Project

Project Line:
Accelerating Market Entry with Custom LED Headlight Lenses for Agricultural Equipment

Industry Background 

Agricultural & Outdoor Power Equipment Market

The global market for tractors and agricultural vehicles continues to grow, driven by increased mechanization, precision agriculture, and demand for more efficient farming solutions. According to industry reports, the agricultural machinery market is projected to surpass $150 billion by 2027, with strong demand for compact and mid-size tractors, riding mowers, and utility vehicles in both commercial and residential sectors. As LED lighting adoption in agricultural equipment increases due to its energy efficiency, durability, and superior visibility, manufacturers must integrate high-performance lighting solutions that withstand outdoor conditions.

Customer Challenge

Expanding into a New Market Without In-House Expertise

The customer, with a strong background in motorized equipment, was looking to expand into the riding mower market. However, they lacked the lighting expertise needed to design and manufacture their concept of a custom, two-headlight lens optimized for LED technology. Their primary challenges included:

• Designing headlight lenses that met performance and durability requirements for outdoor use.

• Removing inefficiencies and eliminating uneven light output from their original design

• Moving quickly into a new market space without investing in an in-house lighting design team.

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Our Solution 

VCC partnered with the customer to develop a fully customized lens design, guiding them through the entire process:

1. Advanced Design & Simulation

    • Created full 2D and 3D lens designs optimized for LED illumination.

    • Integrated a light blocker in key areas to reduce optical loss.

    • Controlling the viewing angle reduced loss, which improved efficiency

    • Recreated their concept to produce uniform light output

2. Accelerating Market Entry

    • Delivered a proven design ready for prototyping, saving months of R&D.

    • Allowed the customer to skip hiring an internal lighting team, reducing costs.

    • Enabled the company to quickly launch a new product line with a high-quality headlight solution.

Results & Impact

• Faster Time to Market – Customer successfully entered the riding mower segment without delays from in-house R&D.

• Cost Savings – Avoided the expense of hiring full-time lighting engineers.

• Improved Efficiency – 35% and 67% improvements in efficiency on each lens

• Improved Uniformity – 50% improvements in uniformity: 6:1 --> 1.6:1 and 8:1 --> 1.8:1 in each lens

• Competitive Differentiation – A custom lighting solution gave the customer an edge in their new market segment.

Conclusion

By leveraging VCC’s LED and optical design expertise, the customer successfully transitioned into a new market with confidence, offering a product with optimized lighting performance and reliability.