SBI Update - August Issue

Vol. 3, No. 1 | August 22, 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Industry News
Adaptive Opens New Facility
The Vinyl Countdown: PDAA's WrapQuest 07

New Appointments
Wallace Joins AgiLight
ORACAL's New President

Meetings and Events

Sponsored Links

This Month’s SBI Trivia Question Stumper:
The PDAA (Professional Decal Application Associaton) was founded in what year?

For the answer, scroll to the bottom of the newsletter.

Industry News

[[HOT TOPIC]] Serving on a Sign Ordinance Committee [PART II]

Once again this month, the USSC (United States Sign Council) drops in to inform SBI Update readers on the importance of being involved in the governing of our sign community, with Part II of a special report on best practices for sign ordinance committee participation:

Aesthetics and Traffic Safety
As indicated previously, signs are regulated by municipalities to bring about a safe environment for motorists (traffic safety), and, in many cases, a roadside environment which embodies some concept of roadside beauty which the municipality deems to be desirable (aesthetics). There is little question that traffic safety is a legitimate and necessary aspect of municipal regulation, since the primary function of any municipality is to protect the lives and health of both its residents and its visitors.

The issue of aesthetics, on the other hand, is far less resolved, particularly as it may apply to any individual sign, although a number of courts in the U.S. have upheld the right of a municipality to exercise sign control for aesthetic purposes, as well as for traffic safety.

Nonetheless, even if aesthetics is also imposed as a reason for sign control along with traffic safety, there should be no question that of the two, traffic safety should always be paramount, and in discussing these issues, you should be steadfast in insisting that the sign ordinance reflect the necessity for adequate on-premise sign size, height, and placement as a critical component of traffic safety in the roadside environment, particularly since these specific sign parameters relating to traffic safety can now be scientifically documented. (See USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs; and USSC On-Premise Signs, Determination of Parallel Sign Legibility and Letter Heights).

This is particularly important if there are some on the committee who relate aesthetics to size. Frequently, a sign ordinance committee contains members who are philosophically opposed to the existence of signs in general, and who hold the view that business signs are an unnecessary part of the landscape. Although this extreme view is usually not the prevailing one on the committee, you must be prepared to encounter it, and to understand that people who dislike signs are often the first to volunteer for service on a sign control committee.

Their prevailing view is that since signs are undesirable anyway, the smaller the better. The fallacy with this viewpoint is that aesthetics, even if it can be defined and measured, has no relationship to sign size. Traffic safety, on the other hand, does have a relationship to sign size which has been demonstrated scientifically, and it is this relationship that you must be prepared to advance. It becomes a simple matter of objective truth versus subjective opinion or whim, and the truth is on your side, but only if you speak up.

Sign Size and Setback
In any discussion involving size, not only is traffic safety a prime issue, but adequate size necessary to convey a marketing message is critically important, as well. That is because businesses use on-premise signs not only to indicate their presence to motorists in a timely manner, but to brand their locations as well. The definitive and exhaustive study by USSC entitled On-Premise Signs: The Impact of Zoning Regulation on Site Performance, clearly shows the relationship between adequately sized and placed signs and prospects for business success or failure. In addition, numerous studies have definitely shown that in terms of advertising value, the on-premise sign is by far the most cost effective medium available to any roadside business, particularly since it exists at the very point of sale. (See USSC publications, The Graphic Edge and Gold on your Doorstep.)

In short, on-premise signs perform at least three major functions, notably to identify the location to motorists, to establish a brand identity for the location, and finally, to advertise the goods and services available at the location. All of these must be done in a relatively short period of time, usually seconds, during which a motorist has the opportunity to view the sign and react to its message. Only signs of adequate size capable of conveying their messages swiftly and concisely can accomplish these functions. And through the use of the procedures and mathematical formulas developed by USSC, this size can be precisely established for every roadside environment using the speed of traffic as the determining factor.

Related to size is the issue of setback, or lateral offset from a property line along a roadway. Setback is a zoning concept advanced as a means of keeping buildings set back from the road a certain distance so that they do not interfere with sight lines of motorists, and, in general, allow for a more open view of the environment. Unfortunately, in crafting a sign ordinance, a committee frequently confuses the role of setback, and attempts to apply it to signs just as it is applied to buildings.

Little in the crafting of an ordinance could be more counter productive. Signs along the roadside are designed to be seen, and to be seen as quickly and with as little effort as possible. Setbacks, to the degree that they remove signs from the direct line of sight of a motorist, and mix the signs in with the visual field created by buildings and other landscape objects, degrade the ability of signs to be seen effectively. As setbacks increase, legibility decreases, and because of this, setbacks should be avoided.

Design Review
If aesthetics is advanced as a part of the ordinance, the obvious question that arises is: What is aesthetic? Clearly, even recognized experts disagree over the concept of beauty and what constitutes an aesthetic environment. So, the issue becomes one of effecting subjective control over the appearance of signs that will at least seem to be fair and objective, a manifestly difficult if not impossible task. Proponents of aesthetic control, however, are not deterred by this apparent contradiction and not surprisingly, have found a way to deal with it by frequently establishing a Design Review Committee or Board which functions as an arbiter of taste and beauty relating to signs in the municipality.

In actual practice, design review (and the control of aesthetics in general) rarely works as intended, except in limited applications, such as historical or special design districts, in which reasonable standards of design can be established for mostly pedestrian uses and in which the businesses involved find some marketing value to their presence in the district. Aside from these small exceptions, subjective control of sign design over an entire municipality presents both a practical and a legal quagmire. It involves not only the obvious issues related to color and font use including the use of approved logos and trademarks guaranteed by federal law, but the very real legal constitutional issues such as prior restraint of first amendment free speech rights, content control, and restriction of adequate commercial speech.

In the U.S., courts have customarily insisted that when design review is used, very specific and rigid standards must be established to govern the actions of the design review board. Short of these standards, design review is unlikely to withstand a serious constitutional challenge, particularly since it invests in an elite few the arbitrary power to restrict the speech of everyone else in a community.

Check in with next month's edition of SBI Update for the concluding Part III of Serving on a Sign Ordinance Committee.

Adaptive Micro Systems Opens New Facility for Large Digital Display and Billboard Production

Adaptive Micro Systems LLC, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility dedicated solely to the mass production of digital billboards and large digital displays for commercial applications as well as its plant-floor automation and transportation industry solutions. Adaptive plans to use its 27,000 square-foot, Jackson, Wisconsin, facility to increase production capacities and efficiencies of its largest digital communications solutions.

"With the way digital billboards and large-format digital displays are taking off in the marketplace, capacity and turnaround are as important to customers as cost, quality, performance, reliability, lifetime value and customer service," notes Bill Latz, CEO of Adaptive Micro Systems. "Because we've been in the LED display business for more than 25 years and we genuinely focus on customer needs, we have a fundamentally different philosophy than our competitors. While many manufacturers continue to hang on to a one-at-a-time-build mentality, we think in terms of optimizing mass production in every way imaginable." Adaptive produces its LED building blocks at a company-owned plant in Malaysian in order to contain costs, assure timely supply and drive technological innovation. All core display panel modules are assembled at Adaptive's Milwaukee headquarters.

"Now," says Bob Radder, Vice President of Global Operations for Adaptive, "our Jackson facility extends our philosophy of modular manufacturing specialization to large board production. By having a dedicated facility designed from the ground up for large display and billboard production we can be more efficient in every aspect of production and delivery. Our $1.5 million initial investment and additional $200,000 in tooling and process equipment support true flow manufacturing on a massive scale." At the same time, removing large display assembly and testing from Adaptive's Milwaukee facility helps make it all the more efficient.

Adaptive plans to operate one shift initially, capable of producing all of its large displays for the transportation and plantautomation industries. In addition, Adaptive will have the capacity to produce approximately 40 full-color, graphics-based Excite digital billboards a month. These innovative boards feature Digital Video Interface (DVI) architecture to harmonize with industry connectivity standards, an innovative micro-cabinet design for virtually maintenance-free performance with no onboard air conditioning required, and a unique Web-based content management system that redefines flexibility and convenience for users and their customers.

"In addition to enabling cost-effective, quality production of state-of-the-art digital displays and billboards, the Jackson facility offers us other key advantages," adds Radder. "Purchasing is cheaper than leasing in the long run, which will allow us to invest more heavily in technology over time. Plus, the site offers us a lot of flexibility to easily and cost-effectively grow with our business. The plant layout and the 5.6-acre site will easily accommodate continued expansion. The 7,000 square feet of office space will help us continue to attract the quality engineering and operational professionals required to keep us at the forefront of the LED communications industry."

WrapQuest 07 To Kick-off in Florida

WrapQuest 07, a mini-tradeshow for all vinyl installers, will be hosted by the PDAA (Professional Decal Application Association) and held at Image Graphics, Inc., in Pompano Beach, Florida. This two-day experience will feature vehicle and boat wrap demonstrations and even wall wraps. You'll meet and learn from PDAA experts and speak directly with vinyl manufacturers. Even better, you'll get to practice wrapping different vehicles with many different vinyl products. Vehicle wrap trainers, Wade Davis and Rob Ivers, will also be onhand to offer free application tips and tricks. On October 23, WrapQuest will be offering PDAA VIP Certification Testing. For more information or to download a registration form, visit www.pdaa.com/wrap_quest.htm

New Appointments

AgiLight Inc., an innovative developer of high-quality, low-energy lighting technologies and products for commercial signage and architectural applications, announced it has appointed Ron Wallace vice president of sales and marketing. Wallace will manage AgiLight's worldwide sales activities and marketing efforts and will oversee the operations team. Wallace was previously vice president of sales and marketing for SloanLED of Ventura, California, where he built the company's domestic and international distributor network and was involved in the successful launches of many new products.

ORACAL USA announced the appointment of Randall Mertz as the company's new President. Mertz previously served as the company's Executive Vice President of Manufacturing. In connection with Mertz's appointment the company also announced plans to consolidate its U.S. operations into a single location. In addition, ORACAL is pleased to announce the appointment of Ernie Logerquist and Trip Harris to its sales team as Territory Managers for the Southeast United States.

Meetings and Events

SEPTEMBER
September 7 - 9: Calling all pinstripers, customer painters, and artists! The Razor Custom Paint 69 & Back Panel Jam will be hosted by Mark Long, Kenny Dean, and Darren Wenzel, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. To learn more, check out www.myspace.com/69nbackhotrodshow.

September 13 - 15: The 2007 Annual Convention of the Southern States Sign Council, FSA, SESA, and VASA will be held at the Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For more information, call 877/635-1889 or visit www.southstatessigns.org.

September 27 - 30: Sign Asia Expo '07, to be held in conjunction with Media Asia Expo '07. Hall 2-3, IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, visit www.signasiaexpo.com.

OCTOBER
October 16 - 17: The Illinois Sign Association Fall Conference & Auction will be held at the Eastland Suites in Bloomington, Illinois. To learn more, call 414/529-4235.

October 24 - 27: SGIA '07 is scheduled to be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. For additional details, log on to www.sgia.org/SGIA07.