The recent Calor contract is an interesting one, not least because the supplier shortlisting process was conducted via an intensive on-line tendering and selection process which interrogated all aspects of our business – not just our ability to submit a competitive price!

The rebranding project involved the production of over 10,000 signs and flags over a number of different designs based predominantly on Signwaves standard product offer, supporting a roll-out that involved kitting and delivery to more than 3000 sites across the UK.

Phase 2 immediately followed - batch production to support a stock-holding and fulfilment service from our own warehouse, providing the benefits of next day delivery if required and no minimum order quantity.

Initial meetings helped us understand Calor’s problems and together find solutions. A key outcome was producing a website ‘intranet’ ordering platform in time for phase 2, which we successfully achieved using our in-house IT and web design team. The efficiency benefits gained by Calor and their stockists has been substantial, and the real-time stock availability and delivery tracking features a very useful bonus. 

We were not only delighted to secure this significant business win but also the subsequent client feedback.

Our 25 year relationship with Camelot and The National Lottery covers multiple new and repeat projects, including significant involvement in two of the largest POP roll-outs ever undertaken in the UK.

A collaborative working style has underpinned highly successful project
outcomes throughout, involving innovative design, engineering, prototyping and testing at our Norfolk base, supporting cost efficient tooling and product manufacture at our joint venture factory in Dongguan, China.

Since the rebrand in 2015 we have supplied more than 50,000 iconic ‘Bubble’ pavement and projecting signs. For more information on these and the previous award winning ‘Bobby’ sign see Product Design.

We’re very proud of our continuous working relationship over three decades with Unilever Ice Cream – Wall’s, HB, Carte D’Or, Ben & Jerry’s, Algida, GB Glace, Good Humor, to name some of their global brands we have been trusted with.

The annual POS ‘Visibility’ contract for Wall’s alone has regularly involved 10+ different products, many of those across multiple printed designs.

The majority of items are standard Signwaves products utilising our customisation service. Clever use of shape to enhance imagery and standout provides the illusion of something bespoke with the benefits of speed to market, lower risk and cost associated with a standard solution.

From assisting with field research, proposing new product and service solutions, to introducing alternative more environmentally friendly materials in support of The Unilever Sustainability Plan, added value service such as this goes beyond the traditional project management role but is something we relish in a long term mutually beneficial relationship.

“Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition hit Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeida on Tuesday and officials there said the raids destroyed cranes and warehouses…”  The news headlines as we prepared to ship a consignment of signs to Yemen, and just one of many challenges within a complex export project for Moneygram in partnership with their global marketing execution partner Innerworkings.

The production of more than 8,000 pavement signs was the easy part, even though this involved customised redesign of a standard product, managing frame component manufacture from our factory in China, and screen printing double-sided panels and base logo-plates in 3 colours with graduated tones in 15 language variations!

We recommended screen printing in EL (extended life) inks to best cope with the demands of Middle East, Mediterranean and American southern state climates.

Our project team contained a strong logistics, planning and communications bias to deal with the complicated and risky DDP transport terms we agreed to manage on behalf of the client, special requirements such as serialised bar-coded product and carton labelling, and weekly update conference calls with the client at their American and UK based EMEA offices.

A successful project (and even Yemen finally got their signs after rerouting via Saudi) resulted in repeat orders for a further 6000 signs.