Barbizon specializes in the integration of lighting and control equipment for civic environments and architecture.
And now, due to the generosity of these companies, the only cost remaining to make this project a reality is the cost of some of the equipment and the cost of hiring a contractor to install the new lighting system onto the Bridge.
2. Deco Lighting to face Signify lawyers next week
The three year saga of Deco Lighting’s bankruptcy case faces a critical juncture on Wednesday April 19.
The bankruptcy court will hear Signify’s motion that could change the course of Deco Lighting’s bankruptcy restructuring plan. The motion to dismiss the case or convert to Chapter 7 will determine whether or not Deco Lighting’s business will remain operational under Chapter 11 or possibly convert the case to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Chapter 7 route would initiate liquidation of Deco Lighting’s assets that would generate funds to pay Deco Lighting creditors.
Signify claims that Deco Lighting has failed to live up to its court-approved bankruptcy plan obligations, hasn’t paid Signify since April 2022 and owes Signify $147,287. Signify also claims that it is owed an additional $75,000 in a general unsecured claim. Deco Lighting does not dispute those claims.
A filing by Deco Lighting states that it is justified in not paying Signify for the past year, in part, because of unusual supply chain issues, the closing of Deco’s leased factory in Mexico, and the untimely death of a Deco Lighting engineer (which occured in December.) The filing also indicates that Deco Lighting is seeking to strike a deal to possibly satisfy Signify’s demands. A memo of understanding is being proposed that would, according to Deco Lighting, satisfy the claims of multiple stakeholders, including Signify.
If Signify and Deco Lighting do indeed strike a deal in the coming days, the Wednesday hearing will likely be short and sweet, allowing for Deco Lighting’s operations to forge ahead. If no deal is made, the fate of Deco Lighting will be determined by the federal bankruptcy court judge.
3. Lutron to Discontinue Fluorescent Ballasts
Lutron’s Hi-Lume product family was born decades ago when the company invented and perfected 1% dimming of fluorescent sources. In response to the industry's increasing standardization around LEDs, Lutron will stop production of all fluorescent ballast product families by the end of 2023.
The Hi-Lume name, along with other familiar product families, live on in the company’s wide range of LED drivers.
4. Better Call Harry
A lighting situation located 800 feet from the inside.lighting World Headquarters has inspired an investigation from an Atlanta news channel. Better Call Harry investigates a roadway lighting issue that is reportedly putting drivers at risk. Learn more about the situation, including insights from an area optometrist, in the video below.
5. Not exactly Deflation, but promising?
March construction input prices are down year-over-year for first time since August 2020, but are still 39% higher than they were in February 2020 according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data.
“Construction input costs are down on a year-over-year basis for the first time since August 2020,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The good news is that the latest PPI data, which show broad-based declines in both goods and services prices, suggest that the expected 25 basis point interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s May meeting will be the last of the cycle.
“The bad news is that this data indicates greatly diminished pricing power among wholesalers and others,” said Basu. “While some will cheer the notion that rate increases are set to end soon, the Federal Reserve may want to maintain higher interest rates for longer to ensure that inflation has been suppressed. This, along with other signs of slowing economic activity, suggests that the possibility of recession remains elevated, though the economic outlook is increasingly uncertain.”
