Lamp Testing Range
Upstairs in a loft area, Streamlight staff members constructed
a 100-foot-long lamp testing range. Optical and voltage
equipment tests the power and focus of lights as they
are being developed, as well as competitors' lights to
see how Streamlight products compare.
Sharrah focuses a flashlight just in front of the far
wall and adjusts the focus to get a true beam on the
object, which happens to be an image of a bad guy with
a gun. Meters measure the strength of the beam.
"It's amazing what other competitors claim," he comments.
Immaculate Facility
Moving out to the Production floor, it's immediately
apparent that Streamlight cares about the environment
in which its employees work and products are made.
The immaculate facility is well-lit and the floors are
clear of debris. Shelves are orderly and materials are
at the assemblers' fingertips. Air handlers keep the
air fresh and temperatures comfortable all year.
The environment is no accident, says Bob Harner, Streamlight's Production manager.
"We have gone through all the exercises for lean
manufacturing and we are constantly trying to improve our efficiencies," he says.
Workers who are divided into teams work in U-shaped cells, each performing a different step in the assembly process. Materials handlers feed components to the assembly teams, retrieving them from storage areas, says Harner. All lights are built to order. None are built on speculation and stored for future shipping.
Cross-trained Employees
"Everyone in a cell is cross-trained, so if someone is out sick, or on leave, we can just close up the gap and continue with production," he says. Each employee, however, remains at the task he or she is proficient at to keep production levels up.
Realizing that much of the assembly work is repetitive, Streamlight does what it can to keep employees safe and injury free by using tools and machines that reduce repetitive actions, like screwing light heads on light bodies.
Quotas for each cell are realistic and the workers most often surpass the daily goals by wide margins.
"We try to keep our employees happy and healthy," Harner says. Streamlight is one of the few companies in the area that continues to offer 100 percent company paid health insurance.
The Eagleville plant is one of Streamlight's 50 nationwide service and repair centers where customers can drop off lights for repair. Lights are repaired or replaced in two to three days in most cases, giving the company's lifetime warranty some real value.
"When a fire department has a LiteBox out of service, we do everything we can to get that light back in service, or replaced as quickly as we can," Harner says.
He has worked for the company for more than 15 years and says he's never worked at a place quite like Streamlight. "The company really does care about its employees," he says.
And it cares about its customers just as much.
Lifetime Warranty
In addition to its lifetime warranty, lights designed
for the fire and emergency services are third-party
tested and UL listed as well as approved by the
 United States Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for use in confined spaces and
hazardous locations.
President Penney says sales to firefighters and EMS and rescue
workers account for about 11 percent of total sales, which average $75 million annually.
"The law enforcement market continues to be our
largest," Penney says. "That's followed
by the industrial market and automotive aflermarket.
The fire service and outdoor markets are just about tied"
Innovative Features
While lights for the fire service represent a fraction of the company's total business, Streamlight devotes
much of its resources to those products. One innovation
is bulbs with two filaments, which ensures continuous
light even if one filament burns out.
Streamlight makes Survivor, a rightangle flashlight found in the radio pockets of many firefighters. Streamlight
introduced the Survivor light in 1989, after it bought
the design from Black and Decker. According to Streamlight,
the Survivor continues to hold the number one sales spot
in right-angle rechargeable lights.
In 2002, Streamlight led the industry with LED lighting products for the fire service. Earlier this year, the
company expanded its ProPolymer line of lights with a
3C cell light and a 4AA cell light in its Super High-flux LED models.
Both models contain a 1-Watt Super High Flux LED.
Fire and EMS market manager Lance says that Streamlight has improved the staying power of LED lights by adding
a regulator in the light head. He explains that with
filament bulbs, light diminishes as power in the battery
fades. With an LED and a regulator, the light beam remains constant until the batteries are depleted and then the light beam drops off markedly.
"It's important for a police officer, or a first responder, that he knows what kind of light it's going
to give out every time," Lance says.
Sharrah says there's no question in his mind that LEDs are the wave of the future. He said the "holy grail" of LED lighting is an LED automotive headlight. "We're only five or six years away from an LED car headlight," he predicts. At the moment, however, LEDs just don't have the same brightness as a halogen bulb, but they're close and there are trade-offs.
LEDs Are Maintenance Free
"LEDs last for up to 100,000 hours and they are virtually maintenance free," Sharrah says. "A
halogen bulb or a high intensity xenon bulb lasts
about 30 hours. We try to make that less painful
because we have discrete, individual lights that plug into
the flashlights, which means bulbs are easier and cheaper to change."
Sharrah says that the average LiteBox ships with an eight-watt lamp and the brightest LED at the moment
is five watts. "LEDs are getting better and
better, but they're not quite there yet. You can't
get the good bright light out of it like you can with a halogen, or a xenon lamp, but they're getting there."
As the technology develops, Streamlight will bring it to market. Unfortunately, the people who make batteries and LED lights are not making products for flashlights.
"They're looking for the laptop computer market, the video camera market and the automotive market, where the big money is, so we're at the mercy of the market," Penney says.
But rest assured that as the technology develops and becomes available, Streamlight will be in the forefront, bringing it to the hand light market.
"We have zero tolerance for light failure," Lance says. "Light failure for a police officer or a first responder is totally not acceptable and we do everything we can do, everyday, to make sure that doesn't happen."
Return to Part One
Return to Part Two
Return to Part Three
|