• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
The Data Lab

The Data Lab

  • Business Support
        • Business Support

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate and grow your business.

          Visit our Business Support page

        • Accessing Talent
          • Data Talent
          • Placements
        • Funding
        • Small Business Support
        • Digital Strategy
        • Academic Project Funding
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Professional Development
        • Professional Development

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate at work and also advance your career.

          Visit our Professional Development page

        • Workshops
        • Online Courses
        • Data Skills for Work Programme
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Students
        • Students

          We’ll help you learn about the power of data and gain real-world experience and career-focused qualifications.

          Visit our Students page

        • The Data Lab Academy
        • PhD
        • TDL Academy Placements
        • Scholarships
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Partner With Us
        • Partner With Us

          We work in partnership with companies to help them gain maximum benefit from the strategic use of data.

          Visit our Partner With Us page

        • Collaborate With Specialists
        • Partnership Opportunities
  • About Us
        • About Us

          We discover opportunities, connect people and ideas, develop knowledge and expertise and bring game-changing data projects to fruition.

          About Us

        • Our Team
        • Careers With Us
        • Join our board
        • Academic Opportunities
        • The Data Lab Community
        • Case Studies
        • News & Podcasts
        • DataFest
        • Scottish AI Alliance
        • Contact us

Building a data model for the future of sustainable lighting

TORCH 18/07/2022

EGG Lighting

EGG Lighting was born in 2013 and now delivers lighting solutions to a broad variety of commercial clients across Scotland and North England. They have gained a reputation for delivering pioneering circular economy projects in their sector.

The 1st Challenge

In September 2020, Innovate UK launched a ‘Manufacturing Made Smarter’ funding call, seeking to drive digital innovation in UK manufacturing supply chains. EGG Lighting worked with The Data Lab’s Funding Team to develop their funding application for a Data-Driven Luminaire Remanufacture Initiative.

The goal for this study was to measure the feasibility of accelerating the lighting supply chain’s transition to a circular economy model – “remanufacture not replace” – by enabling low-cost asset data management and data sharing.

The TORCH team were brought in at this point to host a Data Strategy Workshop and produce a short report in support of the funding application. As part of their submission, EGG included 20 days of work with TORCH to undertake some of the initial stages of the implementation of their data strategy.

The 2nd Challenge

In Dec 2020, it was announced that EGG’s grant application had been successful and in April 2021, TORCH were reintroduced to start the data work stream. This included the creation of a business activity model; identifying the most appropriate data model approach for EGG (e.g. buy, re-use, create from scratch, etc.) and providing data expertise to all the other project work streams.

There was also a potential partner collaboration which EGG wanted to explore, and determining which data flows would be needed to support this would be key in determining its potential value.

EGG wanted to experiment with a new idea: to branch away from operating as a general lighting supplier, and move towards a ‘providing lighting as a service’ model. Whilst changing that model was not completely unique (a handful of global brands have already moved into this space), it is an innovative move for the Scottish market.

Their initial concept worked around a remanufacturing offering – re-working useable parts in order to retrieve carbon footprints and reduce the amounts being sent to landfill. However, this was (and still is) a challenging task; this industry has never been based on dissecting and repurposing the raw materials.

TORCH’s Senior Solutions Architect, Margery McConnell, came on board to help EGG understand what kind of data they would need to collect, store, and track to deliver such a service (whilst also preparing for ongoing innovation in future phases). Another key feature of the model would be to retain the ongoing learnings data that EGG build as they deliver more remanufactured lighting for their customers.

The Solution

A standard manufacturer’s application suite will cover everything EGG needed in their original business model, however, these applications don’t currently accommodate EGG’s new ideas for repurposing parts. It was identified quickly that not only would they need to start storing new data, but they’d also need to make enhancements to their platform’s model.

Margery agreed to concentrate on building a new data model; a new piece of intellectual property specific to EGG, which could be integrated down then line when needed.

Margery –
“I developed this data model for EGG to provide structure around the new information that they may need to capture, store, and move around their organisation.”

The Result – “Your processes are going to change, but your data is always going to be there”

Since the TORCH engagement, EGG’s plans for change have shifted slightly to a model that focuses more on the supply chain and what they can do to make their customer’s journey as easy as possible (in choosing the sustainable option.)

Although their ideas may have developed, the new data model still provides them with everything they need to take their next project steps.

Margery told us,
“If you get the data right, the processes can change … We’ve given EGG a basic data architecture for intellectual property, which is unique to them. This opens up a great opportunity for EGG as (with this) they have the potential to become the provider of this model for other lighting suppliers.”

Brian O’Reilly, EGG CEO summarised their TORCH experience:
“What this project really highlighted for us is that if you don’t know exactly what you want to do, but you really understand the information, a data model helps you imagine what you could do.”

Recognition and Moving Forward

In March 2022, the EGG Lighting team received CeeD’s (Centre for Engineering, Education and Development) Remanufacturing Award. Sponsored by Zero Waste Scotland, EGG’s Innovate UK project (secured with help from TDL’s Funding team) was recognised for its efforts to cut carbon emissions and support Scotland’s circular economy efforts.

This recognition has provided an excellent opportunity for them to bring visibility to their emerging work around the process of remanufacturing in the lighting industry – Read about EGG’s work with Zero Waste Scotland.

Most recently, they were announced as a finalist for the VIBES Award 2022, celebrating businesses that have championed sustainability by identifying ways to tackle the impact on the planet by reducing consumption of its resources.

Contact us about your data needs and find out how The Data Lab teams can help you.

Innovate • Support • Grow • Respect

Get in touch

t: +44 (0) 131 651 4905

info@thedatalab.com

Follow us on social

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

The Data Lab is part of the University of Edinburgh, a charitable body registered in Scotland with registration number SC005336.

  • Website Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2023 The Data Lab

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsReject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_DPXX4XJSJ82 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_54851888_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gat_UA-54851888-11 minuteA variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
personalization_id2 yearsTwitter sets this cookie to integrate and share features for social media and also store information about how the user uses the website, for tracking and targeting.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
cl-bypass-cache1 hourNo description
muc_ads2 yearsNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo