Signs4U, based near the small town of Ede in Holland, is growing. Its reputation is growing even quicker than its customer list as many of the casino world’s major players come to them to create eye-catching ‘toppers’ for slot machines or promotional signs for casino interiors.

The role of a topper on a slot machine or bank of slots is vital, especially with the introduction of plasma and LCD screens within many modern casinos. The slots need to catch the player’s eye, to identify with their target market immediately and often across a crowded gaming floor. That’s where signage such as that offered by Signs4U comes in to its own. A good topper can incorporate the game’s main themes in its art and combine them with neon lights or an LED display, and possibly an LCD screen and more. It can make the difference between your game finding its core players and them walking right by.

Martin Spies and his brother Jan, along with Martin Grandia, run the company, which was founded just six years ago. Already many of the main slot machine manufacturers are working with the company. Martin Spies explains: “We do a lot for manufacturers at the moment, with IGT, Atronic, WMS. We’ve done things for Orion, and we’re looking at working with Aristocrat and Bally in the future. That side is going very well and growing very quickly at the moment. But we do big casino jobs as well; this summer, we completed a job for Casino Duisberg, we’re doing some work with Casino Barcelona, for example. Our major work is with manufacturers at the moment. The split is maybe 65-35 per cent in favour of manufacturers, I would say.”

The business model has changed; where they might once have had input across the casino for signage from the operator, now much of this is taken care of by the slot manufacturers, with the operator adding just a few signs of their own. Either way, with Signs4U set up to supply both sides, it’s win-win for this fast-emerging company.

The company’s growth, with the big players coming on board, has been rapid but controlled. Martin says: “We’ve been running for six years now. Last year, we employed 15 or 16 people. Then we bought extra premises next door so we could expand, and we now have about 31 employees.

“From last year that means we’ve increased perhaps 40 per cent in terms of output, which is excellent.”

Much of the construction of signs is done in-house, with some specialist jobs outsourced. This is for logistical and legal reasons, as Martin elaborates: “We outsource some work, like neon and some painting. This makes sense with environmental rules coming in, to have specialist companies dealing with these things. Some of the printing is done outside here too. But in the company, we have our own welders for example, so the bulk of the work is done in-house.”

Signs are their core business, and the company plans to stick to what they do best for the future. “We’re not really looking to expand beyond what we do, or to diversify – casino signage is what we do. We have our hands full on what we do in casinos,” says Martin. “The techniques we are using are specially for the casino industry. It’s high quality, indoor quality, and most of the signage you see in shops are of much lower quality than we produce. It wouldn’t make sense for us to do that, when we are focussed on quality product for quality customers.”

They do supply a multimedia system which connects to a jackpot system, but this is not so far outside their field of expertise as it links in quite neatly with signage and screens working in the modern casino.

Signs4U has not suffered from inferior or simply cheaper product imported into their key markets from Asia. In fact, Martin says, they have actually benefitted from the competition. “We have had some customers who tried getting signs from us and signs from, for example, China, and they appreciated our signs much more afterward, they appreciated our quality. It turned out to be a good experience for us. Price-wise, we thought we might be more expensive, but we actually worked out about the same cost, so we were pleased with that.”

With their current set-up, their Ede base can produce five to eight signs a week, and they are kept very busy with a stream of orders from all over. Their signs have an expected life span of up to 10 years, but this depends on the design and function of the sign. Martin explains; “If it’s a theme sign, the life span will be less than a generic sign. A themed sign which the casino operator believes will work brilliantly might not be well received by the customer, so the casino will stop using it, for example. That is a risk for the operator, but if it’s themed and it works for the customers it could go for years. If a sign has no theme, if it is more generic, it could be simply refaced and re-used, so it could have 10 years of life in it as various projects. Most signs are changed between five and seven years though, I would say.”

Key markets for the company in the future, Martin says, are further afield. “Spain is coming on very quickly, and of course Macau is ever-growing and is becoming important for us. They are the two areas with the most expectation for us.”

They work on a project basis but some manufacturers have drawn up agreements to make Signs4U their preferred supplier, which is the real testament to what this company excels at: simply signage.

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