BEKA Schréder is pleased to reflect on the early days of professional LED lighting, when we recognised and predicted the success of LED as the light source of the future, leading the way in product innovation and local manufacture in Africa and beyond.

The technical and commercial benefits of LED lighting were presented in numerous LED workshops at the time, which have taken us to all major cities of Southern Africa, to alert the professional users and engineers of the imminent “revolution”, which would change the technology of “Lighting” forever.

In our prediction, we foresaw the increase of the LED’s efficacy, which would result in its triumphant path in all lighting segments, in the domestic and professional sphere.

In order to keep pace with this technology, BEKA Schréder had the vision to be the first to locally design and manufacture a wide range of technical luminaires, ranging from streetlights, urban decorative, commercial, industrial and floodlights.

In keeping with our company’s philosophy, we developed LED luminaires in recognition of Africa’s climatic and operational conditions, which made them globally unique and accepted by many international markets.

We pride ourselves as being a pioneer and part of this journey since the first solid state light sources were available. As we reflect over the past ten years, we can pride ourselves in five key areas:

1. Quality

BEKA Schréder is your partner with a global vision, rooted in Africa providing employment to the community, with a high level of global standards, service and innovation. Being based in South Africa with a comprehensive African footprint, we have a full understanding of the continent’s harsh thermal environments. We design for local conditions, ensuring a high-quality and performing product.

Our success can be attributed to the local research and development of our luminaire ranges, sourcing of high-quality components that match our standards, and ensuring the appropriate mechanical and thermal product integrity for the environmental conditions of the African and other continents.

We stand by our product warranties of our LED luminaires, providing peace-of-mind for our customers over many years of operation. Our after-sales-service will outdo your expectations with regards to the LED product that you have purchased from us. BEKA Schréder became South Africa’s first lighting company to be awarded ISO9001 certification. This commitment to quality became the company’s hallmark, enabling us to become Africa’s largest lighting manufacturer and market leader in exterior lighting.

2. Efficacy

With significant developments over the years, LED chip and luminaire manufacturers, like ourselves, have pushed all the boundaries to give the end-user the most efficient high-performing technology. It goes without saying that a lot of Research & Development is invested in the right combinations of components and considering all the external factors to achieve the optimized LED luminaire efficacy. It has been mentioned as the ‘’race to the highest efficacy’’ amongst some, but current trends are leaning towards quality of light with higher colour rendering to be considered alongside the high performing LED chip and luminaire efficacy, adding another aspect to this ever-evolving technology.

3. Products

Continuous product improvements over the last ten years have led to several generations of luminaires to continuously adapt to the technology available. Our current street light luminaire Generation 4 has just been launched and will provide all the advantages, cost savings and features a LED street light luminaire can offer.

BEKA Schréder’s localised production with innovation and technology drives high quality products across all outdoor and indoor segments.

Our LED luminaires set themselves apart by the following features:

- Specialised optics: Schréder has developed several photometric engines to provide the best solution for every application and project in terms of performance, comfort and return on investment. These different concepts have been designed to build a versatile state-of-the-art LED product portfolio. Our large range of photometric engines mix the number of LEDs, driving currents and light distributions to perfectly satisfy the needs of each environment to be lit.

- Luminaire design: Since LED technology is significantly different from traditional light source technology, continuous design changes are necessary to optimise the performance. Specific heatsink designs are now an integral part of any high-quality LED luminaire.

- All our outdoor luminaire housings consist of marine grade high-pressure die-cast aluminium (EN 1706 AC-44300), ensuring corrosion resistance even if exposed to the harshest environments.

- Our products are supplied with an inline 10kA surge protection to sustain and endure our significant high lightning strike rate within parts of the country.

- Electronic temperature monitoring prevents overheating of the LEDs and power supply, prolonging the lifetime of the LEDs (ThermiX®), even in cases where the luminaires are operating during daytime.

- Part of our product range incorporates an integrated pressure equalisation valve to maintain the ingress protection rating (IP) over the lifetime of the product.

- The FutureProof concept allows for easy technology upgrades by being able to access the electronic components easily and upgrade/replace where required.

By combining the best of LED technology with a wide range of control systems, our solutions can offer huge energy savings of up to 85% and radically reduce the payback time of a new installation.

The past ten years have seen a significant shift to LED technology, with more than 80% of our product mix being manufactured with LED compared to conventional light source technology.

4. Projects

Our sales team, in conjunction with our inhouse lighting design team, provides the right LED lighting solution for your project, ensuring the lowest power-consumption, least amount of luminaires and best use of photometry to give you the most affordable and standard-compliant installation possible.

Some of the many LED lighting projects we were privileged to be involved in:

- Moses Mabhida Stadium - Arch lighting (Kwazulu-Natal)

- Green Point Stadium – Balustrade and podium lighting (Western Cape)

- Nelmapius Bridge – Bridge façade lighting (Gauteng)

- eThekwini Municipality Tender - Supply of streetlights (Kwazulu-Natal)

- Sun City – Supply of decorative LED streetlights (North West)

- Tzaneen - Highmast lighting (Limpopo)

- Kinshasa – Supply of BEKA SOLAR units (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

- Swartland Municipality Tender – Streetlight retrofit project (Western Cape)

- Cresta Shopping Centre - Exterior lighting (Gauteng)

- Buffalo City Metropolitan Tender - Highmast floodlight retrofit project (Eastern Cape)

- Century City Square – Exterior lighting (Western Cape)

- City of Cape Town – Supply of streetlights (Western Cape)

- Four Toll Plazas along the N3 Toll Route – Supply of floodlighting

- Rea Vaya BRT Bridge over the M1 highway – Bridge façade lighting (Gauteng)

- Koppie Alleen Road – Streetlighting (Free State)

- Upington High Sportsfield - Supply of floodlighting (Free State)

- Danie Craven Rugby C-Field for the University of Stellenbosch – Supply of floodlighting (Western Cape)

- Kolwezi Sports Stadium - First LED floodlight installation for a stadium (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

- Mount Edgecombe Interchange street lighting (Kwazulu-Natal)

- Fountains Circle - Highmast lighting (Gauteng)

- Green Point Athletics Stadium – Supply of floodlighting (Western Cape)

We are one of the few lighting manufacturers globally that can supply LED lighting technology solutions across all indoor and outdoor segments.

5. Innovation

We are proud to be at the forefront of being able to incorporate Smart City enablers into our luminaires.

Imagine a lighting network that can adapt itself to the real needs of the space being lit. Consider how a real-time reporting system could improve the efficiency of your network. Think of what you could achieve with a network that interacts with IoT devices. Envisage precise analytical data to help you make the right decisions. Owlet is the ideal tool to help you achieve your Smart City vision.

Whether you are in charge of a city, transport infrastructure, a private venue or industrial facilities, optimising the workflow and budget are the top priorities. However, the safety and well-being of people cannot be compromised to generate savings. Schréder’s Owlet control solutions offer real operational benefits for managers while creating engaging experiences for the users.

The ultimate city management system: Owlet IoT remotely controls luminaires in a lighting network, creating opportunities for improved efficiency, accurate real-time data and energy savings of up to 85%.

Conclusion

“BEKA Schréder has been the leader in various lighting and other technologies since we started more than 40 years ago. We believe in innovation, local manufacturing, in-house design, our people, our country, sustainability and, most of all, our customers. We continually change and innovate to ensure we stay true to our ethos and give our customers the highest quality and value in everything we do.

We look forward to continuing our partnerships with our customers in innovation and state-of-the-art lighting technology.”, Wimpie Ludwick (General Manager, BEKA Schréder)