Channeling Speed

“We want to be the FedEx of the sign industry,” said Joel Hernandez, president of EconoChannel Inc..

Hernandez found his business is evenly split between channel-letter production and digital printing. The company had began in 1997 as a channel-letter manufacturer, then expanded gradually into digital printing when customers requested it.

“I looked at the big picture, comparing the channel-letter process and digital printing. They’re both mass-production processes. The same general manufacturing principles apply to both, though the technologies differ.”

EconoChannel has offered digital printing to clients with inhouse accounts for more than five years, but now offers these services to all clients. The company’s new, 50,000-sq.-ft. facility, which opened last winter, is equipped with EFI-VUTEk (Meredith, NH) 3360 roll-to-roll, three-meter solvent printer for outdoor media, and several printers that produce photo-quality prints for applications that require finer detail. Proprietary software that took five years’ development time coordinates all schedules and is always updated.

Many customers fall behind their own schedules after having dealt with their clients’ delays and the permitting process. The linchpin in EconoChannel’s production system is the Econo Rapid Service, which guarantees next-day turnaround on cabinets and formed faces; two-day turnaround on painted cabinets; three- and five-day turnaround on channel letters; and 10-day turn¬around on decorated pan and embossed faces for most custom work. Clients can order a few sets at a time or multiple sets for national accounts with tight deadlines. The same, quick turnaround applies to digital prints.

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“The biggest challenge is that we make signs to order. These products aren’t stock inventory,” Laura Hernandez said. “We work from our clients’ files, so meeting the demands of various typestyles, colors and sizes is an impressive task for our staff.”

To meet challenging deadlines for Rapid Service orders, the production system must maintain flawless schedules. “I think this is the most difficult undertaking for manufacturers that aren’t running cookie-cutter fabrication. We’ve systematized all production departments and have alternating shifts to minimize production downtime,” Laura added.

EconoChannel has changed with the times to satisfy customers’ needs. “We always listen to our clients’ wants and needs, and we do our best to accommodate them. We have additional services currently in the pipeline that we believe will take our clients’ experience to another level.”