After a working life in a wide range of industries,
industrial chemistry, fruit canning, tourism, expanded
polystyrene production, metal casting and owning and
operating a restaurant, I found acrylic fabrication in the
sign industry. It was like discovering what I wanted to
be when I grew up, but aged in my forties.
When I had learned the skills and run the fabrication
department at one of Australia’s biggest sign
companies, I moved on to a plastic fabrication
specialist company, a small sign shop and then
taught plastic fabrication at the Plastics And Rubber
Training and Education Centre. There I learned and
then taught about plastics, their properties and
processing. While at PARTEC, I developed
the accredited course “Acrylic Letter Fabrication”.
I then set up Sign Fabrication Specialists which has
supplied the sign industry with fabricated letters,
logos and lightboxes since 1998. I started in a tiny
shed as a one-man operation, later being joined by
sons Craig and Damien, adding staff and equipment
as the business expanded.
Sign Fabrication Specialists is the fabrication, laser
cutting and CNC routing department for sign businesses
who require these services but don’t have the demand,
space or staff to justify the expense of an dedicated
in-house fabrication facility.
We specialise in manufacturing one product only, using
our clients’ designs. Most of our space, all of our
equipment and all of our staff are dedicated to making
that one product. No one is visiting and negotiating with
clients and potential clients, producing design concepts,
site-measuring, installing, etc, which reduces our costs.
At Sign Fabrication Specialists, letter fabrication does
not happen once every couple of months, by the only
staff member who knows how to do it, and who may not
have much experience, on one bench, using equipment
not set up for the purpose and which is shared with
everyone else in the shop.
We can therefore supply first quality product, in quick
time and at a price that, when all factors are taken into
account, makes doing it in-house a less attractive option.
We are situated on the south side of Brisbane,
Queensland and supply clients in all mainland states
of Australia.
Greg Self
Founder and CEO
Sign Fabrication Specialists.
THE HISTORY
THE CONCEPT