Executive Series: An Interview with Emma Price, President, Edison Price Lighting.

Your humble editor sat down for a discussion with Emma Price, the President of the privately held Edison Price Lighting.

Ed: Who was Edison Price?

Emma: Edison Price, my father, was born in 1918 into a very poor family, and he never went to college. His father, William Price, who started Century Lighting in the 1920’s, died at age thirty, and my father sold his interest in Century and started Edison Price Lighting in 1952. Initially, my father made his living consulting in the new field of lighting design. In fact, he was the second person to work as a lighting consultant; Richard Kelly was the first. In the 1960’s my father moved from lighting design to manufacturing his own designs.

He was a very innovative designer and a typical inventor. He was the first to adopt bus way into track lighting, and he had several patents on that design. Another popular product he designed was a reflector which eliminated the reflective glare from downlights. Before my father’s design, all downlights had tremendous reflective glare. My father invented many other things in the field of lighting, including the open reflective parabolic fluorescent fixture. He retired in 1989 and passed away in 1997.

Ed: Tell me about your new LED downlight?.

Emma: We call it the LED Square, and it is the first spec grade product on the market that uses LED technology in a downlight. The product is designed to be maintenance free for seven years, operating 24/7.

Ed: Is it a blue LED with white phosphor or RBG?

Emma: It is a blue LED with white phosphor, available in 3000 K, which is warm white, or 4700 K, which is a daylight white.  They both have a CRI of 80, so they look good, and this is the reason why we say that LED is now ready for prime-time. 

Ed: Any sales, yet?

Emma: Yes, we introduced the LED Square at the Enterprise Lighting Expo at the end of 2006 and already have our first orders. We continue improving the light engines and will be introducing higher lumen packages.

Ed: Is LED really viable in our industry today?

Emma: I think LED is a sexy word. It has penetrated the end user’s mind. When specifiers say LED to end users, people really like that idea. They may not understand LED’s or their costs or their efficiencies, but LEDs have the right image. Specifiers tell us their clients love to hear about LED technology. In some cases, end-users will actually tell specifiers to use LED’s. The average person thinks it is a tremendous energy saver, which it is not, but it is a very good maintenance saver. It is cooler, and it does eliminate a lot of waste issues.

Ed: Can you tell me about the remodel of your offices?

Emma: Yes, as you can see, we are right in the middle of the remodeling effort. Most of our fixture types, including metal halide, low voltage, line voltage, and compact fluorescent downlights, as well as several types of track and spredlite are displayed throughout the offices.

Ed: How do we improve education in our industry?

Emma: The biggest problem we have, as a high end spec grade manufacturer, is that we are far too removed from the end-users. We will offer new kinds of fixtures which will really benefit the end users, and they may never hear of the product. If you were selling a high-end refrigerator, the consumer would likely go to a showroom, see the refrigerator and understand the features and benefits before making a choice. This is not so in high-end lighting; they’ll never see it until it is installed. I met a senior partner of a law firm at a social function and explained how we had just re-lit his offices. He was actually part of the committee that did the entire renovation, and he had no idea what kind of new lighting was installed, how much it saved in energy, or even who chose the lighting.

We need to have more ability to inform the end users of the many features available. Edison Price makes very strong fixtures. After four or five years, they are not going to fall apart. The only party who benefits from this robust design is the end user, but they are the party with no cognizance of what they are purchasing.

There are so many layers involved. We do need those channels to market, but we also need to find a way to be directly involved with the end-user—in conjunction with those parties.

Ed: There have been a few ballast price increases lately. Are they important in helping luminaire manufacturers increase prices?

Emma: Yes, because all manufacturers have no choice since costs are rising. When they rise, the industry has to pass them on.

Ed: Do you see any real threats in the market place?

Emma: Overseas manufacturing is always a threat, but it has not been a problem with high-end lumenaires. However, it has created displacement with much of the low-end product. How do those low-end companies respond? By trying to get into the spec-grade market, so indirectly it is somewhat of a threat. Also, there are energy code issues from the government, but those are really challenges, not threats.

Ed: How do you see the Lighting economy?

Emma: Strong to very strong. We have been through a tough several years beginning in 1999 and 2000. First the dotcom collapse, then September 11^th, then real estate crises. New construction in commercial construction has been really slow until this year. Finally, New York and other office markets are running out of space, so the developers have to put up new buildings. It is really growing very fast now. As you know, we are nationwide and participate in all of the other big markets: Boston, DC, Philadelphia, Florida, Texas, California, etc. We are also seeing strong growth in the Midwest.

Ed: Concluding thoughts?

Emma: I am thinking more about your education question. We all need to support education. Our industry has to publicize and fund studies to make sure that we get the publicity, the independent proof, to show the importance that good lighting has on productivity, on energy savings, on maintenance, on the environment and the overall enjoyment of life. Quality Lighting has such positive effects on human happiness. The research that we have seen is supportive of the importance of sunlight, so I would like to see architects and lighting designers work closer with manufacturers to better combine daylight harvesting with lighting fixtures to create a better environment. It really has a tremendous psychological effect.