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March2014

Page 73

VP of Sales Rick Racey, CEO and Chairman of the Board Mel Interiano & Dr. Asiri Jayawardena review a new technology in development by Evolucia.

But his tenure at Evolucia has not been without its share of

toward the end of that journey, the market has caught up, as well.

difficulties, and Interiano is not shy about recognizing what he

Prices for large implementations are now at the right level for cities

calls the elephant in the room.

and companies to make the investment necessary to transition to

“When I got here two years ago, it became apparent that we would have to literally reinvent the company from the ground up in order to get back on a competitive footing,” he said. “The company

LED lighting, because they won’t wait as long to see a return on that investment as they would have two years ago.” Independent

studies

back

Interiano’s

reasoning,

too.

at the time was offering products that were almost obsolete, cost way

McKinsey & Company estimates LED market penetration will see

too much to make because we were using contract manufacturing

a 20 percent compound annual growth rate, bringing its market

and our delivery times from purchase order to installation were

share to 64 percent of the $115 billion global market in 2020.

lagging in the 12-16 week timeframe. It was a mess.”

“At the U.S. Conference of Mayors in January, it was clear a top

In the last two years, the company has implemented new

priority for cities is to find ways to save energy, and they identified

product designs, cut most of its product lines cost in half while

LED street and building lighting as low hanging fruit,” he said.

increasing margins and reducing delivery time to 4 to 6 weeks.

“About 30 percent of our cities are making the LED transition a top

“I had a head full of steam when I came on board and thought

priority over the next two years, and 82 percent of mayors believe

we could turn things around faster than we did,” he said. “Has it

that LED lighting holds the most promise for reducing municipal

taken longer than we wanted? Yes. Did the delays make us and our

energy costs. And I have to say I like the timing of them figuring

investors a little anxious? Absolutely. But as we have finally gotten

that out at the same time we can offer what they want.”

EVOLUCIA INC. IS LOCATED AT 7040 PROFESSIONAL PARKWAY EAST, SARASOTA, FL 34240. 941.751.6800 MARKET GROUP: OTCQB STOCK TICKER SYMBOL: iLED scenesarasota.com

March 2014

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