Business - Applications

A fleet of lorries, liveried by Lincolnshire signmaker Allen Signs, has won a prestigious Motor Transport Award.

Branston, which supplies potatoes and freshly prepared foods to retail and catering customers, has become renowned for its humorous and eye-catching liveries designed by Optima Design in Lincoln.

Branston’s series of 14 liveries fought off stiff competition from other finalists Grocontinental, Spar UK and White Logistics & Storage to win the Livery of the Year category.

More than 1,500 guests attended the Motor Transport Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House in London which celebrates the achievements of the industry and recognises innovation, outstanding service, efficiency and quality.

The awards, which are considered to be the Oscars of the transport world, are judged by an independent panel of experts drawn from the industry.

As well as Tate That! – a design suggested by local schoolgirl Chloe Dearden to coincide with Take That's reunion tour of 2011 – Branston's other liveries include You're the one that I want - Potatoes with the X-factor! and I'm a potato - get me out of here!

The designs for the 12 metre long refrigerated trailers were printed on Allen Signs’ JV33 wide format inkjet printer using Metamark MD5.

MD of Allen Signs David Allen explained: “We survey each trailer and send the information and drawings to Optima to prepare the scaled visuals.

“Once these have been approved we produce test prints and then the job goes into production. The designs are printed on Metamark MD5 which always gives great results and enables us to achieve a really strong and consistent colour. The images are over-laminated in a matching material.”

The installation takes place at hauliers Cartwright Brothers’ premises.

“We work around their schedules, going in once the early loads have been sent out after 10am and finishing at 3.30pm before the other loads return in the afternoon,” said David.

“Working in this way it takes our two-man team one and a half to two days on average to livery each lorry and we liaise with the client and the designer to ensure that once the trailer is taken off the road the downtime is minimal.”

Signs Express (Warwick) has played a major role in the rebranding of Voith Industrial Services.  Working on various sites around the UK, Signs Express (Warwick) rebranded all exterior and interior signage as well as Voith Industrial Services’ fleet of vehicles, trailers, forklifts and sweepers.

Commenting on the project, Andrew Thomas, Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator for Voith Industrial Services said; “I am delighted with the way this project has been managed and executed by Signs Express.  We selected them because of their national coverage and the flexible and professional approach they took to this project.”

Voith Industrial services is one of the world’s leading providers of technical services covering industrial maintenance, technical cleaning, engineering, industrial assembly, facility management and process management. Their commitment and skills make them the preferred partner of manufacturers and suppliers worldwide.

Andrew Slater, owner of Signs Express (Warwick) commented “We have worked closely with Voith over the last 10 years supplying them with a wide range of signage and vehicle graphics. We were delighted to be chosen to carry out the rebrand work and with Andrew’s guidance and assistance the entire process was completed within the necessary timescales.”

As part of the UK and Ireland’s leading signs and graphics company, Signs Express (Warwick) provides a complete design, manufacture and installation service for all forms of signage including interior/exterior signs, vehicle graphics, exhibition and display products, window graphics and health and safety signage for businesses in surrounding areas.

 

Hollywood Monster is in a league of its own when it comes to working with some of the country’s top professional sports.  The West Midlands-based company has announced that it is now proud signage supplier to four of England's top football clubs - Stoke City, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Port Vale – and rugby union’s Leicester Tigers.

The Birmingham signage and graphics company has held long-standing relationships with many of these clubs, with Port Vale being added to the portfolio recently.  The relationship will see Hollywood Monster supply various signage for the season ahead including sports ground perimeter hoardings, internal signage, banners for the Staffordshire football club.

Iain Wain, head of partnerships at West Bromwich Albion FC, said "We are delighted to retain the services of Hollywood Monster for another season. Tim Andrews and his entire team were a joy to work with throughout our2010/11 campaign.

“Due to our success on the pitch there was unprecedented interest in companies aligning themselves to our football club and as such Hollywood Monster had to undertake a wide variety of projects, sometimes with very little breathing space, to get the job done. Across the club we found the staff in all areas of the business to be flexible, diligent and - most of all - keen to work in a true partnership with us. We look forward to another association with them and wish every success to Hollywood Monster in further strengthening its business across the UK".

Stoke City’s head of commercial, Andy Billingham, said: “We have engaged with Hollywood Monster on all of our Europa branding requirements to ensure we comply with UEFA competition rules and regulations as well as our Premier League requirements. We had no hesitation in partnering up with Hollywood Monster as we can rely on their service and quality to ensure we deliver the best graphics that will be seen throughout the world.”

Hollywood Monster has invested heavily in state-of-the-art printing technology enabling it to produce enormous banners and advertising hoardings at high-profile sites, not just for sports stadiums, but also for festivals, concerts, shopping centres and property developments.

Tim Andrews, managing director of Hollywood Monster, said: "As a sports fan I am very excited to be in this position, working so closely with these clubs. Working with our clients demonstrates our longevity and commitment to good service, with the oldest relationship of 20 years being held with Birmingham City Football Club. I look forward to continuing and developing our close working relationships with these fantastic clubs as they themselves push for honours in their forthcoming campaigns".

 

Signs Express (Manchester) has completed a rebrand of the Sky Pro Cycling team’s support vehicles for the Tour De France 2011. Team Sky’s vehicles, as well as kit and bikes, have changed from blue to green for all 21 stages of the race to help raise awareness and support for Sky Rainforest Rescue, a three year partnership between Sky and WWF to help save a billion trees in the state of Acre, northwest Brazil.
 
Sky Rainforest Rescue is a three-year partnership between Sky and WWF. Deforestation is now responsible for around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions and an area the size of three football pitches is destroyed every minute in the Amazon.

As well as raising awareness amongst the Tour de France’s millions of global fans, Team Sky also hopes to encourage donations throughout the Grand Tour. Sky will match each donation £ for £ up to £2million to the campaign target of £4million. Each £10 donated will help save 500 trees and with it, help to improve people’s lives by supporting sustainable farming methods and promote long-term conservation of the rainforest.

Unveiled in time for the first stage of the Tour de France on 2nd July, the graphics include a rebranded Sky logo, which has been formed using zoomed in imagery of leaves and water droplets to illustrate the significance of the campaign.

Twelve vehicles including the team bus, truck and several support commercial vehicles and cars have been rebranded. The graphics include silhouettes of forest scenes in green vinyl on a contrasting black background along with the strapline ‘working together to help save 1 billion trees.’

Helen Mortimer, Operations at Team Sky said, “As a team we saw the opportunity to change our bikes and kit to green as the perfect way to raise awareness of Sky Rainforest Rescue amongst the Tour de France’s millions of worldwide fans. We are grateful to Signs Express support on this project and for their level of professionalism in delivering the project to their usual high standard and at such short notice.”

A four man Signs Express team travelled to Sky team's Belgium service quarters to apply the graphics in time for the race which spans over 21 stages and finishes on 24th July.  Then the four man team will be in Paris ready to re-instated the graphics back to the Sky Pro Cycling team colours after the event.

Signs Express provides the teams with a wide range of signs and graphics from vehicle graphics to more bespoke items such as helmet, shoe and suitcases stickers. Additionally the team are also supplied with internal office window graphics and race warm-up area signage for Sky Pro team coaches and Signs Express are on hand to travel to several European destinations to make changes when the team are preparing for International events.

Signs Express also provides all signage for the Great Britain Cycling team. Commenting on the relationship, centre joint owner Lee Eaton said, “We have been delighted to be working with the Great Britain and Sky Pro Cycling teams. Manchester is the home of cycling in the UK and we have been really excited to be working with the national team. We have worked on a number of projects over the last couple of years and hope to assist them further in the build up to future events.”

For more information about Sky Rainforest Rescue visit www.teamsky.com/skyrainforestrescue

 

With a refreshed corporate ID launched earlier in the year, Cheshire based SpanSet (UK) looked to extend this beyond simply its brochures and business stationery. As a leading European player in the provision of height safety, lifting and load control systems, it also offers an impressive training environment for customers to qualify and safely operate their products.

Entering the training suite that forms part of the UK head office and manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Middlewich, visitors are instantly struck by the powerful imagery that adorns the walls of the reception area. Marketing manager, Eunice Williams, explains what they sought to create when they commissioned local print and design company, The Printing House, to restyle their working environment.

“We asked The Printing House to deliver the wow factor – and we’ve got exactly what we wanted,” she remarks. “It’s created an environment that lets visitors know exactly why they’re here and very easily communicates the three main areas of our business.”

The full height, photographic wallcovering was created by The Printing House using their Mimaki JV33 inkjet printer. Output onto a digital wallpaper stock, the prints have an attractive texture (thanks to the substrate), excellent durability and striking photo quality – in spite of their size and detail. The printed wallpaper forms just the start for SpanSet as their two classrooms and other areas of their training facility are due to receive similar treatment.

Proceeding through the building, trainees find themselves first in SpanSet’s indoor training area – with high ropes and other installations available for use in a controlled environment. To the rear of the building though, the impact of the company’s facility becomes more apparent, with containers, three storey structures, radio masts and myriad ladders and platforms all available to create an imposing and realistic environment for trainees to be really put through their paces. Although the majority of their customers work in the construction, offshore and renewable energy sectors, for signmakers and graphics installation companies with staff working at height, on tall vehicles or in demanding environments, SpanSet can offer qualifications and training to ensure very necessary health and safety compliance – as well as good working practice.

Back inside the reception area, Eunice reiterates her satisfaction with the new prints. “We have eight full time trainers here, and alongside the manufacturing business, we lead the way in working at height training. It’s important for us to communicate that capability and quality of service and as everyone knows – first impressions last.”

For information on SpanSet’s training courses and vast product range, visit www.spanset.co.uk. The Printing House can produce a broad range of wide format output including wallcoverings, pull up banners and display graphics and can be contacted via www.bespoke-digital-wallcoverings.co.uk. Mimaki’s exclusive distributor, Hybrid Services Ltd can be found at www.hybridservices.co.uk

Creativ WERBUNG is a German company with headquarters in Kaiserslautern. It has set itself the goal of taking an innovative approach to providing customers with unique printing solutions in the large format sector. The business was established in 1989, has seven employees and offers full service, from consulting all the way to printing and installation.

With its two HP Designjet L25500 Printers, as well as an HP Designjet Z6100 Printer and HP Designjet 10000s Printer, Creativ WERBUNG is able to meet a wide variety of customer needs, using a range of media that includes banners, films, paper, textiles and wallpaper. These customers include several regional and national clients in the furniture, financial services, telecommunications and trade show industries. 

Among Creativ WERBUNG's specialties are signs, vehicle wraps, backlit posters, trade show signs and art reproductions, the latter being one business model the company has taken up with great enthusiasm, supported in part by latex technology.