When you have a Sign Installation crew of 3-6 people working ON THE CLOCK to install graphics on a Box Truck or Semi-Trailer, it becomes painfully obvious that every second counts. With most custom jobs, let’s face it – there is the proverbial “element of surprise” which rarely goes in favor of the Sign Pro. The following is a partial list of what I call “Profit Robbers”:• Complications due working at customer’s location
• Inadequate Workspace, poor conditions, bad weather.
• Having to wait for customer to ________________.
• Unclean Trailer/Vehicle
• Measurements don’t match proposal
• Print Output different from what was ordered.
With all these factors working together to take money out of our pockets, it’s a rare and happy discovery to find something that actually puts the cash back in! Here’s my latest recommendation for cutting labor costs on a truckside graphics installation job: “N-A-R” by Ackland. (“No Anchors Required”) While the concept of having a changeable advertising system installed on a truck is extremely cool, the idea that it could be installed without the use of mechanical fasteners (i.e. rivets, screws, etc.) is nothing short of amazing! But, “cool” and “amazing” by themselves are not productive adjectives, unless and until they create additional PROFIT.
So, here’s the best part: By utilizing this innovative new application on an 8’ x 52’ semi-trailer(instead of placing a screw/rivet every 16”) the installation crew can avoid between 180 and 360 individual operations*. If each operation takes 75 seconds (including dropping/picking up screws, reloading screw/rivet gun, climbing down the ladder, moving ladders/scaffolding, climbing back up, etc.) that saves somewhere between 3.75 – 7.5 hours of labor – and that’s just for the “drill man”. Of course, wherever there’s a drill man drilling, there’s also a 2nd person holding the material in place, and usually 1-2 other support people on the jobsite. At the end of the day, the savings triples or quadruples.
Total Savings: Somewhere between 10 and 30 total man hours! (Plus, it could prevent the job from running over into an additional day.) You can do the math from there. With N-A-R Frames, you can be hanging the vinyl while your morning coffee is still hot, instead of well after lunch. Here’s the main point:
If you want to save time and money on installations, get the Ackland N-A-R Frame for every truck job you do.
(It’s worth the extra buck a foot.)
“Operation” = an individual task, such as drilling a hole, or inserting a screw, or fastening a pop rivet.