Contractors are using their prefabrication sites for conduit bending, assembly and preparation for panelboards, transformers and lighting. Assembling and wiring light fixtures before they arrive at the work site aids in project planning, identifying or anticipating part errors and reducing packaging on-site while boosting productivity. In some cases, prefabbing the lighting system can help the contractor meet owner requirements, limiting the amount of equipment and materials that can be staged there at a time.

A breadth of benefits

Cannon & Wendt Electric Co. Inc., Phoenix, applies its prefab lighting workflows for projects related to data centers and healthcare buildings.

“Nothing is impossible” is Cannon & Wendt’s attitude. “We can prefab anything, and the challenge is figuring out the most efficient way to do it for each project,” said Nicole Robbins, prefabrication supervisor.

When it comes to identifying prefab opportunities, lighting may be low-hanging fruit, based on the ability to incorporate it in off-site work and transport it fairly easily, Robbins said. The company has developed its own way to manage how prefab lighting work is planned, conducted, transported and installed to ensure accuracy and consistently applying lean principles.

Prefab as quality control

It begins with ensuring that the right quantity of the right fixtures for a specific project are on-site and ready for installation. The company leverages smart software solutions to ensure every prefab request comes with a digitally tracked ticket, which is included with the proper assemblies.

First, the prefab team verifies the model number of each fixture against the material release information and confirms there are no defects or shipping damages. 

“That’s done so that we can mitigate any problem that might develop, as lighting fixtures often have long lead times if they need to be replaced,” Robbins said. And if a problem is identified, the team has time to address it early. 

“That helps keep the project on schedule,” she added.

Material and electrical equipment check-in is just part of the early planning that can be conducted at the prefab site long before installation takes place. 

“We’re very, very forward-thinking when it comes to planning to make things easier for our employee owners in the field,” she said.

We can prefab anything, and the challenge is figuring out the most efficient way to do it for each project.”

—Nicole Robbins, Cannon & Wendt

Robbins recalled a recent example when the prefab facility received fixtures that matched the product numbers. “Everything was good, but it turns out that it didn’t have any dimming leads [for the dimming functionality], so we actually had to start tracking how many of those fixtures didn’t have dimming leads so we could back charge all those [added labor] hours and material,” she said.

That kept the project on schedule by avoiding unplanned additional field work.

“We really use prefab as another stop in that quality control process,” said Andrew Beaufeaux, Cannon & Wendt project manager. Mistakes can be harder to catch on the work site than ahead of time in an off-site prefab center.

One example? Hospitals. Beaufeaux pointed out that hospital lighting fixtures, like those in other large buildings, can be very similar.

“Literally, it can be just one small digit part number change,” and before you know it, the wrong product could delay the lighting installation.

The company has safeguards in place to improve visibility, prevent errors and automate data capture. The goal is to tightly control when and which parts are sent, received and installed. That’s accomplished with QR codes. 

“Once we get our fixtures all ready to go out to the field, we take pictures [and] we attach those images/relevant documents to the digital ticket that is linked to the QR code,” Robbins said. 

The prefab crew updates the ticket when the fixtures ship. The material yard crew scans the QR code to update the ticket as received at the job site. Workers can even update the status in the software by scanning the QR code when the array reaches its intended location (such as the second floor and column line) to confirm it was properly handled.

The same process takes place for every prefab request submitted to the team, according to Robbins. “We’re always working to get our prefab standardized.”

The company also deploys a protective film on the top of the fixtures to make sure that they stay clean until they’re ready to be installed. At that point installers remove the film, Beaufeaux said.

Cannon & Wendt has prefabbed lighting inside hospitals, data centers and other large buildings, and employees have built pole fixtures for outdoor lighting in the prefab facility. Additionally, the company creates the necessary lighting controls that might mount above the fixtures.

Any time work requires repetition and can be ergonomically difficult, that’s where prefab offers benefits, Beaufeaux said. “If you see the same fixture being installed over and over again, that looks like your great opportunity, right there, for prefab.” It’s easy, adds value and helps prevent errors, he added.

Workflow matters

To make it work well, Robbins said, the team on the work site, project managers and the technicians need open communication. 

“It doesn’t work as well as you would hope unless everybody’s on board,” she said.

Ensure all parties understand what is happening on a daily basis. “It’s not just a one-person endeavor,” Robbins said. “You have to have project management on board, and you have to make sure that the field is definitely on board.”

LED fixtures are also making the process easier in many cases because they are becoming lighter, with smaller footprints. As projects have evolved, the technology changes have been more pronounced than anything else. 

“I would say the workflow is about the same—it’s just the product is changing the workflow,” Beaufeaux said. “If you want to continue to thrive in this industry you have to be very, very aware of all the trends and how it will impact our workflows—you have to be adaptable, so you’re always looking for ways that you can improve efficiency, and [one way] of doing that is using prefab.”

When is prefab lighting the best choice?

Collins Electrical Co. Inc., Stockton, Calif., prefabricates a variety of equipment, including in-wall assemblies, conduit, trapezes, electrical panels, transformers, underground ducts and lighting. The electrical and solar contractor works for commercial and energy customers. Since its inception in 1924, it has been known for its fast-track and design-build delivery methods. The company reports that preconstruction is one of the keys to a successful project, including lighting.

“We have prefabbed lighting for many years,” said Jeremiah Nieman, Collins Electrical’s design manager. 

While the company will sometimes kit the parts and pieces needed to build light fixtures, employees also can build the fixtures themselves before sending them to the job site. 

Overall, “lighting makes up only a small part of our current prefab assemblies,” he said.

Lighting projects that lend themselves most favorably to prefab are designs where many of the same lighting fixtures are needed.

“We treat lighting the same way we treat any other electrical item on a project. Once we understand the requirements needed for the light fixtures, we will prefab the infrastructure the same way we do everything else. We use a standardized process,” Nieman said. 

Employees build the lighting arrays per area, floor or room and deliver it to the job site as needed.

In a state where sustainability requirements are more stringent, the process is helpful to meet projects’ goals, according to Nieman. The packaging is properly recycled, and prefabbing also helps electricians on the work site get their work done accurately and efficiently with a minimum amount of waste.

“When kitting lighting, we give clear instructions on how to install the fixtures and what tools are needed,” Nieman said. “This ensures our team has everything they need to be successful.”

Advantages of prefab light fixture assembly

Various studies show that electricians spend roughly 40% of their time at the work site on noninstallation activities, said Mike Carroll, Graybar’s vice president of construction sales. And when it comes to that noninstallation work, 30%–40% of it is often spent on tasks such as material handling, opening and organizing fixtures, and removing packaging from the work site. Having skilled electricians spend time on tasks such as sorting materials and recycling impacts job-site productivity and increases labor costs. 

Light fixtures are a core part of every construction job. By assembling light fixtures in a prefab facility, contractors can gain several benefits: 

Reduced work site waste: When light fixtures arrive at the prefabrication site rather than the work site, electricians can remove the cardboard and recycle there, preventing that packaging from ever affecting the work site itself. That also helps meet owner mandates for reduced on-site waste and improves work-site safety. 

Identifying damage early: Because of their fragile nature, light fixtures can become damaged during manufacturing and shipping, and packaging may conceal that damage. Finding a damaged product in the controlled environment typically means the issue can be identified and addressed quickly. 

No project manager on a construction site wants to discover that an installed fixture is damaged. Carroll pointed out that on a busy site, that discovery often requires a written reminder to call the distributor to order a replacement. By the time the call is made, hours or even days may have passed.

Improved accuracy: By assembling fixtures offsite, electricians can complete some of the finer tasks in a more controlled and comfortable environment. That may mean wiring connections on a tabletop, for example, rather than overhead or on a ladder. As a result, the work gets done faster and more accurately.

And if the fixtures are assembled off-site, it means less handling at an active construction site. That matters, since every time a fixture is handled, the potential for damage increases.

Labor efficiency on-site: Having fixtures that are properly tested, assembled, mounted on trays and designated for specific parts of a building can dramatically improve work-site productivity. It speeds up the installation process for electricians and reduces the amount of equipment and materials that would otherwise need to be staged there. Use of equipment such as fixture carts also aids in staging and installation, to safely transport the preassembled fixtures and install as they are received. —C.S.

stock.adobe.com / Siwakorn1933 / Aleksandr Matveev