Johannesburg-based luminaire designer and manufacturer Beka Schréder has registered significant growth in the past year, having recently secured various contracts in the municipal, industrial, mining, floodlighting and solar light-emitting diode (LED) lighting sectors for its newly launched LED products.

Launched in 2014, these new products include the LEDlume-mini, the Zela, the Hestia LED, the LEDtec S and the OMNIstar, which have all been positively received by customers, says Beka Schréder national sales and market development manager Wimpie Ludwick.

He tells Engineering News that, to keep abreast of increasing growth, Beka Schréder spent the past two years expanding and upgrading its production facility in Olifantsfontein, Johannesburg.

Ludwick attributes the company’s growth over the past 35 years to Beka Schréder’s commitment to designing and supplying quality lighting products, adding that the company has embraced new LED technology and has designed and manufactured more than eight new lighting products over the past 12 months.

“We are proud to have secured contracts from across various industries based on our products’ performance, energy savings and cost of ownership. Beka Schréder’s products are designed and manufactured for local conditions and are well accepted in the industry,” he details.

Ludwick further highlights that Beka Schréder is constantly working on new technologies and products through its local research and development centre. “We believe in broad-based economic empowerment and we, therefore, use local suppliers for all products and castings that can be sourced locally. In addition, our products have been designed and manufactured locally.”

He adds that municipalities have shown special interest in particularly the LEDlume-mini, which has been developed for functional lighting that prioritises energy saving, low maintenance and precise light control. The LEDlume-mini, with energy savings of up to 70%, has been designed to replace conventional high-intensity discharge streetlight luminaires.

Meanwhile, the mining industry and municipalities have shown special interest in Beka Schréder’s high-powered OMNIstar LED luminaire, engineered for maintenance- free installations. It has been designed to replace conventional luminaires of up to 1 000 W high-pressure sodium, with energy savings of up to 60%. It is currently available for up to 41 000 lumen per unit and can be used in various applications.