Tools of the trade
‘A bad workman blames his tools’. This assertion has been passed down through the years, promoting accountability in production and discouraging generations of sign-makers from complaining about their implements. Yet, while the message behind the expression may be well intentioned, it is time we consider how accurate it really is. In reality, the quality of a workman’s tools can be the difference between a perfectly executed job, and a lost client.
This is, of course, the belief held by those trading in the sign-making tools sector. Indeed, saving a business time and improving quality of workmanship are the main benefits that well-designed tools can bring. James Carpenter, managing director at Doro Tape, explains why making the correct choice is vital for a sign-maker: “Picking the right tool can not only speed up the job tremendously, but will give a much better finish. This in turn makes for greater customer satisfaction and lower production costs.”
A picture of health
Doro Tape UK supplies a wide array of tools and accessories to the industry, specifically designed for a variety of different applications. These include application tapes, cleaning products for the preparation of substrates, knives, banner fixings, and double-sided tapes, as well as a selection of vehicle wrapping tools.
Carpenter continues: “The sales of accessories and tools generally runs parallel to the sales of all our other consumables. As our overall sales in the first six months of the year are well above target, the same applies to the tool sector. However, due to the large increase in our range of accessories and tools this year, sales have in fact exceeded expectations.”
Signgeer claims its current best seller is its Knifeless Tape for vehicle graphics, which is good news for companies supplying wrap film, such as 3M
Indeed, the demand for these tools relies heavily on the health of the sign industry as a whole, as the director of Signgeer, Louise Gardener, indicates: “As confidence in the industry is growing, our business is continuing to grow. Customers are reinvesting in their sign-making tool equipment with a view to improving their margins, which can be done through time-saving tools.”
If this is indeed the case, and a boost in sales in the tool sector reflects economic growth in the whole market, then this is great news for the sign industry. Sally Hunt is technical sales manager for specialist tool suppliers, Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC), and says business is better than ever, pointing to the recent FESPA London as a key element in this success.
She explains: “FESPA 2013 was massive for the company. We went there with the aim of attracting European business, and I’ve already had orders, which is really encouraging.”
As confidence in the industry is growing, our business is continuing to grow. Customers are reinvesting in their sign-making tool equipment with a view to improving their margins, which can be done through time-saving tools”
Hunt’s confidence in the products she supplies is clear, as she asserts she does not believe in the ‘hard sell’: “Normally I don’t ring people. I give them all the information about the product and my email address and wait for them to contact me. It works; if people want the product they’ll get in touch.”
So with the tool trade relying on the continued success of sign-makers at large, it is no surprise that manufacturers and suppliers within the sector are keen to provide cost-saving, profit-improving products. Signgeer is one company that recognises the significance of this.
Gardener explains: “We’re cons-tantly striving to develop new tools to improve sign-makers margins, both long and short-term. We test all our products in house before we decide to distribute them, and aim to develop products that encourage particularly small sign-makers to bring more finishing work in-house, so they have better control over their costs and deadlines. For example, we sell a Dibond Folding Kit, which enables them to make the box pan themselves, where otherwise they would often have to send out for it.”
Driving demand
As well as dictating the economic growth of the tool trade, the wider sign-making industry also often leads the way in new product developments.
Doro Tape’s Carpenter certainly believes so, stating: “The development of tools and accessories tends to follow trends in the industry, rather than shape them. Therefore with the emergence of the vehicle wrapping sector, tools have been developed or adapted to help in the application of the films.
Doro Tape’s managing director, James Carpenter, highlights that choosing the right tools for a specific application both improves professionalism and the quality of the finished application
“Often it is the guy on the job who finds a requirement and develops a new tool. We now have an extensive range of specialist tools for vehicle wrapping, from curved and pointed squeegees for applying the vinyl into every nook and cranny, to knives developed to cut the film without damaging the vehicle paintwork.”
Indeed Carpenter continues to assert that vehicle wrapping tools are where the company is seeing the greatest demand: “Tools for wrapping are doing well, especially such items as the range of Contour squeegees and the Easy Cutter. However, the runaway success of the year so far has to be the ‘WrapCut’ tape. This ingenious vehicle wrap trimming tape has revolutionised the application of wrapping films and for that reason sales have been fantastic.”
This vehicle wrap trimming tape is a narrow, flexible adhesive tape with a strong fine filament attached to the adhesive side. The filament becomes a cutting tool when pulled outward through the film of material that is applied on top of it.
Tools for wrapping are doing well, especially such items as the range of Contour squeegees and the Easy Cutter”
Signgeer confirms the high demand in the industry for such products, pointing to its Knifeless Tape as a particularly successful innovation. Working in a similar way to Doro Tape’s WrapCut, it consists of a nylon filament that you carve into the shape of the graphics you require, which you then pull through the printed material.
Signgeer claims this provides a perfect cut to your print, with no chance of damaging the paintwork.
Whilst Carpenter believes most developments come from the sign-makers themselves, he does allow that manufacturers have their part to play as well.
“Sometimes the ideas will come from the manufacturer,” he concedes, adding: “We have been so impressed with the self-adhesives banner tabs and tapes produced by the American company, Banner Ups, that we now stock their whole range. As an alternative to standard banner fixings, I can see these products making a big impact on the printed banner market.”
Doro Tape UK supplies a wide array of tools and accessories to the sign industry
Another manufacturer that is being touted as a thought leader in the sector is the German company, Yellow Tools.
“Yellow Tools is the world’s largest, most innovative sign-making tool company,” enthuses Signgeer’s Gardener, adding: “They spend all their time talking to sign-makers, getting new ideas for products and developing them. We have the exclusive UK distributorship of these products and were with them at FESPA. They have given us a sneak preview of their new catalogue, which comes out in the autumn; there are loads of new products in there, so watch this space.”
A productivity problem
As a sector that is continually reacting to the demands of sign-makers, it is no surprise that many tool suppliers are pushing time-saving, waste-reducing equipment.
ITC’s Hunt explain how peoples’ misconceptions may be costing valuable man-hours and shortening their profit margins: “When finishing a sign, a lot of people think that the most time spent is on the router. It’s not; it’s when it comes off the router that time can really be wasted.
She continues: “If we can get it off the router in as good a condition as possible, we don’t have to mess about with it much afterwards, with time-consuming practices like sanding and polishing. Companies are paying a guy to stand there with a bit of wet and dry; if he’s spending 20 minutes per letter, that’s costing money. If we can produce a sign that only needs five minutes work off the router, production costs are massively reduced.”
The ITC team used Sign and Digital UK 2013 to highlight the application range of the company's products
ITC has created the Clearcut series, its own brand of single flute cutters for routers. Made of solid carbide, it is designed to give a high-quality finish on perspex and acrylic material, in some cases eliminating the need for flame polishing components after cutting.
“We sell a lot of Clearcut tools,” explains Hunt, adding: “It’s a brand we created; lots of people have tried to copy us but that’s inevitable. People want a really good finish from acrylic, straight of the router. With this product, they just get a really good edge—if they have a half decent router, we’ll get them unprecedented quality of finish.
“It’s also very affordable,” Hunt is keen to add, enthusing: “We’ve not created an exclusive product that only the top end sign-makers can afford; it’s accessible to everyone. In fact, we pride ourselves on helping small companies, offering support on technical issues as well. A lot of people in the sign trade haven’t been given specific training—they’re just told to operate the router. The reason people come to us, and always have done, is because we don’t just sell a product; we help them with what they need.”
We’ve not created an exclusive product that only the top end sign-makers can afford; it’s accessible to everyone”
Signgeer is also focused on protecting sign-makers’ fragile profit margins, aiming to streamline the print mounting process with its Ezy Taper. This award-winning product laminates and applies tape-to-computer cut vinyl, reducing the inevitable waste that occurs with ordinary laminating machines.
Gardener explains: “The Ezy Taper is a product we’ve reintroduced. We used to sell it six or seven years ago, but demand outstripped supply and we couldn’t serve the customers, so we discontinued it. We had it at Sign and Digital UK and FESPA this year, and have had a fantastic response.
“The beauty of it is that it provides a midway between an standard laminator and a rollsroller. It is a mid-entry level laminator and board-mounter, quick and easy to set up and with no wastage. It is a much more versatile machine and is perfect for someone that doesn’t have the room or budget for a large board-mounter, but wants something better than a standard laminator.”
Engineering success
We’ve heard about the sign-makers coming up with new tool ideas on the job, and industrious manufacturers impressing with their continuous developments, but how about the suppliers doing the innovating themselves?
ITC prides itself on being a bit different, using its knowledge of other industry’s to introduce cutting-edge developments in the tool trade. Hunt explains what sets them apart: “The benefit we have over anybody else is that our core business isn’t sign-making—it’s aerospace precision engineering. Any cutting edge developments in technology tend to come from this area, and we can very quickly translate those into new things for the sign industry. We’re always focusing on research and development.”
Indeed, Hunt suggests that the sign-making tool sector is full of new innovations, but that it is the actual machines that are holding companies back: “We’ve got to the stage where we have the right tools, but it’s peoples equipment that is letting them down. If there are limitations in the industry, it is more in the machines than the tools.”
Doro Tape’s Carpenter asserts the firm’s Wrap Cut
Tape has been the runaway success of the year
Yet it is not all doom and gloom where sign-making machinery is concerned; Hunt is impressed with many of the new flatbed machines on the market, and cites these as the future of the industry.
From talking to a few of the sign-making tool suppliers, it has become clear that this is a highly reactive and dynamic sector, responding to the needs of the wider-industry rather than introducing developments for their own sake. It is a virtuous circle—with the economic success of small sign-making companies being inextricably linked to growth in tools sales, you can be sure those within the sector will continue to provide cost-saving, efficiency increasing solutions, to the benefit of the industry as a whole.
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