Acuity Brands Forms Businesses To Focus On Relighting and Energy Management

May 15, 2008
Acuity Brands Inc., Atlanta, owner of Lithonia Lighting, Holophane and a large stable of other lighting brands, is establishing two new businesses to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in turn-key building renovation and the lighting, energy and maintenance management markets.

Acuity Brands Inc., Atlanta, owner of Lithonia Lighting, Holophane and a large stable of other lighting brands, is establishing two new businesses to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in turn-key building renovation and the lighting, energy and maintenance management markets. Acuity Brands Inc. will operate the new businesses within its wholly owned subsidiary, Acuity Brands Technology Services Inc.

SAERIS, one of the new businesses, provides lighting renovation and energy services with a special focus on turn-key lighting projects for major corporations, building owners, municipalities and schools. SAERIS’ services will support Acuity Brands’s existing sales channels to enhance pursuits of renovation and relighting business opportunities. Another new business, ROAM, provides monitoring and control of indoor and outdoor lighting infrastructures utilizing a combination of intelligent photocontrols, machine-to-machine communications, wireless communications and network management services.

Crawford Lipsey has been named president of Acuity Brands Technology Services. He most recently was executive vice president and general manager of Acuity Brands Lighting’s Solutions Group. Larry E. Smith has been named general manager for SAERIS.

Lipsey said SAERIS will perform many of the same services as energy service companies (ESCOs) that focus on the design, installation and financing of energy-efficient building systems, but said SAERIS’s services will go beyond the interests of ESCOs. He sees SAERIS as more of an “energy renovation company.”

“If you look at the approximately $100 billion relight marketplace in a triangular shape, the bottom of the triangle would be the lower end (just lamp and ballast replacement), and up toward the pinnacle would be more of a relight/renovation approach. We’re separating ourselves in some ways there, not as an ESCO, but as an energy renovation company.

“As an energy renovation company, we’re focusing more on the upper end of that triangle; more on how we bring products and services together to create a different experience for the customer that includes energy-savings and energy management. It doesn’t exclude that. But it does something more than just saving them dollars.”

SAERIS’ goal will be to work with electrical distributors rather than exclude them, as do many ESCOs, he said. “SAERIS will attempt to integrate with our distributor partners as much as we can,” he said. “So, if a distributor is doing business in a local territory and wants to work with SAERIS, we believe there will be some sort of agreement that we will put together for those distributors. Then we will do everything we can to work closely with them to help them write more business.”

With a broad portfolio of lighting products, Acuity does not anticipate needing product from other manufacturers. “As far as selling products from other manufacturers, while we’re not shutting the door on that, the Acuity Brands portfolio is very large and our focus on the relight marketplace is extremely strong,” said Lipsey. “We have products for just about every application that I can think of. At this point, our strategy is to use Acuity Brands’ product portfolio for most everything that we do. But I wouldn’t completely rule out using someone else’s product if it fits the need for the customer.”

Acuity, through SAERIS, intends to work with local distributors and contractors, and doesn’t anticipate any pushback from contractors or distributors unless they choose to compete with SAERIS, said Lipsey. SAERIS will require an extensive reference check for contractors and will also look for contractors who have the ability to perform in the relight marketplace as opposed to the new construction marketplace.

In related company news, Acuity announced on May 8 that it had inked a strategic alliance with Dallas-based Lighting Services Group to enhance its existing LED portfolio. Acuity and Lighting Services Group will jointly develop selected new products for architectural, commercial, industrial and public infrastructure use.

“We continue to seek out strong alliances to accelerate our ability to integrate advanced technologies, such as LEDs, into leading edge fixture design to serve specific customer needs,” said Vernon J. Nagel, Acuity Brands’ chairman, president, CEO. “Lighting Services Group’s patented technology, experienced management team and expertise in thermal management, driver design, and color control will give us a broader product offering for the growing LED market.”

Acuity’s stable of lighting brands include American Electric Lighting, Antique Street Lamps, Carandini, Gotham, Holophane, Hydrel, Lithonia Lighting, Mark Architectural Lighting, MetalOptics, Peerless and SpecLight and Synergy Lighting Controls.