WHAT’S YOUR DEFINITION of a profitable job? Improving your productivity and efficiency to take on quick-turnaround jobs? Perhaps finding new solutions for your customers who have jobs that others won’t touch?
“A profitable job to me is one that you not only make the appropriate margins on, but also a job that is run efficiently both on-site as well as in the shop,” says Matthew Ferguson, creative director and president of A&M Graphics (Auburn, NY).
“Not many shops pay attention to how efficiently things are run on-site and in the shop. Every little thing that costs you time or material that isn’t accounted for is what eats away at your margins, and if you work on tight margins, your margins are probably getting close to being non-existent if you aren’t paying attention to these details.”
Whatever the case, everyone strives for profitable jobs. Here are four signmakers who found that perfect blend.
NO CHANCE: Nothing was left to chance regarding the sizes and placement of wall graphics.
Secret Sauce
When the Upstate Cancer Center at Auburn Community Hospital opened in June 2024, it brought a new state-of-the-art facility closer to patients battling cancer in Auburn and Cayuga counties of New York, who would no longer have to travel far distances to get necessary care. It also required wayfinding signage, wall murals, mixed-media walls with dimensional logos, ADA and room signage, and UV-printed acrylic art pieces to direct patients and their families as well as bring them comfort. The facility turned to their preferred vendor, A&M Graphics, to produce the necessary signage.
COMBO ORDER: A combination of materials makes these prints pop.
“We have completed many projects, big and small, for both the Auburn Community Hospital and SUNY Upstate University Hospital systems,” says A&M’s Matthew Ferguson. “Time and time again, we have delivered nothing but the best experience for these two clients, with the result being more amazing than they expected from the proofing process. This has earned us their loyalty.”
A&M began working with the client, architect and contractor in the latter half of 2023 to discuss and finalize the design, production and installation at the newly constructed facility. They worked closely with HOLT Architects in Syracuse, NY, who provided the overall theme and interior design queues. A&M is an existing client, so A&M already had the logo and brand elements on file for both hospitals.
For the abstract art in the wall murals, A&M sourced stock assets that were meticulously chosen to ensure the best resolution for the size. The A&M team worked back and forth with the hospital organization through a detailed project-proofing packet that included not only design details but also call-outs on seam placement, installation style and other important elements that architects and contractors typically like to see.
Once the artwork was finalized, A&M used their Mimaki CJV330, CJV150 and JFX200 printers and plotters for the job and sourced CHEMCAST acrylic sheets from Glantz. Laser work for the acrylic was outsourced to a trusted local partner.
“For the wall murals, we use what we call a ‘secret sauce,’” Ferguson says, “which is a specific combination of materials that yields a top-quality installation and our desired finish.”
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YOU SEE, I SEE: Not simple wall murals, “premium graphic environments.”
“At A&M Graphics, we specialize in ‘premium graphic environments’ — the keyword here is premium,” Ferguson adds. “What makes our graphic environments profitable are the use of mixed media and finding those products that add extra pop to each space. You may look at a wall and see a wall wrap or just a vinyl logo. We look at the same wall and see a premium wall mural with a laser-cut acrylic logo on top. Maybe we can use a metallic film or a textured laminate for that little bit of extra flare, all backed by our talented graphic designers, whom we make sure we are charging for according to their valuable time. In-shop and installation labor efficiency and investing in the right equipment also play a huge role in our profitability.”
The $15 million cancer center, which opened in June 2024, allows the hospital to add a more complex system for treating cancer patients with world-class care right in Auburn.
“We’re very proud to complete another stunning project,” Ferguson says. “The client was very pleased with the end result. Once again, we exceeded their expectations and delivered a flawless final product. But more so, our work will positively affect the patients and their families as well as the medical staff in bringing a pleasant, less stressful experience as they undergo their care. Patient and employee culture are always important parts of our process.”
WE HAVE LIFT OFF: Signs and banners set the stage for an out-of-this-world festival.
Profitable Tune-Up
For the past three years, Bellingham, WA has been the hub for the NW Tune-Up, a summer festival spread throughout the Portal Village’s waterfront community that draws more than 10,000 bike, music and beer enthusiasts to celebrate the culture of the Pacific Northwest. The popular event is presented by Paper Whale, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and 100% volunteer project that features mountain bike trail rides, music performances and live art spaces.
“Every year we print all of the promotional signs for the NW Tune-Up,” says Jim Sutterfield, president of Signs Plus Inc. (Bellingham, WA). “We print several hundred corrugated plastic signs and banners for the event. Our team meets with the festival planners to discuss their needs, establish budgets and finalize a plan to accomplish their goals without breaking the bank. By maximizing our equipment and production speed, it is always a very profitable job for us.”
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After conferring with the most recent event’s organizers, Signs Plus determined that a majority of the signs could be produced using 5 x 10-ft. sheets on corrugated plastic. A mixture of mesh stage banners ranging in size from 4 x 6 ft. to 5 x 20 ft. for promotional and wayfinding signs and a range of banners including two measuring 4 x 25 ft. were installed over various streets. Using the available sheet sizes, the design team went to work maximizing the signs that would fit on a sheet of material and produce the best yields. This pre-planning meeting allowed the team to create art files using Adobe Illustrator, which required no further manipulation through the workflow process.
The primary design has remained the same for the past three years, Sutterfield explains, in order to reuse some of the signs. But most of the signs change annually as new sponsors come on board and sponsorship levels are altered. The wayfinding signs have to be updated as the festival’s layout and format are expanded.
With their EFI Pro 16h five-color UV LED flatbed printer and Colex Sharpcut SX1732 CNC flatbed cutting machine, Signs Plus produced the signage using the festival’s theme colors of purple, teal, gold and white, and die-cut to shape 150 sheets of material in a week. This resulted in over 500 individual promotional signs delivered on time for the festival. The signs were installed by the event’s volunteers.
“We have found that educating our clients on the materials we use and how our production process works results in much faster production times,” Sutterfield says. “By providing us with print-ready files, our commercial department is able to fly through the printing and cutting on our Colex flatbed cutter. Our choice of equipment allows us to increase production and thus results in a very profitable project for us.”
Each year, the NW Tune-Up team returns to Signs Plus due to the partnership that it has formed and its satisfaction with the company’s results. As the festival continues to grow and attract more enthusiasts, it’s increasingly necessary to have effective signage to direct traffic around the area.
Maximizing a $250K Order
When a new client approaches a signmaker with a six-figure order, management usually pays extra-special attention. That’s what happened to Luis Vivas, the founder of VIVAS Inc., a leading San Francisco-based wall graphic and signage business. The client, Shellrecharge.com, is owned by Shell USA Inc. and operates one of the largest public electric vehicle (EV) charging networks in the US. They were searching for a shop to produce thousands of die-cut logos for their charging stations under a tight deadline involving a quick turnaround on the color proofs. When Shellrecharge.com contacted him by phone, Luis Vivas emphasized his company’s superior service and excellent color-proof matching to the correct Pantone colors.
“We closed the deal over the phone,” he says. “The contract called for printing and laminating 20,000 decals; 4,000 were die-cut logos and 16,000 other decals that were installed on the sides of the stations, such as instruction labels, numbers and logos. The speed of this project was very important for us. Once completed, this large-scale order was shipped to various US cities where the stations were installed.”
The project, which began on Jan. 10 and was completed on Jan. 31 of this year, was budgeted for $250,000. Before manufacturing started, the Vivas team collaborated with Shellrecharge.com to ensure the correct Pantone colors were being used and advised them on finishing the media and laminating.
At their manufacturing warehouse in San Francisco, the production team used their new Roland DGA TrueVIS AP-640 large format latex printer, Roland TrueVIS VG3 large format inkjet printer cutter, 3M Controltac Print Film 40C and 3M Scotchcal Luster Overlaminate 8509. Having the new printers was key to getting this job completed on time, Vivas says, and has been a very important investment for the company.
After the job was completed and shipped, the client hired local installers who followed installation instructions created by Vivas, including material specifications for the metal surface.
Shipping was the biggest challenge, Vivas recalls, because not all the destinations had the same quantities. Another issue was that each machine had a unique serial number. “Our entire team worked diligently to ensure that the serial numbers were correct,” Vivas says proudly. “In the end, the client was really happy just to see how professionally we handled the entire job. Real-time communication was also key to building a strong relationship with them. But, most importantly, we’re still working with them on new projects.”
Military Precision
When TRAX International, a leading provider of professional and technical services for US federal government agencies, was awarded a large military contract at a US Army facility in Maryland, the contractor needed new decals for its fleet of trucks, vans and forklifts to move equipment and personnel around the military base. Trax contacted three signmakers nearby; only one agreed to handle the quick-turnaround, high-volume job: Fastsigns of White Marsh-Joppa (Joppa, MD).
“We had three days to design, produce and install decals for 15 vans, 18 trucks and 10 forklifts operated by Trax,” says Bobby Jordan, owner of the franchised sign and graphics company. “I saw an opportunity to maximize our profit. Because I could leverage the installation cost versus the ease of installation and we were able to meet their deadline, I was able to negotiate a higher price, and we were able to double our profits.”
First on the list was artwork to allow Fastsigns Joppa to move forward. Jordan worked with the Trax team to reduce the signage from seven locations per vehicle — both doors, the tailgate and two locations on the beds — to three, just the doors and tailgate. Using the Trax logo, Jordan’s designers created the graphics from a vector file. He showed the client that his team could put all of the necessary information and company logo on the door signage.
Within three hours the artwork was quickly approved and received at the Fastsigns Joppa shop. Jordan’s team went straight into production mode on their Epson SureColor S60600 64-in. printer, using 3M IJ40C calendared removable vinyl with Controltac for easy sliding, tacking, snap up and repositioning. They produced 129 decals in one day. The next morning, the small team began laminating using 3M Scotchcal Matte Overlaminate 8510 on their Kala Mistral 1650 laminator and trimming with their Kala finishing station. Jordan personally went to the base the morning after to install the 129 decals.
Jordan believes the key to this job’s profitability was eliminating all the challenges up front before he and his employees began production. “The only way to meet their deadline was to simplify,” he says. “I cut out the unnecessary time.”
“This was definitely the fastest project that I have turned on a fleet of vehicles,” Jordan adds. “Sometimes you have to use a tight deadline to your advantage. Now Trax loves us. We’ve already received another job from them. We are its go-to signage firm.”
PHOTO GALLERY (15 IMAGES)
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