Wednesday, 06 May 2015 07:55 GMT

Rigid Signage Materials

With competition more heated than ever before, Rob Fletcher speaks to the manufacturers and suppliers of rigid signage materials about how they are staying on top of the competition

Withstanding the heat

Plenty is said and written in the trade press about larger pieces of equipment that are used to complete sign-making projects. From wide-format printers through to cutting and routing machines, pictures of such kit are plastered across magazine and website pages.

However, when it comes to the nitty-gritty aspects of kit, much less space is dedicated to equipment such as rigid signage materials, which is just as an important part of projects. After all, you can have the world’s most powerful and high quality printer, but if you do not have the materials to match, then it will not make much of a difference.
With this in mind, I am going to buck the trend and pay tribute to some of the latest rigid signage materials available on the market and focus on the various benefits they can offer to companies in our industry.

Picking up on trends

One company heavily involved in this sector of the industry is Dufaylite, the sole UK manufacturer of recycled paper honeycomb. Operating out of a 75,000sq ft site near Cambridge, the firm has established itself as one of the major suppliers of rigid signage materials in the UK market. Group director Ashley Moscrop is very upbeat about the current situation in this sector of the sign industry and has picked out a number of interesting trends that he recommends companies pay attention to.


Ultra Board Polyprop from Dufaylite has only been available for around three months but has already seen a significant uptake by sign-makers looking for a light-weight and yet robust signage media
 


He comments: “In my opinion, the signage market is very competitive for rigid materials, there is a very wide range of materials and often numerous suppliers of similar types of materials. The market is always adapting and changing to demands.


Perspex says its Alupanel A-Lite Digital is the only aluminium composite sheet to be manufactured in the UK



“We are seeing trends towards more sustainable rigid materials, not only looking at recycled and recyclable content, but lightweight for transport emissions and ease of installation. I also think lightweight rigid materials will become more prominent with the recent incidents of heavy signs falling from buildings, hopefully lightweight materials can help reduce the risk.”

Leading on from this, Moscrop high-lights a number of products on offer from Dufaylite that could help companies in this sector. He draws particular attention to the Ultra Board range, which is manufactured in-house. Delving deeper into the range, Moscrop picks out a number of products to serve as an example of how such solutions can help sign-makers.

One of these is Ultra Board Graphic, a lightweight honeycomb board with FSC-certified facings and 100 percent recycled paper core. It can be printed directly, CAD cut to shape and weighs just 1.07kg sq/m for a 10mm thick board.


Ultra Board Graphic from Dufaylite is a lightweight honeycomb board with FSC certified facings and 100-percent recycled paper core



In addition, the Ultra Board Fire benefits from the same functionality and characteristics as Ultra Board Graphic but is also fire rated. It is also rated to UK Class 1 and European Class D, which Moscrop says makes it ideal for signage applications in environments that require fire safety.

Finally, Ultra Board Polyprop, which has only been available for approximately three months, is honeycomb board that is made entirely from polypropylene. It has all usual characteristics and features of honeycomb board but can also be used in external environments. Moscrop says it is an ideal sustainable replacement for MDFs, rigid PVCs and aluminium composite panels.

O Factoid: The first laws to be passed around the use of fire retardant materials for use in construction came into force after the Great Fire of London in 1666. O


Moscrop adds: “We are constantly listening to our customer’s requirements and have a few initial ideas for some new products that may come later in 2015 but these are too early in their development process to share any details.”

Shining bright

Elsewhere, another company heavily involved with the supply of materials in the rigid signage sector is The Sign Group. With a host of products on display, the supplier is the first point of call for many companies in the industry when taking on projects that require rigid signage materials.


(Above and below) Neon Plus from The Sign Group is machined with a 25 to 30mm deep return from the very cutting edge in rigid material technology, opal acrylic. It has allowed the company to create a product that is strong, flexible in its application, and provides a beautiful platform for high brightness



Speaking about the level of current demand, production manager Graeme Hoole says the supplier has picked up on a number of interesting trends in recent times, which have helped boost business at The Sign Group.

He explains: “Over the last year or so, we’ve seen much more uptake in retro style signage, with may people starting to go down the carnival style route. We’ve also noticed that neon has become very fashionable, with people being heavy influenced by the use of this media in television programmes such as cooking shows or some of these tattoos programmes you see.


 


“People want something a bit more designed and intricate than the norm. Signs seem to have gone a lot more retro and have bit more design to them, and this is being reflected not just by the smaller companies, but even by the larger high street chains.”

People want something a bit more designed and intricate than the norm”


Leading on from this, Hoole draws attention to one of The Sign Group’s most popular products in the form of Neon Plus, a solution that first came to market approximately 18 months ago. The range features eight different styles of letter illuminated in a variety of ways. He explains that producing such a product would not have been possible without the latest developments in the manufacture of opal acrylic substrates. With a 25 to 30mm deep return machine using the company’s Tekcel routers, this technology has allowed the company to create a product that is strong, flexible in its application, and provides a beautiful platform for high brightness.

Hoole expands: “The general selling point of the Neon Plus is that they are very slim line, very bright, very versatile low voltage, good value for money, and there are plenty of options for customers to choose from. However, it is important to note that they are not a budget product—they are a high end finish.

“We’ve been making this for about the last 18 months, but over the last six or seven months, our customers have gone absolutely nuts for it. It’s almost about half of what we do in the business. Also, with the impending ban on mercury-based neon, a lot of the high street shops that use neon will be looking at products like this as a replacement.”

Keen to harness even further interest in Neon Plus, Poole says The Sign Group is currently working on a number of new furniture-based products that incorporate the solution, with the firm hoping to demonstrate some of these developments at Sign and Digital UK this year.

He was also keen to point SignLink readers in the direction of a new video that The Sign Group has developed to give customers an insight into what happens behind the scenes at the company and how it uses innovative media such as opal acrylic married to the latest lighting technology. To view the video head to sign7tv.com and search ‘sign group’.

Focusing on the market

Meanwhile, Perspex Distribution has also been kept busy with the recent upturn in the market with sign-makers turning to the supplier for help with various projects. Marketing manager Luke Martyn says the company is focused on the two major areas of print and illumination, with its products tailored towards companies in these sectors.

Martyn explains: “From a print perspective, our range of UK manufactured PVC Foam and Aluminium Composite is providing ever more choice for signage. We find more sign-makers are investing in new print machinery that enables them to work faster and more efficiently, therefore our sheets must do the same.

“We also sell complete solutions for illuminated signage. Perspex Cast Acrylic has long been used for things such as illuminating signs and producing lightboxes. However, our technical developments are working harder than ever to produce sheet material optimised for LED illumination. Perspex Spectrum LED, enables thinner sign depths and no LED hotspots. We also stock LED optimised Perspex Spectrum Block up to 30mm deep for routered out channel letters.”

Expanding on this, Martyn goes on to highlight a number of other products on offer from Perspex that could help companies operating within the rigid signage sector: “Palfoam Anti-Static Digital is the latest innovative addition to our PVC foam range.


Palfoam Anti-Static Digital is the latest addition to the Perspex PVC foam range



“The anti-static performance benefits sigmakers in many ways—better quality prints and better resolution as there is no ink distortion caused by static electricity, plus the prints them-selves also stay cleaner for longer as the printed panels do not attract dirt or dust once installed.
 
“Static-free also means greater ease-of-use for the print operator who benefits from a significant reduction of static shocks that can occur when working with print materials.”

Martyn continues: “We have a number of new rigid substrates recently introduced to our range.  Alupanel A-Lite Digital, the only aluminium composite sheets to be manufactured in the UK, is a light weigh panel with a 0.2mm skin—however, it is produced with an A5005 premium alloy making it extremely rigid. This product provides class-leading print on its ultrawhite surface plus offers burr free CNC cutting.

“We also have lots of exciting new products on the horizon for next year. We continue to listen to the needs of our customers and work closely with our UK manufacturers to ensure our customer needs are aligned to product development.”

So, while I have only been able to provide you with a snapshot of this huge sector in these few pages, it seems that despite being slightly overshadowed by the wonders of wide-format print and the delights of digital signage, the rigid signage sector is well and truly alive with innovation and creativity. And with many suppliers set to be in attendance at this year’s Sign and Digital UK showcasing their very latest wears, this innovative sector of the industry seems only set for more expansion and innovation.
 
What should be taken away from the comments of those I have spoken to is that there are rigid signage materials out there on the market today that could be making your offering as a sign-maker far more attractive and flexible. They could also help you provide a better quality service, while allowing you to retain more margin than you previously have on those trusted standbys you have used for years—please do contact the SignLink team and let us know what you discover.



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