Tell us the history of your career to date.
I’m unsure if I am in somewhat of a unique position when giving a potted history on my career in the sign industry, as I have only ever worked for two companies in my entire working life.
It all began back in 1977 as a spotty 16 year old with an awful wedge haircut. The company was Universal Components and my starting role as general labourer progressed to what was then called a charge hand before the start of the 80s. Universal at that time were industry leaders in the use of aluminium extrusions in sign-making. The launch of a one piece extrusion designed to house an acrylic panel for non-illuminated facias named Panatrim was an instant success. I progressed into sales and at the time of leaving the company in 2005 held the position of sales director.
Nova Aluminium Systems was formed in 2005 with my business partner Paul Harvey.
Our expertise and experience in using aluminium extrusions for signage enables Nova to compete nationwide using modern designs for all types of signage for use with rigid panels, flexface, wayfinding, overhead light-ing, and point of purchase applications.
With the economy returning to growth, what is your strategy for 2014?
The strategy for a return to growth has been in place for a number of years. We have continued to invest through the challenging periods of recent times, including adding a further 4,000 square feet of workshop space in late 2012, bringing our manufacturing and warehousing facilities closer to 40,000 square feet. This puts Nova well placed for a return to growth and indeed saw 2013 being our most successful year to date.
We continue to add to our product range and 2014 has already seen the launch of Novaskin, a flexface alter-native to folded trays, and NovaComp, a variation on the SignComp famous back clip tensioning system.
We have continued to invest through the challenging periods of recent times, including adding a further 4,000 square feet of workshop space in late 2012, bringing our manufacturing and warehousing facilities closer to 40,000 square feet”
This year will also see expansion on our ability to provide solutions to sign companies who have a requirement for a particular aluminium extrusion. We assist in practical design, right through to extruded sections and the stocking thereof. This diversity has been successful and we currently supply customers with profiles for the glazing, flooring, partitioning, cladding, and coach building industries.
Trade supply is a notoriously competitive game, how have you managed to set yourself apart?
I have a passion for good service; poor service can leave a much larger impact on an organisation and unfortunately is often remembered long after the good service you have previously given is out of mind. Of course everybody is going to make a mistake and if not good old-fashioned human error there are plenty of other events that can happen, which can cause havoc when supplying an order. We here at Nova firmly believe that it is how you put right whatever has gone wrong and experience tells us that our customers feel the same.
I have a passion for good service; poor service can leave a much larger impact on an organisation and unfortunately is often remembered long after the good service you have previously given is out of mind”
The old cliché people deal with people means that if you have taken the time and commitment to build a relationship with a customer then you will be well placed to discuss problems and together reach a solution. Of course you have to implement procedures to help reduce the mistakes, which we have, but they are still going to happen.
Knowledge of what we do as a company and indeed of the industry in general are also of paramount importance. Our sales team are friendly and very experienced using aluminium in signage, which in turn demonstrates our abilities to service our customers.
LED technology is continuing to evolve rapidly; how has it influenced your products and services?
Indeed, how much longer for the fluorescent tube? We have introduced products specifically for use with LEDs, particularly in our over-head lighting range. Both of our down lighters, Novatube and Novahood, use LED illumination; however we are still seeing healthy sales of our larger trough light, Novabeam, using fluorescent tubes in both single and double tube formats.
Overall, at present, we currently use LED lighting on 70 percent of our illuminated orders for light boxes, which of course is rising all the time”
Some 90 percent of orders for our textile graphic system, Novatex, would be backlit using LEDs. They are also proving to be popular when illuminating our flex system, Novaflex. LED illumination slots easily into our products for rigid materials with both Novacase and Novaslim having specific LEDs, which give a uniform vibrant light. They also allow the option to backlight much slimmer signage and we have been involved in successful projects using the framing version of Novatex at just 40mm in depth and the new Novaskin system at just 30mm in depth.
Overall, at present, we currently use LED lighting on 70 percent of our illuminated orders for light boxes, which of course is rising all the time.
Digital printing technologies continue to evolve exponentially, how has this affected you?
Flexible media is now a firmly established option for all types of signage. Long gone are the days when large entrance signage on out of town retails parks were the only applications where you would find backlit flexible substrates used for sign facias.
Whilst rigid materials are still widely used to produce most types of signs, the trend to incorporate a new wave of flexible media is indeed growing. The advantage of seamless visuals, complete with the stunning graphics now available, gives the designer endless options to produce eye catching images.
Whilst rigid materials are still widely used to produce most types of signs, the trend to incorporate a new wave of flexible media is indeed growing”
Nova has five specific aluminium systems to house these materials. Novaflex, Econoflex, and NovaComp all produce high-quality boxes and frames for large projects. Novaskin is a simple tensioning system that makes high street flex signage a competitive option, and Novatex our soft signage system uses a substrate that allows simple skin changes when frequent image alternatives are required.
You have recently invested to ensure you can continue to improve your delivery service; how important is your record in this area?
Very important. You can give a first class service at the front end of an order by giving helpful advice and expert knowledge, you can then process exactly what the customer requires within the correct internal time scale, but of course, you then have to deliver. You have to deliver on time and most importantly ensure that the product is in good order. I believe that the best way to achieve this feat is to, as much as possible, do it yourself.
90 percent of deliveries are made on our own vehicles by our own drivers. It puts you in total control and all four vehicles are fitted with trackers so customers can be informed exactly where their goods are when en route.
The addition of the MAN 12 tonne curtain sider complete with sleeper cab gives us a 5.8 tonne payload, which is significant in our increasing business with our nationwide strategic partner Amari Plastics, who stock our aluminium sign systems.