KEITH HENRY, GENERAL MANAGER, CU PHOSCO AUSTRALIA

Q What are the biggest challenges facing your industry right now?

A The lighting and manufacturing industry has faced several challenges in recent years, and the challenges continue; the disparity between the high rate of change versus slow adoption, as well as financial pressures remain. The rate of innovational change can be slow. The technology to support change exists, however with each day that passes, companies that do not change, see impact and costs increasing. LED Lighting is a rapidly changing technology with new innovations introduced every six months, bringing new efficiencies and energy savings. However, slow adoption of LED lighting for roads and residential areas has meant local cities and councils have not been rewarded through energy savings by making the switch to LED lighting. Furthermore, with cities and councils facing continued budget restraints, while spending during these times may appear to be counter intuitive, without change and investment, councils will not benefit from long-term energy savings.

Q What are the future-proofing factors at play in your industry that will ensure resilience and longevity?

A In the last 100 years, CU Phosco Lighting has been diversifying its business, adapting to the needs of the market and our customers. In 1923, our founder developed a range of concrete products when steel was in short supply following WW1, offering a new product to the market. This ability to change and adapt has seen the company evolve from being a supplier of street lighting-based products into one that now supplies poles for wind turbines and masts, monopoles, and high masts for the telecoms industry.

We have also embraced the principles of a circular economy, where repurposing of products at the end of their life is of great importance to our customers and supports our vision of creating environmentally friendly solutions.

Our recent accreditations from bodies such as International Dark Skies Association and membership to Zhaga Alliance further enhance our commitment to our planet.

We aim to produce products that have interoperability (characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems) with third party sensors, to enable the use of central management systems that help our customers to make further savings. Examples of this include clients being able to dim their lighting during hours of low usage, while still meeting relevant lighting standards.

Q Are there any technological innovations that are on the horizon that are set to revolutionise your industry?

A In the near future, our Connected Urban poles, designed to provide aesthetically sympathetic solutions for densification of the mobile telecom networks, will provide councils and cities with the ability to generate revenue. Additional funds will be achievable by installing the mast and renting the space within (and on) them to the mobile network operators who are currently actively seeking street level locations.

And, as LED technologies are a rapidly changing industry, this in turn will generate increased efficiencies and provide our customers with increased opportunities to reduce their operating costs. In 2024, we predict that the lighting market will see an acceleration in the replacement of existing sodium and mercury street lighting with LED luminaires, as the cost and availability of these existing light sources becomes limited.

Finally, our product ranges have been developed to be easily retrofittable and embrace the use of fully recyclable materials, which ensure future generations have the opportunity to benefit when the products reach the end of their useful life and can be fully recycled.

Q In what direction would you like to see your company move over the next five years?

A Although we have our origins in the UK, we are committed to supporting the Australian market, which is very focussed on suppliers who can deliver solutions that, in turn, support the local economy. We are focussed on manufacturing locally to help support such initiatives.

Our continuing diversification has also seen the development of a new product: Connected Urban, a street level solution for the telecommunications sector. The Connected Urban mast delivers capacity and densification of the 4G and 5G networks in dense urban environments. This will revolutionise the telecommunications industry by supporting the end user demand for increased connectivity and convenience.

Q What do you feel is your company’s biggest contribution to the public space arena over the last decade, and what lasting changes has it supported?

A CU Phosco Lighting has been at the forefront of developing energy efficient solutions for highway and road lighting, providing our customers and end-users with the lowest possible cost of ownership. We are continually assessing optical performance and ways in which we can reduce energy consumption while still delivering the required lighting levels.

Our reputation for providing end-toend solutions, as well as supporting our customers throughout their project, is what makes us different. We pride ourselves on building long-term partnerships., both externally and in-house.