April 21, 2023
5 Things to Know: Week Ending April 22
"Ladies can also easily install" these lighting fixtures. Deco Lighting dodges motion that would have initiated liquidation.
Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed.
1. “Ladies Can Also Easily Install” these lighting fixtures:
It’s common to see poorly translated marketing messages from foreign lighting companies that create awkwardly worded English-language statements. While visiting the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair last week, we observed the word “Design” misspelled “Desing”. We saw a message that seemed to be promoting a low-glare linear fixture’s visual comfort as “Eyes-Caring Linear Office Light.” Awkward, yes. Offensive, no.
When we visited the website of another China-based exhibitor, Obals, we were quite surprised to see a marketing message top-center on the company’s home page that stated “Ladies Can Also Easily Install, 13 Minutes to Complete.” We tried to apply benefit of the doubt to this one but can’t imagine any non-gender-stereotyping text that could be entered into Google Translate that would return this result. The message also doesn’t seem to pass as satire like the old Geico ads that stated “So easy a caveman can do it.”
2. IES Hires Two New Staffers
After some attrition caused reduced headcount earlier in the year, the staff list on the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) website has recently grown with two new additions:
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Graham Kirk has been hired as Director of Marketing and Business Development. Kirk was previously Director of Sales & Marketing at the Audio Engineering Society, the same association IES Executive Director Colleen Harper led before joining the IES in March 2022.
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Jennifer Ferrell is the IES’ new Member Relations Manager. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ferrell has over six years of past association experience with the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) International, where she was a project manager.
3. Signify’s motion heard in Deco Lighting bankruptcy case
In advance of Wednesday’s hearing, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge tentatively ruled to grant Signify’s motion and convert Deco Lighting’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, a move that would have started liquidation proceedings for Deco Lighting.
During the hearing on Signify’s motion to dismiss or convert the case, the two parties indicated that they were making progress on a potential resolution that could satisfy Signify and other creditors. As a result, the judge changed course and ordered a continuance until May 24 to give them time to work things out. Despite reportedly falling behind in payments with several obligations during its 3-year bankruptcy proceedings, Deco Lighting’s business continues to operate under Chapter 11 protection.
Deco Lighting has claimed that it entered bankruptcy in 2020 through no fault of its own and that unusual circumstances – all outside of Deco Lighting’s control – are justification for paying Signify $0 of a six-figure obligation over the last year.
4. Construction Snapshot: First Quarter 2023
Dodge Construction has recently reported that in Q1 of 2023, total construction starts were 9% below that of 2022. Year-to-date, residential starts were down 29%, nonresidential and nonbuilding starts grew 6% and 12% respectively. For the 12 months ending March 2023, total construction starts were 11% higher than the 12 months ending March 2022. Nonresidential and nonbuilding starts were 33% and 21% higher, respectively, while residential starts lost 11%.
Commercial/Industrial: The largest nonresidential building projects to break ground in March were the $5.5 billion Hyundai EV plant in Ellabell, Georgia, the $3.0 billion Panasonic Energy North America Battery Manufacturing Plant, and the $780 million third phase of the BASF MDI chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana.
Multifamily: The largest multifamily structures to break ground in March were a $400 million mixed-use project in Jamaica, New York, the $225 million Chestnut Commons Affordable Housing project in Cypress Hills, New York, and the $268 million Knox mixed-use development in Dallas, Texas.
5. Restoring Financial Incentives for R&D
Since 1954, research & development (R&D) expenditures were treated by U.S. companies as an immediate tax deduction. For decades, the immediate deduction for U.S. R&D expenditures provided a longstanding incentive for companies to make those investments, helping to maintain U.S. leadership in vital technologies. As of 2022, however, U.S. R&D expenses must now be amortized over five years, potentially making it less attractive to perform R&D in the U.S. and impacting competitiveness of the domestic semiconductor industry.
U.S. Representatives Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and John Larson (D-Conn.), along with more than 60 bipartisan supporters have proposed bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives to restore full tax deductibility of R&D investments.
