A Port Kells company is introducing a new way to manufacture traffic signs that is faster, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than traditional methods.

Sherine Industries has installed the Durst Rho 161 TS printer, the first in North America, that can print digital images directly onto reflective material for signs.

Company president Steve Hocaluk says that by printing directly onto media, many steps in the sign making process can be eliminated.

Rather than having a separate background colour layer and text layer on top, this new method prints both the background colour and text together onto one layer, effectively cutting the material cost by 30 to 50 per cent.

鈥淭his is very significant. It reduces the amount of labour required and it reduces the waste when you eliminate that extra layer of graphics material,鈥� Hocaluk said.

鈥淚t allows us to output much more product faster than ever before.鈥�

This, along with new printing speeds of 700 square feet per hour, allow for quicker and more efficient service. In the past, only 250 square feet could be printed per hour.

There are environmental benefits as well.

Sherine Industries claims the UV inks used in this new process reduce the environmental impact of production by 90 per cent.

They have significantly lower VOC emissions than the solvent-based inks from before, and do not compromise quality of the product.

鈥淭he length of durability on the signs, from a strict warranty perspective, is exactly the same as before,鈥� Hocaluk said.

鈥淗owever all of the signs we produce here now get a clear GrafixGuard coating on the top and that has anti-graffiti properties in it, which was never available before under previous methods,鈥� he added.

There are already 19 Durst printers in Europe, but the trend has not caught on in North America yet.

鈥淭he sign industry typically has been like an old boys club. They鈥檙e just very comfortable with the way things were done. And it always takes someone to be the leader in this regard,鈥� he said.

The purchase of the printer cost the company three-quarters of a million dollars, however Hocaluk says in the end the benefits from it made the buy a 鈥渘o-brainer.鈥�

鈥淯ntil now there hasn鈥檛 been a machine anywhere near the production speed and quality of the Durst,鈥� he said.

鈥淲ith other machines that were offered out there and other processes, there wasn鈥檛 enough in savings to justify the investment. There鈥檚 just so many features that have finally made it worth it.鈥�

Founded in 1973, Sherine Industries began as a two-man operation and has grown into a the largest traffic sign supplier in Western Canada.