Bright idea lands Coventry firm major MoD contract

A lighting specialist in Coventry has secured its second contract with the Ministry of Defence after designing and manufacturing a new light bulb specifically for its flagship warships.

Ledison Lighting, which is the parent company of Voltacon, in Burnsall Road Industrial Estate, Canley, was commissioned to engineer a long-lasting bulb which could be used below deck.

Managing director Stefanos Kandilidis designed the 5W, 8W, 10W and 14W high-spec LED bulbs which provide 40,000 hours of use and covers all types of compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent replacements.

Around 20,000 light bulbs are currently being manufactured at Ledison Lighting’s factory in China before they are transported to the UK in February to be installed on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the HMS Prince of Wales, Frigates and the T45 Destroyer.

Kandilidis said: “The Ministry of Defence approached us since we provided 100,715 tubes of LED lighting for its warships in 2018.

“They had specific requirements because they want the bulbs to be used in generator and storage rooms and to withstand vibration as well as to be long-lasting.

“They were finding that the bulbs they were using were failing after a short time so they contacted us since we have worked with them before.

“Bulbs generally provide 15-20,000 hours but the new bulb we have designed provides double that which is really important when you are under sea and thousands of miles away from dock.

“All the testing, design and production was carried out at our premises in Coventry along with the sourcing of the materials. The testing has been approved and we are now in production in Shenzhen in China.

“We are proud to have secured this contract. It isn’t something that any lighting company could do but we accepted the challenge, we have met the expectations and we have produced a really bright light bulb which has set new parameters.”