Up Close with Norma Frank

When Norma Frank’s husband had an emergency surgery that required a lengthy recovery, Norma knew she had to help provide for her young family. Her husband was an electrician who understood the importance of lighting, something that distributors often overlooked. So in 1977 Norma began Colorado Lighting, a supply source for contractors. When her husband recovered, he began buying lighting from Norma!

Norma’s lighting education began with courses at General Electric where she met Chris Boren. Chris referred her to NALMCO which ultimately helped her grow professionally. Within a few years, Norma shifted to solely offering lighting maintenance, a critical practice in the lighting industry, focusing on shopping centers. As the company continued to grow and her children got involved, she branched out to service other states in addition to Colorado.

With the proliferation of LEDs, approximately 60% of her customers have converted to LED lighting, and she anticipates that more will follow. The difficulty lies in explaining to the end user the importance of maintenance, and her strategy changes depending on where and how the fixtures were installed. Norma explained, “The product doesn’t last forever, and it can be hard to convince someone that a maintenance plan is needed. Nevertheless, we have seen some of our more sophisticated customers put re-lamping cycles into their budgets.”

Norma additionally points out that although it has been rare to see existing customers upgrade to new generations of LED, she is seeing more and more doing so. She added, “Re-lamping might also mean changing to something other than the original lights or adjusting a lighting scheme.”

In looking at other trends, Norma recognizes that there is a shift from energy efficiency to light quality. These trends, like most, seem to be cyclical. For example, controls seemed like they would become such a hit, but this is an area where more training could be provided to contractors and end users to boost control specifications. She explained, “These end users aren’t recognizing the values their fixtures hold because they simply don’t know how to use them to their full extent.” Often, she finds that ongoing training is necessary because employees who installed controls years ago have left the company, so the system is unused and stagnant.

Color tuning is an additional specification. Norma remarked, “Some people see the feature of color tuning as added value.” There is also a niche for UV lights in specific applications.

New market opportunities for LED and the life safety industry are emerging. A recently conducted field study by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai validated that nearly 25 percent of the roughly 350 field tested exit signs showed luminance below the target threshold. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 40+ million exit signs are installed in the United States; if just 10 percent produced insufficient luminances, we would have a huge life safety issue.

Norma and her company aren’t immune to the ongoing supply chain crisis. Partial shipments don’t alleviate the problem, as they lead to continued delays and frustrations. To ease the burden, they maintain a healthy inventory, but it’s not always possible with all manufacturers.

Norma recognizes that communication is key, both with their vendors and customers, saying, “Being upfront with the customer is even more important. “We’ve all been impacted by the supply chain issues, so it’s understandable when there are delays.”

With nearly fifty years of experience in lighting, Norma has a profound understanding of the industry. She values the expertise the industry provides to customers, stating, “Our company strives to educate customers to recognize what a quality lighting system can provide. Whether it be for energy-saving, safety, productivity or aesthetics, a well-designed and maintained lighting system is a solution driven feature that should be a line item on any successful budget." Appreciating that people working in lighting are important to every industry, she remarked, “We should never undersell or underprice ourselves with the solutions we are able to provide to our clients. We are so knowledgeable and solution-based, which adds validity.” ■