A small commercial lighting company in Green that sells LED lights to replace energy-sucking fluorescent and incandescent ones is seeing its sales surge.
“Sales doubled in 2012, and we’re expecting sales to quadruple this year,” said Steve Zeneri, president and founder of Vivid Leds Inc. Last year’s sales totaled nearly $1 million.
Vivid Leds, working with distributors nationwide, sells the newfangled LED lights to commercial customers, such as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and local franchisees of McDonald’s Corp. The company’s LEDs light up everything from warehouses to parking lots to gymnasiums.
“We do so well in our business because we offer efficient LED lighting that can replace those lights being phased out,” Zeneri said.
Manufacturers are phasing out certain types of inefficient fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, in moves propelled by federal government mandates.
Meanwhile, electric utilities — in response to a state law that mandates they cut consumption — are offering companies financial incentives to purchase the new energy-saving lighting.
LEDs — light-emitting diodes — are semiconductor devices that light up when electrical current passes through.
Vivid Leds last month moved from a small office in Plain Township to larger quarters in Green.
“We’re being green in Green, Ohio,” Zeneri said.
Vivid Leds is now in an old home remodeled for commercial use at 4725 Massillon Road, just north of Greensburg Road. There is enough space for a showroom and a larger area for warehouse/shipping operations, marketing director Melissa Shanks said.
The company, with just a handful of employees, does not have its own manufacturing plants; much (but not all) of its lighting is made overseas and shipped to Green. Vivid Leds checks the items for quality before they are shipped to distributors and customers.
Before moving to the larger facility in Green “we just went out and visited with our distributors and customers,” Zeneri said. “Now we have a big enough place where customers can come in. We have an audio-visual room where we can show presentations. The showroom has samples of our products.”
Zeneri said the Green site was attractive because it’s not far from Interstate 77 and gets the company closer to the Akron area.
The company sells LEDs to school districts and other public institutions, in addition to private-sector businesses.
Zeneri founded Vivid Leds in 2008, after working for another company that sold LEDs for use in stage shows produced by rock bands and others.
“Every concert that you go to, you look up at the stage and the lighting is all LED,” Zeneri said. “That’s what prompted me to open this business — to bring the LED lighting into commercial and industrial applications.”
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.