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A Winning Streak
In the five years since Sign of the Times won the Sign Industry Award for the Best Sign, the Kettering-based company has gone from strength to strength. Val Hirst reports
 | Sign of the Times is on a roll. Since it scooped two Sign Industry Awards in 2005 – the first for the Best Interior Sign and the second for the Best Sign Overall in respect of its stunning creation for the foyer of Radstone Technology - it has moved into new premises and consolidated its position as a leading manufacturer of corporate identity signage. Now trading from a 20,000 sq.ft. factory unit, which is treble the size of its previous premises, Sign of the Times has also further enhanced its facilities with a significant investment in new kit, having recently acquired both a flatbed printer and a router, which enable it to produce large scale signs for such illustrious clients as Nationwide, Santander and the Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Society. |
However, contrary to appearances, there are no overnight successes in the sign industry; rather, Sign of the Times' very laudable achievements are the result of 25 years of hard work and Managing Director Darren Roughton's overriding passion for signage, something which is evident from the moment you meet him. Self effacing and instantly likeable, Darren claims that the Sign Industry Awards helped to accelerate Sign of the Time's growth, saying: "They certainly propelled us into the spotlight and brought us new customers, both in the East Midlands and from further afield." But the momentum the awards undoubtedly created has only been sustained because Sign of the Times consistently produces quality products and excellent service, which it combines with a chameleon like ability to provide almost any form of visual communication that its customers desire.
In fact, its attractive showroom is testament to the full scope of its skills, since it provides examples of every conceivable sort of signage, all expertly executed. In addition, Darren has also installed a digital touch screen that enables visitors to flip through a full presentation of the company's vast portfolio. |  |
Darren, who began his signmaking career as an apprentice signwriter and gilder, has proved himself to be a shrewd business man who isn't afraid to cross the demarcation lines between the disciplines of signmaking, digital printing, point of sale production and shop and interior fitting. "The industry keeps changing and evolving", he says, "and signmakers have no choice but to evolve and change with it. Whatever a client wants, we try to provide, if we possibly can, even if it means that I have to do the job myself", which is something that occasionally happens when a project has a signwriting element.
 | It is obvious though, that Darren secretly relishes the opportunity to get his brushes out and create a bespoke pictorial in the traditional way, although he is equally enamoured with modern signmaking technology. A perfectionist at heart, he frets over every sign. "I just want everything that goes out of here to be the best that we can possibly do", he says, which leads us to his investment in Océ's Arizona 350 XT UV flatbed printer and Tekcel's EXR 3m x 2m cnc router. |
Originally purchased to print and cut the large-scale signs required for Santander and the Cheshire and Derbyshire, these two acquisitions are also opening up further possible revenue streams. Commenting on the various experiments already carried out by Sign of the Time's eager staff. Darren, who is thoroughly chuffed with his investment, enthuses: "We wanted a printer that had a bed big enough to accommodate even the largest sign, so that we could print direct without worrying about joins and the Arizona give us everything we need in terms of size and print quality. We chose the Tekcel router because we wanted something heavy duty enough to cut through plastics and acrylics, as well as Dibond and foamboards, once they had been printed, but now that we've got it,
we are also using it in the more straightforward way to produce no end of special effects too." Darren cites, as an example of the more straightforward routing work, the Dibond totem sign that graces the company's own premises. ""It's a good example of what can be achieved using a relatively inexpensive material,' he says, "and demonstrates to clients that we can produce something very classy-looking without breaking the bank. I'm really excited by the possibilities and have loads of new ideas that we can sell on."
He adds that both machines have also made life a lot easier, as they have help to speed up turnaround times dramatically and, instead of having to send work out he can keep total control of everything in-house.
 | Always happy to work with a client's own marketing teams and design agencies, Darren states that relationships mean everything when it comes to client retention. "We like taking on their problems," he says cheerfully, "and then coming up with a solution. Over the years, I've learnt that if a client can rely on you to produce what he wants, in the required timescale and within the budget he's set, he doesn't really care too much how you do it. And the fact that we are always prepared to take on all of those things, which, strictly speaking, aren't necessarily part of the signage remit, further endears us to them. They know that they can come here, work with our design team and, thanks to the systems we've set up, view mock-ups of the finished projects via their own computer and keep track of everything we are doing. What's more, they know they casn trust us to do it well." |
He feels that the importance of these relationships can't be underestimated especially when the economy takes a nose-dive. Shuddering slightly, Darren admits that last year was ‘terrible'. He says: "I did have a few head-in-hands moments, especially as the bottom seemed to fall out of the market just after we had moved into larger premises. Our turnover took a bit of a pasting, but happily, towards the end of last year, everything started to get back on track and now it's pretty much business as usual again."
Always looking for new things to offer and ways to further highlight Sign of the Time's capabilities, Darren is thrilled that the company's work is now being featured on prime time TV. He explains that it produced the promotional signage that stars in Nationwide's current televison advertising campaign, alongside comedians David Walliams and Matt Lucas, who are reprising the characters they originally created for Little Britain. |  |
 | Future plans include a further acquisition, in the shape of a Zund cutter, for use in tandem with Arizona and a recruitment drive. "We are always looking for talented people," confirms Darren, whose current 22-strong workforce have all been with him for a long time. He concludes: "We have very good staff retention but eventually, some of the excellent people we have at present will be coming up to retirement age and I want to make sure that we can retain the level of skill and consistency that our clients have come to expect from us. We are at a very exciting stage in the industry and things are moving really quickly – for example, soon, all signmakers are going to have to face the challenges posed by digital signage networks – and I welcome people who can help us take advantage of them." |
Sounds like an offer that’s impossible to resist!
For further information visit: www.signofthetimes.co.uk
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