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When one supermarket chain takes over another, the change of identity has to be complete. Stores are not simply re-branded - they are stripped, re-designed, redecorated and re-launched looking like they have just been built. Nevertheless, the most noticeable change from the outside is the name over the door.
This is the job that supermarket chain Morrisons has given to Bradford-based signage manufacturer and installer Butterfield Signs. The company, which regularly works for well known high street names, is manufacturing new illuminated signs for almost two hundred former Safeway stores that last year became part of the Morrisons chain.
Morrisons bought out Safeway for £3 billion in March 2004 and has until the end of this year to replace the old Safeway identity with brand new Morrisons signage.
Starting initially in the North of England, the re-branding programme will eventually extend to every former Safeway store now under Morrisons' ownership - and this means every store from Scotland to Penzance.
"Time is the biggest factor for us", says Kevin Killala, co-director of Butterfield Signs. "Replacement of the main store signage has to be completed during a window between Saturday night and Tuesday evening. Speed is of the essence".
Access is a major consideration for Butterfield. Every store is different to the other, except in one respect: replacing the signage always involves working at height - often with little room for manoeuvre.
To ensure it can access each store, Butterfield Signs has taken a 34m Bronto Skylift access platform on extended hire from Nationwide Access. The truckmounted machine is highly mobile and able to travel quickly from site to site. In operation, the machine's boom will enable workers to reach up to 34m and out to 25m.
"A lot of the signs are located above glass canopies or entrances", says Mr Killala. "We need to be able to reach safely above these with a platform that is capable of holding two men, their tools and the signage itself". Some of the signs are up to 2m in height and, while not necessarily heavy, they are difficult to manhandle at height.
Butterfield Signs started work on the Morrisons contract in mid-summer last year. The size of the contract was such that Butterfield Signs set up a dedicated factory to produce the signs and has several people working full-time on this project alone.
Naturally, the Nationwide Access Bronto is only required on a few of these sites, but the machine still has to travel long distances and cannot return to depot every evening. This is where Nationwide Access's extensive branch network plays a vital role.
With the equipment travelling the length and breadth of the country, it is never far from a Nationwide Access depot and so routine maintenance, as well as emergency repair if necessary, is never far away. "We have worked regularly with Nationwide Access for years, so I know the standard of service I'll be getting" says Mr Killala. "It's reassuring to know that there's always a depot within easy reach".
Nationwide Access can provide a range of 18 truckmounted access platforms mounted on a variety of chassis for both on and off-road applications and with working heights ranging from 15m to 72m. With another six months still to go, Butterfield Signs has now taken delivery of another Nationwide Access boom, this time a 22m Aerial, to assist in the re-branding of the Morrison stores.
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Nat0.135
For further information please contact
your local Nationwide Access Depot on:
0845 745 0000
or e-mail sales@nationwideaccess.co.uk.
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