Electro-Matic Visual Blog

Peace Lutheran School in Saginaw, Michigan is home to almost 300 students that range from preschool through grade 8. Peace Lutheran School wanted to upgrade their lighting to improve the visibility and increase the security and the overall attractiveness of their wonderful campus. To match their needs, Electro-Matic Visual installed 60 LED lighting fixtures that included wall packs, recessed soffit lighting, and parking lot lighting.

"We are very pleased with the Electro-Matic lighting we purchased and had installed for our recent exterior lighting renovation at our school campus. The exterior lighting is much brighter now compared to the other fixtures we had installed during original construction in 2003. Certainly increased lighting levels create a more secure environment, but they also help to showcase our school at night- all accomplished with considerably less energy use!"

— Joel Keup, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

"In addition to a great product, Electro-Matic representative, Ben Riedel, took plenty of time to help us understand the great quality and performance advantage Electro-Matic lighting have over other similar fixtures that could have been purchased from local electrical supply warehouses." 

— Joel Keup,, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

Electro-Matic Visual is excited to hear the great feedback and that Peace Lutheran School is enjoying the many benefits of our LED lighting. We are also looking forward to partner with Peace Lutheran School on future projects! 

"Great product, great service and wonderful education!  For me, this is what sets Electro-Matic apart from the rest.  I hope to be able to use Electro-Matic Visual in future projects at both of our campuses."

— Joel Keup, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

Dietz Commercial is a midsized, privately held company that manage and own commercial property buildings around Metro Detroit as well as several, multi-family apartment buildings in Ohio. Their 100+ person team of dedicated investment, management and leasing professionals are highly experienced industry leaders whose strong culture and real world successes have earned them a series of Office Building of the Year (TOBY) and Property Manager of the Year awards from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of U.S. local associations and global affiliates. The leading trade association for commercial real estate professionals for more than 100 years, it represents the owners, managers, service providers and other property professionals of all commercial building types, including office, industrial, medical, corporate and mixed-use. BOMA International and its local associations and affiliates offer unrivaled opportunities to make professional connections, gain professional development and learn about the latest trends and issues affecting commercial real estate.

Networking at a local BOMA conference brought Electro-Matic and Dietz Commercial together. Dietz wanted to upgrade their lighting to improve the look and feel of their properties so their tenants could feel safer and their properties could run more efficiently with higher quality products. For the past two years, Electro-Matic has worked on or audited all of the Dietz commercial properties here in Metro Detroit, upgrading both their interior and exterior, including their corporate office.

"I have hired Electro-Matic Visual on several occasions and they have consistently exceeded my expectations.  They have installed interior and exterior LED lights for me in several of our assets. Recently they have installed new pole lights and ground lights in Rochester Hills, Sterling Heights and Bloomfield Hills.  They installed wall packs and replaced soffit lights in Bloomfield Hills and Novi.  Currently, they are scheduled to replace the interior lights in our corporate office in September.  I can recommend them without hesitation."

- Brian Salliotte, Vice President of Commerical Management & Leasing 

"We've been excited to work with Dietz property group over the last couple of years and improving the lighting levels in their properties while, reducing their energy footprint."

- James Baker, Director of Sales at Electro-Matic Visual

The advancement in LED technology has busted open countless creative doors for the competitive retail industry. LED signs are one of the most powerful and modern ways you can communicate who you are as a business.

At Electro-Matic Visual Solutions, we realize how important it is to stand out in a crowd. Our LED retail signs are designed to increase your visibility and brand exposure by turning drive-by traffic into customers. The creative freedom and ability to customize content and tailor messages throughout the day presents an opportunity to reach different and specific audiences by allowing you to promote in-store specials, upcoming events, new employees, company partners, and much more.

With our LED displays, you can update, change, and announce specials, promotions, and new products all within seconds. Companies that invest in an indoor or outdoor retail sign see their business increase by 15 to 150%. Personalizing your digital display can create an experience people are more likely to return to.

Basic Content for LEDs

Here are the types of content you can program onto your LED display:

• Text message
• Text message with a background image or picture
• Image (by itself)
• Graphic
• Videos and live feed
• RSS feed (stock/weather/sports ticker)
• Time and temperature readings
• Media player

Restaurants and Food Franchises

Customers have a variety of options for fast food, and many customers make impulse decisions for food purchases while on the road and when noticing specials on the restaurant’s signage.

Both full service and quick service restaurants still use traditional manual letter boards to promote offers and announcements. The main issue with manual reader boards is the unnecessary labor for owners (and employees) to physically change out the letters to form a new message. Additionally, manual letter boards are bland so less people are likely to remember the message you put out, if they even notice it at all. Here at Electro-Matic Visual, we've helped many franchises make the switch to digital. Restaurant digital signage can display the best of their food as well as entertain customers as they wait for their food, boosting overall satisfaction. It is crucial to provide a visually appealing experience that will entice customers to come back for more visits.

Restaurant businesses have to stay modern by offering fresh, new items on their menu. The easiest way to broadcast new menu items is by using digital signage to reach out to consumers driving by their locations. Displaying new and daily specials will always have customers coming back for more.

To recruit employees, it can be beneficial to post that help is wanted at restaurant locations and any job openings as well as the benefits that come with the position.

Other Small Businesses

Whether you create revenue by selling a product or providing a service to consumers, you can engage people by showcasing those offerings on your LED signage. This type of advertisement will highlight your product/service while reinforcing the reputation you already have for said items and draw in more attention. Place your business’s best, most popular, or most valuable products and services upfront by featuring them on a prominent digital sign. The benefit of featuring products and services through digital signage is that you can easily update your information as products or promotions take new priority.

You could also use your digital display to show a product in action. This is a great tactic for products that offer visual results, are difficult to describe, or are new to the market.

If there is a sale at your business, you could provide onlookers images of the discounted items and include the special price for each item. Also provide information of discounted services as well.

LED signage provides the perfect opportunity to announce new offerings. If you wish to communicate incentives and bonuses such as loyalty programs, display those on your sign as well. Establishing a constant relationship with your customers will guarantee foot traffic and revenue. People trust and value customer reviews. Let visitors see what other happy customers are saying about you by sharing quotes on your display.

West Salem, Ohio's Mohican Church of the Brethren is passionate about spreading the gospel, reflecting the love of Christ and positive growth. They are a community that encourages all to visit and experience the difference Christ has made in their lives. 

Unfortunately, Mohican Church sits a few hundred feet off the road, making it difficult for people to find. Additionally, they are located next to another church and cemetery, which has caused confusion as to which entrance is for each organization. They made the decision to update their signage as a solution that would make them more visible and established, while also communicating information to the community more effectively.

Electro-Matic Visual provided a demo for Mohican Church facilities committee to compare the 16mm and 11mm displays. A month later, EM provided Mohican with another demo for the congregation to see. Mohican decided that the Electro-Matic 11mm Fusion Display was a perfect fit for their church. The crisp and clear 11mm display allowed Mohican to promote information and graphics for service times, ministries, and upcoming events.

Products and Services Used
Electro-Matic Fusion 11mm – sold and installed by Aker’s Signs (Canton, OH)

Meadows Crossing is student housing and retail complex located just steps away from Grand Valley State University Campus in Allendale, MI. The retail portion of Meadows Crossing includes Mully’s Bar & Grill, HIP Party Store, Gentleman’s Quarters Barber Salon, Cottage Inn Pizza, and Insomnia Cookies.

Student housing in Allendale is an extremely competitive market. The window of opportunity to attract a student and get them to commit to a housing situation is very slim. Also, the retail segment can be challenging for tenants located near a college campus. Outlets often need to make a years-worth of revenue in an 8 or 9-month span due to the school calendar. For that reason, maximizing exposure to potential customers is extremely important.

Originally, Meadows Crossing had an outdated static monument sign on a long, large brick base (see below). The original sign didn’t seem to match the brick base, and also offered limited signage for each tenant. The sign didn’t feature any changeable messaging options.

_{Old Signage at Meadows Crossing}

Benefits of New LED Sign

The goal of the project was to upgrade the signage for Meadows Crossing that would outshine every other sign nearby, bringing maximum exposure for student housing and their retail outlets. Meadows Crossing enrolled the help of Universal Sign Systems to come up with the perfect solution. To bring maximum exposure and create that WOW factor Universal decided to install the first ever 6mm LED display in all of west Michigan. Universal supplemented the LED sign with new tenant signage in a sleek black cabinet that tied the entire sign together.

Because of the high pixel density of the LED sign, Meadows Crossing was able to show any image, graphic, or video with breathtaking picture clarity while complying with the size limitations of the local jurisdiction. All of the other signs in Allendale were mostly 16mm displays which were only good for simple text. Because of the 6mm pixel spacing Meadows Crossing could now show high-def images of their townhomes, delicious cookies from Insomnia cookies, delicious pizza from Cottage Inn, and more. The new sign brought immediate buzz to the area, resulting in more renters and higher sales revenue for their tenants.

"When Glenn came to me with a request for a replacement multi-tenant sign that would be a cut above the rest, I knew the recently released 6mm Electro-Matic display was the perfect fit. The quality of the display and tight pixel pitch allowed for detailed advertisements in the limited space that we were allowed. Thanks to Alan and the Electro-Matic team for knocking it out of the park!"

— Nate Zevenbergen, Universal Sign, Inc.

"We have thoroughly enjoyed having the new 6mm, high-density, LED sign at Meadows Crossing. It helps us to market our brand to the college student community every day. It enables us to market our retail tenants and their businesses as well. Our student apartment community is the best off-campus housing option for GVSU students and this elegant sign beams our superb brand 24/7."

— Glenn Turek, President at Silveri Management

Fori Automation offers Global Design and Build of Automated Material Handling, Assembly, Testing and Welding Systems for the automotive & non-automotive industries. Their USA Global Headquarters are located in Sterling Heights, Michigan the company was looking to upgrade their lighting to LED’s.

Check out Electro-Matic’s process for upgrading Industrial Facilities and Warehouses to LED Lighting.

Technical Situation/Analysis
Fori Automation’s previous Halide lights were not energy efficient. They had a long list of halide lights including:

135 1000w Metal Halide
8 468w T5 8 Lamp Fluorescent
16 250w Metal Halide wall packs
2 250w Metal Halide canopy fixtures

Their current lighting solution generated 1,012,585 annual kWh, 153,787 watts.

Objective for Situation
1) To reduce the electrical usage while improving light levels and working conditions.
2) To use the Made in Michigan 15% utility rebate bonus to give Fori a larger rebate than other companies could provide.

Solution
A pre-site visit was performed to take existing light levels to verify what the client was looking for. A photometric analysis was performed on the space to ensure that the correct fixture was specified to provide the correct light levels. EM Visual found that 300w fixtures with a combination of T1S and L5W lenses fit the application and achieved high light levels on the ground and even light on the walls.

For this solution, EM Visual was able to include the same mounting and electrical plug that their existing fixtures used, to ensure easy installation. The installed sample fixture was chosen because it delivered the best spread of light with the least amount of glare. The transparency with the customer on cost, performance, and potential rebates set Electro-Matic above the competition.

Benefits
Electro-Matic Visual was able to stage the installation so that Fori’s daily operations were not affected. After installing 141 LED High Bay fixtures, Fori Automation’s energy consumption was reduced by 72%.

Final Rebate: $76,971.80
Return on Investment: 0.9 years

Products and Services Used on this Project

4-Bar AR Series (120w)
• 150w Housing
• 3’ Pendant Rod
• HBL4770C (15A 277 Vac) Plug

10-Bar AR Series (300w)
• 300w Housing
• 3’ Pendant Rod
• HBL4770C (15A 277 Vac) Plug

Electro-Matic's LED Lighting Turnkey Process