As one of the many hats i wear here, food safety manager/quality manager, production manager and computer guru.
I have also somehow taken over maintenance as well. I was searching for an alternative to our production and warehouse lighting. I am not a fan of fluorescent lights. They break, burnout, have to monitor them weekly etc.. I got some in last month that are plastic LED T8 5000 Kelvin. They do not require the plastic sleeve because they ARE plastic. I have thrown them, dropped them off our room onto concrete, banged against the building and they still work and are not broken. The cost is about $3.00 a bulb more. They last longer and, by my calculations, will cut our monthly energy cost by over 25%. Maybe this is something other places can look into. It seems to be working out great for us. We didn't need to switch our ballasts out or the fixtures themselves, just put the bulbs in and go! I hope this helps someone out!