Ron Haslam has been making signs for pretty much all his working life. After leaving school at 15 and starting to work in the sign industry at 16, he found he had a natural talent for it.
As Ron says, “I discovered that I was pretty good at it… I ended up at a company in Oshawa and worked there for about seven and a half years. I got married, had kids and decided that I was going nowhere working for somebody else and decided to quit and start my own sign business. That was in 1990 and that’s when I started Maximum Signs.”
The sign industry has become a passion for Ron, and after 29 years he’s the go-to sign company for developers, municipalities and many other organizations, both large and small.
Maximum Signs is an approved and accredited dealer of 3M products in the eastern Ontario region, and works with corporations, municipal officials and smaller companies all across Canada. The company deals in orders both large and small, and has been focusing more on custom projects in recent years.
Maximum Signs: A Manufacturing One-stop Shop for the Sign Business
Maximum Signs can do just about anything on site because they have high-tech manufacturing equipment and workers who are experts at using them. They have:
Lasers to cut steel and other materials used to create the signs- Iron workers who can fix any equipment in the plant using a mill and lathe
- Digital image machines to create the exact images their customers want on their signs
- Presses to produce the signs in the shapes and sizes their clients want and need
As Ron explains,
“…we make sure to keep our standards up. Our shop is certified every year by 3M to assure that we’re doing everything correctly so that when we put a sign out there, we know it’s going to last as long or longer than we say it’s going to… and will be done the right way every time.”
Maximum Signs: Word of Mouth and Referrals Make Their Business
Their reputation for excellent service and products precedes them, so a lot of their business comes from word of mouth and referrals. That’s always a clear “sign” (excuse the pun) a business is doing a great job.
Ron also makes sure he promotes his business through:
- Trade shows: they go to the Association of Ontario Road Supervisors (AORS) every year
- Salespeople: they have one part-time salesperson who helps look after their customers and find new ones
- Customer retention: they work to keep their customers happy; the ones who leave often come back
- Bidding well: they pitch to the towns and cities who appreciate quality at a fair price
Maximum Signs: Dedicated and Hard-working Employees
Maximum Signs employees really care about their work and it’s a matter of pride for them to turn out a good product their customers are happy with.
There’s no repetitive work at Ron’s plant because their custom orders keep them flexible and adapting to what their clients need next.
As Ron explains, “There’s a million different things to do in our shop. One day you could be making a 40-foot panel sign for the Toronto Island Airport and the next day you could be making decals out of one-inch round.”
Great Ways to Find Manufacturing Jobs in Eastern Ontario
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