As the Fed continues to raise interest rates, our developer and general contractor clients are under increasing pressure to deliver projects on time and budget. This is particularly acute in the multifamily housing sector but impacts most projects in the current construction pipeline broadly. Recognizing that “time is money” for every developer, especially now, the team at Priority Architectural Graphics, under the leadership of President, Juliana Choy Sommer, has continued to pioneer new process and productivity enhancements at the company. These operational improvements are aimed at reducing time-to-completion for our signage clients as well as allowing us to be even sharper on our pricing of projects.
Technology Investments
The utilization of 3D printing technology to increase speed of delivery of ADA and code related signage is a boon the benefits of which, we are excited to pass on to our clients.
In June, we announced our new “print on demand” custom signage product for clients seeking a fast and easy way of producing signage for smaller jobs. Currently, we are offering 12″ x 12″ black and white acrylic panels and we will be adding a full suite of POD products downstream.
Manufacturing Process Improvements
Another area we have focused on this year (with help from our manufacturing experts at MANEX) are ways we can redesign our internal process flows to streamline operational tasks and eliminate redundancies from sign design to print to cut processes. Using our San Francisco and Redwood City teams and leveraging the successful Kaizen method which we have employed with MANEX support since 2019, we have recently adopted new manufacturing processes and operational improvements which have increased shop productivity upwards of 30%. These time savings can then be passed on to our clients with faster turnaround of signage packages.
Maximizing Efficiency for Code Signage and ADA Mandated Signage
A third strategy underway at Priority is to reduce the need for our clients to hire and use additional resources necessary for completion of code packages and ADA signage. By creating pre-designed signage families, we are able to deliver product to our multi-family sector housing clients lighting fast. By removing a lengthy design review activity from the CPM schedule, we’ve been able to reduce developer overall costs while also streamlining the rapid turnaround of ADA signage. We want to deliver speed to a project, an element critical to construction projects.
Company President Juliana Choy Sommer recaps, “Our team at Priority is laser focused on process improvements which move the needle for our clients. We know that time is money to every general contractor and so if we can find ways to deliver quality signage, faster and more expeditiously, we’re putting them ahead of the game.”
