BusinessTN

For the past twelve years, Global Manufacturing Alliance Group (GMAG) has produced electronic components for General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Ford and Cisco, among others. With the latest recession pummeling the automotive and appliance industries -- financial mainstays for the Chattanooga company -- GMAG president Don Lepard knew his company would have to adapt or die.

"We saw the company take a dive of 60%," Lepard says. "We were looking for a way to diversify the business with technology we already knew about."

As such, GMAG subsidiary Global Green Lighting (GGL) first got its feet wet in LED (light-emitting diode) technology in April of 2009, manufacturing the energy-efficient products in China while awaiting certification in the states.

Around the same time GGL was heading toward the light, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 set aside $3.2 billion in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants for government entities ($42 million of which will go to Tennessee). Low-energy lighting was one area of funding the department encouraged grant applicants to pursue.

"Replacing older, energy-inefficient traffic and streetlights with LED lighting is a cost-effective way for communities to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," says Laura Elkins, director of communications of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TDECD). LEDs use 60% to 80% less energy than a typical high-pressure sodium bulb and emit light eight times brighter than an incandescent bulb.

That's when a light switched on for Lepard. With U.S. certification in place, the company focused operations solely on LED technology as the shining beacon of hope for the future. To that end, GGL plans to move manufacturing to Chattanooga by the end of the year, bringing product production, as well as 80 to 150 previously outsourced jobs, back to Tennessee. The new facility will model that of its China subcontractor, which continues to supply LED products internationally to the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, China, Greece and Italy.

GGL sources LED components from suppliers like Cree and Phillips and designs the fixtures, Lepard says. The resulting assembled fixtures are used in parking lots and garages, pedestrian walkways and tunnels. "We're also developing a line of interior LED lights to replace fluorescents," Lepard says.

LEDs carry a high price tag and a three-year return on investment, making stimulus funds, and even commercial tax credits, key to the industry and GGL's success. Yet, when it comes to replacement costs, LEDs burn the competition. "There’s an 80,000-hour life on an LED light before it ever needs any maintenance. Regular bulbs need maintenance every 8,000 hours. That's about a ten times longer life," Lepard says.

Facts and figures aside, even the untrained eye can see the ultra-efficiency of outdoor LED lighting just by looking at the night sky. LEDs emit zero light pollution, or excess light, that causes decreased visibility. "When you look down on a city and see a glow, that's light pollution," Lepard says. Instead, LEDs emit clean, focused light minus the orange haze.

The U.S. Department of Energy, aware of the advantages, has sought to nudge the LED niche market into becoming a full-blown industry. According to Lepard, the department announced stimulus-funded research projects meant to develop more advanced LED lighting by 2025. "Because of that mandate, the industry has grown from nothing," Lepard says. "We expect it to be a $90-billion-a-year industry," Lepard says.

Should GGL manage to fully tap into this burgeoning industry, the company could pull itself free from the economic black hole that's claimed so many in its fellow businesses and emerge light years ahead of the nearest competitor.