Ainsley Signs
Jo Golding speaks to Josh Ainsley, commercial director of Ainsley Signs, about how the company has been passed down from generation to generation and what its plans for future growth are
Sunday, 23 Oct 2016 15:30 GMT
The Mimaki JFX200-2513 UV LED flatbed printer sits pride of place at Ainsley Sings, helping it keep its margins on a very wide variety of repeat contract work
We talk a lot about large organisations in SignLink, whether that is in the digital signage arena or sign equipment sector, however, it is always nice to catch up with smaller, family-run businesses that are growing steadily through a solid reputation for high quality signage.
Manchester-based Ainsley Signs started up in 1957 by the grandfather of Josh Ainsley, current commercial director at the company. In 1987 the company was taken over by Josh’s father, and then he joined in 2009; and it is over the last four years that, with a background in graphic design, he has taken the reins.
Ainsley Signs was founded in 1957 and has been run by the grandfather and father of Josh Ainsley, who is now commercial director
“Since then we’ve had the exact same contractors. We work for a lot of building companies, private homes companies, and so on. That’s how we’ve grown—by getting new contracts through word of mouth more than anything,” explains Ainsley.
(Above & below) Ainsley Signs has created signage for Cardinal Langley RC High School and Stapeley Gardens
He adds: “We don’t go out to other businesses, due to how busy we are with our contract work. It’s rolling stuff over again and again for building companies, with a lot of repeat contracts. Building companies like to get their advertisement out there as much as they can.”
Although having a solid flow of work in this sector, Ainsley Signs is no slouch when it comes to having a diversified product portfolio, producing a wide range of signage products such as a-boards, directional signage, illuminated signs, exhibition signs, digital printing, labels, vehicle graphics, and more.
Tech-savvy
The company clearly sees the benefits of investing in the latest technology, hitting the headlines earlier this year with the purchase of a Soljet EJ-640 from Roland DG in order to avoid facing the production bottleneck often seen in print production. Purchased from Roland dealer Printmax, Ainsley Signs were the first in the country to receive the brand new Soljet.
Ainsley explains the advantages of the machine and reliability of Roland: “This print technology is more for our production work because it is very quick—in fact it is one of the fastest in its class on the market at the moment.
“We bought our first Roland in 2001 and we still use that exact same machine today, so they are very reliable machines. The good thing about this one is that it has big ink cartridges on it rather than the smaller ones that some others have.
We bought our first Roland in 2001 and we still use that exact same machine today, so they are very reliable machines”
“This means you get a lot more production out of it without having to change ink cartridges half way through printing. That’s the main reason we decided to change.”
Ainsley Signs has an extensive range of other equipment such as a Roland DG VS-640i, Roland DG SP-500, Mimaki JFX200-2513 UV LED flatbed printer, Piranha 3.2m router, as well as a couple of Mimaki plotters.
Best of the best
In the sign industry, delivering a quick turnaround has become key—it is often cited as the main reason for updating equipment. Customers need their signage produced as quickly as possible and will return the favour by going back to the companies that are able to do this. For Ainsley Signs, this factor is what keeps its customers coming back, as well as making sure to use only high quality materials.
Ainsley says: “What makes us stand out as a sign company is how quickly we can turn things around and how everything we produce is high quality. There are some sign companies out there which use cheap materials, but we don’t, we use the best of the best.
“We also give a ten-year guarantee on all our signage. The reliability of our staff is second to none, it’s unbelievable. Some of the staff have been here for 35 years.”
The reliability of our staff is second to none, it’s unbelievable. Some of the staff have been here for 35 years”
As talk turns to the future of the company, Josh has plans in place to accelerate growth.
He explains: “We are looking to hire more staff and we are getting closer to buying a new building at the moment to expand our production work in Middleton in Manchester. With more staff and a new building, we’ll be able to take on more work that is out there and hopefully keep growing.”
With investments in the latest and fastest equipment coupled with experienced staff, there is no doubt that Ainsley Signs will continue to grow as it goes on, and the company is a good example of how taking on the family business can be highly profitable.
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