In The Walls of 4Wall
LEDs, Lamps, Moving Lights are just a few lights we carry at 4Wall. My name is Jay, and I was recently brought on to 4Wall as the Brand Manager. Being the new guy with little to no experience in this industry, I was surprised to see what goes on in the walls of 4Wall. As a Brand Manager for the company, the last thing on my mind was working in the warehouse; well, that was my first week—getting to know a few of our departments and putting in some hard labor in the warehouse.
Day 1 LEDs and Lamps.
When I first heard about this department, like most people, the first thing I thought of was energy-efficient lights and lamps for your house. In the lighting industry, that's not the case at all. LEDs and Lamps are industrial light fixtures used on stage for concert venues, broadway, TV sets, etc. When I was working in this department, I learned how heavy they are. I worked on Lekos, LED Uplights, and more. Some of the lights were about 15lbs, which doesn't sound too heavy, but when you're pulling them in and out of cases, cleaning, and disassembling them for 8 hours, it becomes tiring.
The interesting part about these lights was learning there are two parts to them. You have the lamp, which is the top part of the fixture, and the lens, which is the bottom part of it. The lamp is where the light and all the power come from. The lens is the attachment you use to make the light brighter or a thinner or broader beam, depending on the lens size. Before learning about these lights, I thought a ring light was good lighting, but boy, I was wrong.
Now on to Day 2.
I was scheduled to work in the most talked about and most popular department. "Moving Lights." I dreaded this day not because I didn't want to work in the warehouse, but because of all the stories I heard from the marketing team.
"They're so heavy," "Lift with your legs," You're going to be sore," "Good luck on moving lights day."
I mean, with all these comments, who wouldn't be a little nervous? Overall, it wasn't bad at all. I learned that moving lights are the lights you will find when you look up in concerts, stadiums, music festivals, etc. Working in this department was so much fun. I was taught how to clean, reset, and repair a variety of different fixtures. One of them is the ROBE MegaPointe, which is about 50lbs. That isn't bad, considering there are lights that can weigh up to 90-100lbs.
With moving lights, it almost seems like the possibilities are endless. This light is so advanced that it has built-in color wheels, strobe capability, and lenses to project shapes, patterns, colors, etc. At first, I was confused about why this department and these fixtures were called "moving lights." After a few seconds in the department, I understood exactly why, they literally move in every direction! You can program these to move up, down, side to side angled, etc. As I said, the possibilities are endless with these lights.
It was eye-opening what we do with lights, all the little details 4Wall does to be known as one of the best in the industry—taking them apart, dusting, cleaning them—wiping the lenses, resetting them, and packing them all back up to be used again.
It was very humbling to see what the warehouse workers do for 4Wall. Overall, it was a great first week, I'm glad I got to work in the warehouse and learn about how light fixtures work and what they are used for.