Wayside weathers 100 years and is poised for the future

by brittney_cutler | 25 October 2021 9:01 am

By Blair Adams

Businesses come and go. However, when your roots date back a 100 years, you know you have done some things right along the way, and be confident your future, while not assured, is on a very strong footing. This is the case for Vernon, B.C. sign shop Wayside, which has weathered its fair share of storms throughout its storied history.

Sign Media Canada spoke with company owner Neil Perry, about Wayside’s past and what he sees as the future for his business, which has grown to become a nation-wide success.

Sign Media Canada (SMC): What is the history of the shop? When and where was it founded? How did you come up with the name for your business?

Neil Perry (NP): Wayside is currently celebrating 100 years in business. We started 1921 when Wayside Press opened its doors in Vernon. B.C. This kicked off our journey of excellence in client service, craftsmanship, and fine commercial printing. In the beginning, Wayside was solely a commercial printer servicing Vernon. Over the course of the last 100 years, we’ve expanded our business to service clients across Canada. In 2011, Wayside Printing became just ‘Wayside.’ The name change better reflected the new direction of the company. We are constantly looking for new opportunities to expand our services to our clients to meet their ever-changing needs in this modern and dynamic business world.  In 2001, we expanded to include signs and displays and we have never looked back.

SMC: What makes your company unique?

NP: We have a high level of in-house expertise across the entire company. In our signage department alone, we have three employees who each previously owned their own sign shops.

Don Sproul owned his shop, Artworx Unlimited, for 18 years. First in Alberta, he then moved to B.C. His projects were primarily sandblasted wood, dimensional signs, vehicle pinstriping, and hand-lettering. In 2014, Wayside acquired Wilde Imagination Sign & Design, and owner Nancy Wilde joined our team. Her shop combined traditional sign making skills with modern signage techniques. In 2018, our current signage manager, Jeffery Hausberger, became part of our sign squad. He came to us all the way from South Africa where he owned his own sign company called Xtreme Inkworx. They did all kinds of things, from interior and exterior signage and vehicle and helicopter branding, to interior decorating and dye sublimation.

Our teams’ unique and diverse skillsets and backgrounds allow us to come up with innovative, customized, and out-of-the-box solutions for our clients. You will often hear, “What if we try this” or “What about that instead,” because we are always looking for the best solution for our clients’ and we stand behind what we do.

SMC: How large is the facility?

NP: Wayside has a total of 70 employees in print, signs, and tech in four locations—two in Vernon, and one each in Kamloops and Salmon Arm. We also have account representatives in Kelowna and Vancouver. Our sign shop currently has 10 employees and is located in Vernon near the main plant. The shop’s total size is 1525 m² (5000 sf).

SMC: What type of signage does your shop primarily install?

NP: We install everything we do. From small vinyl letters on doors and windows, to signs located four-storeys high on buildings. We have our own boom truck that can reach 10.6 m (35 ft). This allows us to do installs on buildings without having to rent any additional equipment, and we are able to pass those savings along to our clients. Because of this, we have total control over all the projects that come through the shop, from the smallest to the largest job. This helps keep our turnarounds quick and meet our delivery dates. These are the kind of things that are so critical and important to our clients.

SMC: What or who do you attribute your success when it comes to installations/

NP: We have the best two installers in the province, Ian and Jed.

Jed had a real estate sign install business after a successful career as a carpenter before coming to Wayside. His experience has really benefitted our sign department. Ian comes from a commercial shop background as well as some construction/finishing carpentry history. His attention to fine detail makes his installs on interior high-end signs flawless. Both of them can dig a golf course worth of signpost holes by hand in rock, and then turn around and install perforated film on windows. They both wrap vehicles and have installed LED and back lit signs and dimensional jobs.

SMC: What type of projects have you been working on recently?

NP: Currently, the whole team has been busy working on a large project for The University of British Columbia Okanagan, Nechako Building. This project showcases exactly what Wayside can do and more. The project includes wall vinyl, CNC dimensional wood text, sandwich-printed vinyl on windows, and features reverse-printed acrylic and CNC ‘grout’ pattern on the front installed onto a pillar. This will give a mosaic look to the pillar. Projects like this one are what we live for. It is why we do what we do.. No two days at the sign shop are the same.

SMC: What tools/equipment do you use to complete your projects?

NP: We have a band new HP Latex R1000 for our rigidboard and white prints, a 64-in. HP latex roll-to-roll printerfor all our vehicle vinyl and wall graphic material, and an Axyz CNC cutter with fully-automated changers and router, tang knife, and cutter. We also have a new 64-in. Suma cutter and 64-in. Royal Sovereign laminator with take up, and two trucks, one of which is our boom truck.

SMC: What does your planning process involve?

NP: We start by making sure we have answers for all the important and related project questions, such as, what is the application? How long should it be up for? Is it indoor or outdoor? After we’re sure we have everything answered, we do a site inspection to make sure we have the correct measurements, see what the environment is like, and look for any obstacles or concerns that could impact the sign or installation.  Next, we review the entire project for any challenges that might arise during production and install and what impact it would have should it fail. Then we make changes, if needed. Once we are ready to go, we do digital mockups, and in some cases, print out samples for the client. This way we can ensure we are all on the same page.

SMC: How is technology changing your business?

NP: Technology is constantly and quickly changing. Think of how quickly cell phone technology changes; well, the sign industry is no different. The printers are getting much faster, with better quality and less waste, while being more environmentally friendly. CNC has made our industry able to give our clients a higher quality product for less money than doing it by hand. And all this progress allows us to complete jobs quicker, for less cost, and better quality.

SMC: What is the key to staying successful in this industry?

NP: First thing I would say is it is all about the people. Having a diverse, knowledgeable team of employees, who love what they do is key. They’re the face behind all the great ideas. Next, would be to stay open to change and be adaptable, and be willing to try new things and embrace technology. At Wayside, we are always trying unique and innovative ideas with our client projects to help them grow their business, because at the end of the day, if their business grows, we grow.

SMC: What are your future plans for the business?

 

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/wayside-weathers-100-years-and-is-poised-for-the-future/

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