After 30 years in the signage business, there’s very little Greg Edkins hasn’t done. He started posting bills at 18, graduating to large sign placement and eventually opened his own signage business
When digital arrived, Edkins was again one of the first to spot its potential. He claims to have bought his first wide format digital machine before acquiring any knowledge of computers or software.Now he’s changed tack again. His company, OSS, which stands for Outdoor Sign Services, has opted out of the outdoor business and is concentrating on high end indoor, primarily for the high quality retail and cosmetics market.
OSS Digital, located in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt, recently installed an Océ Arizona 250 GT flatbed digital printer to provide the quality finish the market requires. Edkins says it has been running continuously since installation, working up to 12 hours a day.
His outdoor signs, noted over the years for their creative flair, will be missed. On one sign a giant face denoted displeasure with real smoke coming out of its ears. Giant poker machine rollers spun continuously on another. Real packets of CC crackers adorned one display that drew onlookers by the hundreds, tearing off the packs and sampling the product.
And his No Knickers sign at Mascot in Sydney, with its filmy flowing skirt, was an instant traffic hazard for incoming visitors and tourists.
However the decision has been made to move to indoor work. Edkins says: “There’s a terrific challenge in the indoor work we’re doing. The market is very demanding and the quality must be exceptional. Until we bought the Océ Arizona, we weren’t sure it was our future. Now though we are approaching this work with much more confidence.
“It came at the appropriate time”
WE were getting an increasing amount of high quality work but the fact remained that flatbed quality remained fairly sub-standard and we were unhappy with the results. Most of our output was printed onto vinyl and then attached to the final substrate, which was time-consuming and restrictive.
“I went along to the Sydney Sign Show hoping to raise the benchmark and took along a file of Megan Gale to see who could best match it. Ten minutes after seeing the Océ Arizona output, I’d made a mental note to buy one.
“What’s impressed me about the machine is that you can print a file at the beginning of the day and the same file at the end of the day with no variation in colour or falling off of quality. This market demands that kind of consistency with product that includes backlits, showcards, plinths, vinyl banners etc across a large number of outlets.”
“It gives us more flexibility too. The Arizona is able to print onto virtually any surface – glass, wood, mirrors, metal, packaging, in fact I’ve seen it print onto Venetian blinds. Océ support has been excellent too, from the outset right through the period we’ve had it.”
OSS Digital prefers to handle the entire signage business for a customer, contributing to the creative, developing the output and handling logistics, including packing, transport and in-store placement for country sites.
So what’s next for Edkins and OSS Digital?
“I think the secret of this business is to re-invent yourself at regular intervals so we won’t stand still,” Edkins says.
“We’re looking at strategic alliances across Australia to enhance our competitive position or perhaps forming an alliance with a larger company that likes the kind of work we do and would like to be part of it.”
