Full-service Rite Lite Signs of Concord, North Carolina has made quite a name for itself as a go-to specialist for custom sign manufacturing (neon and LED channel letters, monument/pylons, electronic message centers, architecturals, wayfinding, etc.). Their customers range from architects, designers, and property managers/developers to retail mom-and-pops and chain stores.
But according to Sales Manager David Cornelius, the company is more attracted to the type of project than to a type of customer. “We like projects that are unique,” he says. “Our team gets a little bit more excited when working on something that’s a little outside-the-box, where we can have some extent of creative input. We like it when we’re able to have back-and-forths with customers who come in with just an idea or a design, but they aren’t sure how to get it done. It’s great because not only does the customer get engaged, but we do too.
“Our whole team can get involved with input, eventually ending up with a good-looking custom sign that’s different than everything else.”
Vice President of Operation John Sullivan attributes the company’s success to its forty employees (office staff, designers, fabricators, neon benders, installers, etc.). “We’ve taken steps that the necessary equipment works with our people and their skill sets,” he says. We’ve done a lot of training with our own employees and, over the years, have been able to bring in people with relative experience and being able to build on that experience into what we do.
“There’s a lot of hands-on collaboration and brainstorming on creative ideas for construction and fabrication. It’s a good team effort.”
Sullivan also credits their roster of very talented artists who are able to turn out “incredible” hand sketches for helping to improve their workflow process, especially during the concept phase. “When customer comes in with a rough idea of their theme or their sign, we’ll ask one of our artists to sketch out some ideas,” he says. “They’ll import this into CorelDRAW®, outline it, and turn it into an actual design. This can make things go a little quicker.”
Impressively Rite Lite Signs celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary in business last year. Owners David and Tasha Catchpole started the company back in 1989 out of their home as a straight-up installation and servicing company for other sign shops, but they’ve been able to evolve into full-service design and fabrication work for an expanding list of clients and offerings, and because of this, they have upgraded locations a couple of times and are currently working out of a 46,000-square foot facility (complete with 11,000 feet of office space).
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“In the early years, we started doing some light fabrication—little channel letter jobs, little box signs—while still focused on install and service,” says Sullivan, “and then grew the business from that.
“We’re still doing everything we started out doing from the installation side, but now we’re adding larger clients and larger scopes of work.”
On their shop floor, the key word appears to be “automation.” You’ll find a roll former for steel and aluminum tubes, for instance, as well as automated brakes and sheers for sheet metal work and formed faces. In addition to digital printers, there are two large CNC router tables (8-by-12 feet and 6-by-12 feet) fully automated with tool changers, as well as 16-by-32-foot and 13-by-22 spray booths.
And installations remain a forte. They currently own two digger trucks for drill footings and a 115-foot HiReach crane that accompanies their regular Altec and Elliott sixty-feet crane trucks.
For their anniversary celebration last year, the company rebranded its Web site, sent out press and marketing materials, and even custom-made plaques honoring the Catchpoles.
One coincidental piece of timing was the installation of a new 170-square foot, on-premise pylon sign complete with neon lighting and electronic message center display. “With those two technologies, it puts on display the varied work we do,” says Cornelius, noting that this installation ended up being a “present” to themselves, “and ties the old school concept with the new school.
“It’s right off Interstate I-85 also, so we get a lot of exposure and foot traffic from that.”
In the future, the shop would like to steer a bit into tackling more work that isn’t necessarily sign-related (architectural embellishments and the such). “We like those type of projects,” says Cornelius, “since they’re very custom as well.”
—Jeff Wooten
