When is a part not just a part? The magic happens when the part has been engineered, designed, and manufactured using years of experience to know which parts need to be replaced to ensure max life of the repair. That is the approach Drake Lighting takes.
Drake Lighting provides medium-intensity and high-intensity LED systems, services lighting systems, and coming soon, make its own tower lighting parts. “Tower lighting parts are just the natural extension of the services we offer,” Ryan Harper, Director of Sales, told Inside Towers. The lighting parts, which are engineered for easier handling and installation on site, were originally made for use by Drake’s internal service crews.
By popular demand, however, Drake began selling those lighting parts to the public. The product is called the EnduroPAK, a one box solution that includes everything a service technician needs to upgrade an existing Xenon system.
When Drake first began providing lighting services, it used both OEM and non-OEM parts but found that they were not up to the company’s high standards. “They met the manufacturer standards, but we want to exceed that with better quality parts that last longer,” Harper said. “The EnduroPAK marks the first time those parts have been made available to the public, because of the interest expressed in these solutions.”
When Drake began maintaining existing lighting equipment, they quickly realized that the old method of maintenance had to be changed. Replacing a single failed part can lead to repeat site visits to replace other hardware. So, the tower lighting parts Drake includes in the EnduroPAK comprise the ones that, through their experience, are the most likely to fail and need to be replaced as a standard.
“Replacing all the parts included in the EnduroPAK ensures that, from the power supply up to the beacon, all the components that routinely fail are taken care of, on a normal service visit for lighting,” Harper said.
Drake designed the EnduroPAK- with two parties in mind: the tower owner and the service technician. For the tower owner, it reduces truck rolls, which reduces the operating expenses of their towers. And for the service tech, features are designed for easier transport up the tower and simpler installation.
“Return visits are not good for business,” Harper said. “If a service technician is doing quality work for people, and we’re providing them with quality parts, we want those parts to last as long as they can. It’s better for them, and it’s better for us in the long run.”
Drake’s approach to making and selling lighting parts to complement its lighting services is reminiscent of its approach to site monitoring. Along with providing monitoring services to thousands of sites 24/7 through its network operating center, Drake now sells its own equipment, the DM-S275, designed to monitor any brand of lighting equipment. Plus, it can be expanded to monitor just about anything at the site.
“Instead of having to buy new equipment, the DM-S275 can be expanded to check the fuel levels in your generator or unlock locked doors, among other things, in the future,” Harper said.
Whether it is lighting parts or remote monitoring, everything Drake Lighting does comes out of its customer-focused mission to provide ETL-certified, FAA-approved obstruction lighting solutions. Its obstruction lighting products are used to mark structures such as cell towers, broadcast towers, industrial chimney stacks and wind turbines that are federally required to be lit according to FAA standards.
For more information, call (270) 804-7383 or visit: www.drakelighting.com.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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