A Century of Excellence: Best Signs and the Power of Lean

Founded in 1924 in Montrose, Colorado, Best Signs has a rich history spanning over a century. Initially established as a rubber stamping company, Best Signs transitioned in the 1960s to focus on engraved signage, marking the beginning of their evolution into the comprehensive signage solution provider they are today. Renowned as a single-source solution for all signage needs, Best Signs excels in designing, manufacturing, and installing both exterior and interior signage. Their expertise extends to highly custom signage for diverse environments from hospitals, large warehouses, multi-family projects and hotels to name a few.

Working with his ME Regional Director, Eric Seedman, CEO Stephen Savoy identified several lean techniques to streamline processes, including value stream mapping, job instructions, and job methods. Once again, by leveraging state grant funding opportunities to offset the overall cost, Best Signs was able to expand the scope of their efforts to include additional consulting-based solutions, resulting in even greater measurable impact. This combination of grant-paid and cash-paid services turbocharged the project, resulting in an even greater measurable impact that would not have been possible in an either-or scenario.

The lean project at Best Signs has yielded numerous remarkable results. On one line alone, they immediately saw a $180,000 cost savings. Overall, they are estimating a reduction of over $400,000 in material and labor costs. On the consulting side, a marketing-related project has produced a substantial pipeline increase from $3.5M to $5M in just the past seven months. The advantage of combining consulting and training services is that, as the pipeline and backlog increase due to new marketing techniques, the implementation of lean practices enables Best Signs to meet the increased demand while maintaining their on-time delivery rates and customer satisfaction.