May 2011 - Illuminating Engineering Society

APPS + ANSWERS
Defeating Incrementalism
by Don Peifer
As we walk the
halls of LIGHTFAIR,
it’s fair to ask:
is the industry
evolving at a quick
enough pace?
We work in the field of light. How
cool is that? Yet, at the end of
the day, the tools of the trade
that the specifier community
has at its disposal seem banal. Every
once in a while something noteworthy
pops out of the weeds—an impressive
performance here, or an interesting form
factor there. Those instances seem few
and far between, however.
If I meet my deadline, this article will be
handed out to the participants at LIGHTFAIR
in Philadelphia. Amidst the glare of streetlights
and everything LED, the spectacle
has become, on the one hand, overwhelming
from the standpoint of sheer scale and,
on the other hand, underwhelming from the
standpoint of innovation. Formulaic is the
word that comes to mind. To the practiced
eye, themes quickly emerge as you walk the
space. Manufacturers in the era of reverse
engineering may be reluctant to fully open
the kimono, but that results in offerings that
are by and large tame. As an industry, we
take incremental steps each year. I think it
is fair to pose the question: are we evolving
at a quick enough pace?
The reason I ask is that it seems that in
other industries, there is a much more prodigious
race to compete, more of a mandate
to innovate and take chances. Considering
how far LED technology has come in the
last few years, you would think we could
expect more from luminaires. The DOE
recently announced the winners of the Next
Generation Luminaire awards for LED products.
The general illumination winner had
flux of 1,615 lumens. The judges said that
while they appreciated the aesthetics (i.e.,
this is the only product we would consider
specifying), they questioned whether the
light output was sufficient. I’ll save you the
suspense: it’s not. It is, in fact, a non-starter.
There are some very impressive LED performers
out there currently. Where is the
luminaire, however, that is that rare combination
of performance, quality, value and
aesthetics? That shoe has been in the air
forever it seems, and you wonder if the
creation of that product is even encoded into
the industry’s DNA? LIGHTFAIR is a walking
billboard to this disconnect with its separate
design pavilion where “decorative lighting”
is displayed. If you are looking for design, go
here; for everything else, go there.
LESSONS FROM OUTSIDE OUR WORLD
I spoke to an industrial designer recently
and asked him to show me an example of
an interesting product. He reached into his
pocket and pulled out a PDA. The fact that
(a) it wasn’t an iPhone and (b) the product
was exceedingly cool really hit me. It is survival
of the fittest in that industry—evolution
at a much faster pace as a function of
market pressure. If you look at the Apple
product catalog—especially against the
canvas of the competitive space—there
are several observations that could be
used as a primer in our industry.
1. Differentiate. Products in the lighting
industry are more often than not what
I call laterally derivative. One manufacturer’s
luminaire is indiscernible
from another’s. That doesn’t happen at
Apple. Much of that is a function of having
very few decision makers. It seems
inevitable in luminaire companies that
engineers beat up a design, manufacturing
does the same and the end result
is homogenous and uninspired. Apple
demands the impossible. Products are
34 May 2011 | LD+A www.ies.org