Sign Maker Profile
The sign of the times W
orking from the Medway City Estate in Strood, the company has seen
massive growth in the last year, increasing its turnover by £1 million in one year.
It is now looking to expand further, hoping to double its floor space by expanding into the unit next door.
Two sides to a coin
The company specialises in signage for hospitality and construction companies, as well as logo embroidery and printing onto garments – blending two markets into one cohesive business.
Andy Wall, the company’s production director, said: “The two sides to the business have always sort of been there because the type of customers we deal with are construction companies. “We would deal with customers typical for embroidery companies; bars and restaurants, builders and carpenters, hospitality and people off the street – we’ve always done that. “The construction companies tend to want signage as well.
“And it's those companies that have moved us on with the signage because although we do the trade side, we have our own customers now and we do the signage for them.
“We do the embroidery on the polos etc. then we’d do the high vis vests on our direct to film printers and then do stickers for vehicles or actual signage for the site: First Aid cluster points, all the signs they need, and the bigger the company the more signs they need.”
Vanguards of a new movement The company has found a way to blend both mediums through its use of branding. A job will come in and provide a logo to be placed on either a sign, banner, or item of clothing and it is redrawn in-house so it can be reused on every product supplied in the future. Andy’s background is in branding, having previously lectured at the University of Creative Arts in graphic design.
| 68 | January/February 2025 The team at CC Supplies and Workwear
He continued: “We redraw every logo that comes in so it is vectorised, high quality, and on our system.
“We have the artwork already then as well and we can scale it and put it on anything. We already have their branding so we print it and it just goes out. “We’ve got control of it, and if we run out of logos, our machine is there, and we can press print and start again and have them ready for the next day. “If we redraw it, then it’s easier to upsell because we have the artwork already, and we can scale it and put it on anything, signs, banners, or clothing.”
Tools of the trade
The company owns three printers, two Roland models – the VersaCAMM VS-640i and the Versaart RE-640 – and the Mimaki UCJV300-160 UV sublimation printer.
CCS bought the latter after seeing it exhibited at last year’s Sign & Digital UK when Andy saw how it makes offering quality signage to customers even easier. The printer enables the business to provide scratch-resistant prints without the need for lamination – keeping costs down for customers and speeding up production times.
“We ask what the costs are for a job and what people are asking for. What do we need to do? Is it going to be a job
we will continue to do and then if the answer is yes, we’ll buy the machinery," said Andy.
“We won’t do anything on the wrong machine. That’s why we bought the Mimaki UV printer.
“We’re trying to turn these jobs around quickly, and with the UV prints, we can cut them and apply them to the board, and in that time, it's already dry.”
It takes two
Alongside Andy works managing director, Jason Harman. Coming from a sales background within construction, he has brought knowledge of the clientele as well as the administration needed to operate the business.
Andy said: “Both company directors have worked to make sure their whole team is focused on quantity and organisation.
“One side of the business has focused on maintaining customers branding and the other side has organised the efficiency of the operation. “There is a mentality to say in this business it is seven days until a job comes in and it going out, especially from the larger workwear and PPE suppliers. “Jason has changed that. He wouldn’t expect to wait that long, so why should our customers?
“We have a great team of staff who
www.signupdate.co.uk
From construction signs to perspex portraits of Dizzie Rascal, CC Supplies and Workwear has been making headway in the signage market. With the company growing its influence so quickly, Sign Update’s assistant editor, Benjamin Austin, went to pay them a visit to find out more.
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