New manufacturing brand emerges from UK’s oldest signmaker

Considered the UK’s leading trade supplier to the sign and graphics industry, William Smith has unveiled the Smith brand as the company’s manufacturing arm of the business.

Although these days predominantly known as a signmaker and distributor of self-adhesive film material, when William Smith was founded in 1832, it was famed for inventing the first mechanical road sweeper.

It is this manufacturing legacy the County Durham-based Company has chosen to enhance with the launch of Smith, which has been formed to strengthen and differentiate the long-established fabrication side of the business away from their distribution arm.

This new brand of the reputable manufacturing division offers customers a variety of products, such as CE marked traffic signs, illuminated and non-illuminated commercial signs and wayfinding products for internal or external applications, among others.

“Launching a new brand is always exciting, especially one which has evolved over the years into an eclectic mix of tradition and cutting-edge technology,” said Chris Bradley, William Smith’s marketing manager.

“What’s great about Smith, is that it emphasises our investment and growth plans into an element of the Company we are extremely proud of, because it is the one where it all began.”

Since producing its first sign in 1930, William Smith has developed significantly over the last century. Today, having established itself as a market leader of its industry, the company offers a broad range of products and services directed at different markets, including signage, window graphics, vehicle graphics and display graphics.

As well as the launch of Smith, as part of its future plans the Company opened a new 14,316sq.ft. purpose-built warehouse earlier this year.

The facility includes nearly 2,000 storage bays and has the capacity to store nearly three times the amount of boxes of materials as the previous warehouse.

Chris added: “Both the new warehouse and Smith launch have enabled us to progress on to bigger and better things.

“By using top of the range equipment and with nearly 200 years’ experiencein the industry, we are able to offer some of the shortest lead times in the industry and provide our customers with a wider range of products.”

To find out more about Smith and its pioneering products, please contact 01833 690305 or email info@smith-signdisplay.co.uk