Preferred Fabricator Spotlight: Park Place
Park Place Sign Systems is a wholesale ADA sign manufacturer based in Hannibal, Missouri. With over 20 years of experience in wholesale architectural and wayfinding ADA signage, Park Place Sign Systems has the expertise to tackle any sign challenge and deliver quality signage on-time, every time.
What makes Park Place different as a Nova Polymers Preferred Fabricator is that it is a one-stop shop for many of its clients. Its first-rate manufacturing facility comes equipped with the latest technology, from lasers to paint booths to direct-to-substrate digital printers, as well as a full metalworking shop. As Bill Baker, President of Park Place Sign Systems, puts it, Park Place acts as the “single source of ADA signage” for its customers.
Evolving into a Wholesale Signage Business
While operating a small vinyl sign shop in his garage, Baker came face-to-face with the opportunity to purchase Park Place Sign Systems in 1998. At the time, Park Place was just a trophy shop that was manufacturing permanent name tags for fast food franchises. Seeing Park Place’s potential for growth, Baker seized this opportunity and took control of the reins to grow the business.
However, the fast food industry was changing, with many of the industry’s employees coming and going. The decrease in the demand for permanent name tags led Park Place to a new market entirely: ADA signage. Having worked on a project for a medical facility in Daytona Beach before, Baker “knew that ADA signage was going to play a huge role in the growing medical industry. Plus, [Park Place] had the equipment so it was natural to start.”
To drum up business, Baker began marketing to construction companies that specialized in healthcare. Although he would win bids, he discovered construction projects rarely finished on time. This meant that Baker and his team would either have to wait around for the project to be finished or outsource the installation to a local team. In light of these pain points, Baker wondered if there was a way he could streamline his workflow to prevent these inefficiencies.
It was at this point Bill Baker decided to pivot Park Place Sign Systems into the wholesale business. He realized it was easier and more efficient for his company to develop and sell ADA signs to signage companies. In 2006, Park Place gradually transitioned from a local business into a wholesaler; and, by 2008, Park Place emerged as a complete wholesaler for ADA signage.
It was through this transition that Park Place Sign Systems found its niche in the industry: to fully guide its clients through the complex bidding and specification process. Today, Park Place works closely with signage companies to value engineer signs that would help them competitively bid against other companies. “Our biggest advantage as a wholesale sign business is that we are completely wholesale. We don’t compete with any of our customers; we make sure each customer we work with has a bidding advantage for themselves,” said Baker.
Nova Polymers Preferred Fabricator: The Perfect Ally
For Park Place Sign Systems, business was booming. However, its photopolymer supplier was not performing at the level it needed to continue growing, leading the wholesale signage company to search for a more reliable partner. Baker contacted Nova Polymers where Dave Miller, Managing Director at Nova Polymers, flew down to see how Park Place was growing. “He saw the potential of Park Place. Just through that interaction, we became good friends and allies to each other in the industry. Today, Nova Polymers is one of the best vendors we work with,” said Baker.
Baker found that one of the many advantages of working with Nova Polymers was the company’s reliability. “We never have to wait on our materials; the delivery is always immediate. When you’re dealing with multiple projects like we do – we have anywhere from 150 to 175 orders every day – you don’t want to be chasing materials and finding vendors,” he expanded. “Nova Polymers is always there when we need them, which makes things really easy for us. We don’t need to worry about anything.”
Another benefit of working with Nova Polymers was Nova Polymers’ photopolymer production method. Bill Baker found that Nova Polymers had a scalable process in place that allowed Park Place to easily create photopolymer ADA signage with little downtime. Baker explained, “When you’re making thousands of signs per year, you want things to be as easy as it can be. Nova Polymers has refined its process, making photopolymer processing very easy.”
Furthermore, Nova Polymers’ photopolymer material was another competitive advantage for Park Place. “Nova Polymers is very forward-thinking and innovative with what it’s doing. It stays on the cutting-edge of all the new designs and products that are needed in the industry,” said Baker. With innovative Novacryl® Photopolymer products like laminates and clear PETG in its catalog, Nova Polymers has become the only supplier Park Place needs to deliver durable and high-quality ADA photopolymer signage to its customers. “It’s easy in this industry to get to one place and stop – and that’s what a lot of companies do. But Nova Polymers is always looking for the next product that can help their customers make signs better and faster. That’s something you don’t see a lot of companies doing.”
A Continued Alliance
“Nova Polymers is a great ally to us at Park Place Sign Systems.”
Park Place Sign Systems has grown to become one of the top ADA wholesale sign fabricators in North America thanks to its focus on customer success and helping its customers find a competitive advantage in the local market. As a company also dedicated to helping its clients find success in the market, Nova Polymers is proud to call Park Place Sign Systems a Nova Polymers Preferred Fabricator. We are excited to be a part of Park Place Sign Systems’ growth in the upcoming years.
