DURHAM, N.C. & FLINT, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announced today that McLaren Health Care (McLaren), a Michigan-based integrated healthcare network, has selected Cree LED Lighting and Cree SmartCast® Technology to modernize exterior and interior lighting across 11 hospitals. Cree’s advanced LED solutions go beyond light with intelligence that automatically adapts to the environment to deliver greater energy savings and personalized environments that promote comfort, safety and security for McLaren patients, visitors and staff. 25,000 Cree® outdoor and indoor LED fixtures, including over 12,000 Cree SmartCast® intelligent lighting fixtures are installed throughout the facilities, enabling McLaren to reduce their energy costs by 66 percent and realize an estimated savings of over $1.6M annually in energy and operating expenses.
The McLaren LED lighting project is Cree’s most comprehensive healthcare installation featuring both indoor and outdoor lighting in parking garages, hallways, waiting rooms, lobbies and staff centers. Cree’s SmartCast intelligent lighting solutions and LED fixtures span across 5 million square feet of the expansive McLaren hospital network. The innovative solutions simplify energy management, help to improve staff productivity and morale, boost patient satisfaction and enhance brand appeal.
Gary Trott, vice president intelligent lighting for Cree stated, “The McLaren Health Care installation demonstrates our commitment to delivering a better lighting experience for patients, staff and visitors through our intelligent LED technology. We are honored to work with McLaren on our largest SmartCast® Technology installation and are pleased that they will join the many other premier healthcare facilities that leverage Cree’s advanced LED technology.”
Healthcare facilities, many of which operate 24/7, consume enormous amounts of energy in the form of heat, light and electricity. A June 2016 Yale University study cited that the healthcare sector contributes 8 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, emitting more than the entire United Kingdom. Cree’s intelligent LED technology will enable McLaren to optimize energy savings and utilize their space effectively, furthering McLaren’s corporate-wide initiative to promote sustainable business practices.
“McLaren is committed to reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible by decreasing our energy use,” remarked Keith Miller, corporate facilities manager, McLaren Health Care. “Cree’s innovative lighting allows us to reach our sustainability goals quickly and cost effectively while improving patient, staff and visitor experiences.”
The Cree SmartCast Technology and LED lighting installation provides McLaren with numerous benefits, including:
- Lowered operational costs, a total of $1.6M per year
- Reduced environmental impact with a sustainable choice
- Consistent lighting and “brand” experience across all of the facilities
- Scalable and flexible with a connected and intelligent operation
- Simplified fixture monitoring and maintenance, re-configuration, upgrades and expansion
- Higher productivity for staff and a heightened sense of well-being for patients and visitors
For more information on the McLaren Health Care installation please visit betterlight.cree.com/mclaren. For more information about Cree’s SmartCast Technology, please click here or download the Cree Healthcare Position paper.
About Cree, Inc.
Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, lighting products and semiconductor products for power and radio frequency (RF) applications. Cree believes in better light experiences and is delivering new innovative LED technology that transforms the way people experience light through high-quality interior and exterior LED lighting solutions.
Cree’s product families include LED lighting systems and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree’s products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and inverters.
Please refer to www.cree.com for additional product and Company information.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 450-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 250,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, pharmacy services, and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 45 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers in the U.S. McLaren has 22,500 employees and more than 43,000 network providers. Its operations are housed in more than 350 facilities serving the entire Lower Peninsula of the state of Michigan along with a portion of the Upper Peninsula.
This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that actual savings and lifetimes will vary from expectations; the risk we may be unable to manufacture these new products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; customer acceptance of our new products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 26, 2016, and subsequent filings.
Cree® and SmartCast® are registered trademarks of Cree, Inc.
