Image Reports speaks to Greg Craigen, director, SignAway.
What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?
Not having enough warehouse and working space (in London!) to really grow, without a massive increase in our cost base.
Where do you see the greatest wide-format opportunities?
We believe there is a fantastic opportunity in printing on niche materials, like wallpapers and exhibition carpets etc. We continually test new products and ideas and listen to our customers who come up with sometimes weird and wonderful ideas. At first you think, nope, not possible, but there always seems to be a way to do it. We have invested heavily in manufacturing our own carpets that are ready to print on and this is selling extremely well for short-term exhibition use.
What would make your day-to-day operations easier?
Having our whole production facility on just one floor, allowing a one piece production flow.
Your favourite bit of kit is...?
Our Vutek roll-to-roll GSR - a fantastic machine compared to what we used to have to work with.
What’s the best bit of business advice you’ve been given?
It’s not OK to be good, we need to be specialists with our core products. Also, never to take our customers for granted.
What are you most proud of achieving?
Consistent positive customer feedback and customer loyalty make me extremely proud. We’ve built a team who all care about what they do and the company they work for. Out staff retention is fantastic and this tells me something about the people we employ and the company ethic. We must be doing something right.
What lesson does the wide-format sector need to learn?
Products that can go digital, will go digital and we all need to adapt.