Ruud Lighting Vying for National Walmart Contract

**Updated 4 pm, May 15

Ruud Lighting is vying for the national contract to supply outdoor LED lighting for Walmart's Neighborhood Markets. The company wants to provide indoor lighting on a global scale for the retail giant as well.

Christopher Ruud, vice president, confirmed the information Monday night at the Mount Pleasant Village Board meeting.

"This new Neighborhood Market will be a showcase for emerging technologies," he told Mount Pleasant trustees. "To be able to have a store down the street as a showcase is great for credibility for the technology and our business as a whole."

Ruud asked trustees to think about the jobs the Walmart contract will mean.

"I'm here to speak to other side of the argument relative to the jobs created as a result of the Neighborhood Market going in," he said. "We have employees living in the village."

When Patch spoke with Ruud Tuesday, he said getting a contract with Walmart here builds momentum for supplying lighting fixtures for other locations, including around the world.

"Putting our lights in the parking lot of a Neighborhood Market just down the street means jobs because it gives us another showcase for our products and technologies," he said.

When he talked to Patch, Ruud was expecting customers from Russia and later this week, folks from California were flying in. Being associated with a brand that is national and internationally known the way Walmart is known will help Ruud grow.

"These activities are investments to bring customers to Sturtevant so we can continue to add jobs," he added.

Ruud said the company is committed to working with local partners to supply LED lighting solutions. The Tsousis gas station on Douglas and Gould in the City of Racine has Ruud LED canopy lights, and Mount Pleasant Village Hall, too, has Ruud products in its parking lot and on exterior walls.

"When we designed the building, we wanted to build to LEED standards and that includes using LED lighting," said Logan Martin, community development coordinator with Mount Pleasant. "We're very happy with the lighting. The energy draw is minimal and the quality of the light is far superior to standard lighting types. Ruud builds a pretty nice product."

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the United States Green Building Council.

While Ruud does design, engineer and assemble their products at their facility in Sturtevant, all of its component manufacturing is subcontracted. Ruud said 70 percent of those materials are sourced within the state of Wisconsin, including here in Racine County.

"We are creating 469 jobs here, which is a result of multiple customers and the need for space for that growth," he said. "For every job we create here, though, that means more than one job gets created somewhere else for everything from die casting to extrusion and other heavier duty manufacturing."

Ruud Lighting/Cree is in the middle of . A total of some 469 jobs will be added to the workforce here over the next five years.