Family business William Smith, of Barnard Castle in County Durham, installed a Durst Rho 161 TS Traffic Sign Printer in April of this year.

Chris Bradley, Sales and Marketing Manager said: “We have 20 years’ experience of digital printing and saw a real opportunity to be able to produce traffic signs digitally but unfortunately there was no machine suitable until the Durst.”

William Smith, now in its seventh generation of the same family, has recently celebrated its 175th Anniversary and has a fascinating history of innovation and growth since its first invention, a horse-drawn mechanical road sweeper. The company successfully evolved from a manufacturer of snow ploughs, tar sprayers, pumps and cast iron road signs, into a modern and thriving signs and graphics solution provider.

The first cast iron road signs were produced in the 1930s and the first reflective signs were made in the 1950s using the first self-adhesive reflective film from 3M. An impressive period of growth in the traffic and commercial sign business followed.

In 1983 William Smith was the first company in the UK to introduce pre-spaced lettering and logos into the signs and graphics industry. In 1991 the company entered the digital market with the first European 3M Scotchprint colour graphic printing system and two other digital printers were soon to follow.

In addition to its extensive production facility, for the last five or six years William Smith has diversified into the distribution of materials, which now represents about half the company’s business. Amongst other products, which include Ritrama and Arlon films and R Tape application tapes, it supplies the widest range of 3M traffic and commercial self-adhesive films in the country. More recently it has also taken on the distribution of equipment including RollsRollers.
“Traffic signs are still the cornerstone of our manufacturing business,” said Chris Bradley, “and we are always looking to advance the business with the latest technology.”
“We were taken by Durst and 3M to a Beta site in Belgium where we first saw the Durst Rho traffic sign printer and, having seen it in operation, it only took us ten minutes to make the decision that we should have one!”

“The Rho was installed in the middle of April and by the beginning of May it was in commercial production. We have four fully trained operators. Interestingly, two were from traffic sign manufacturing with no previous experience in digital printing but had no problem in learning how to operate the Rho. Once set up, it has proven to be both easy to use and extremely reliable. In effect, it has automated our traffic sign production and is not reliant on the traditional sign making skills.”

“Because of our digital experience, we understood the benefits without having any of the fears and were able to see how the Rho could fit into our business. Over a four to six week period we were able to transfer much of our traffic sign production to the Rho and now it probably accounts for over ninety percent of our total production.”
“As a company, customer service has always been our number one consideration and anything that can help us to improve that service is a good thing. The Durst helps us to respond even faster to customer requirements.”

“As far as our business is concerned,” commented Chris Bradley, “the Rho has helped to increase productivity, reduce the number of production processes and improve our efficiency.”

For more information on William Smith telephone 01833 690305 or visit www.williamsmith.co.uk