YESCO at the International Sign Expo

We were fortunate to send two of our seasoned staff, Brian Wick and Keith Wick to the ISA Sign Exhibition and Trade Show in Orlando in March 2018. Although there were not many innovations to bring back, what was really startling was the lack of traditional sign lighting systems using blown glass neon tubes and T12 fluorescent lamps.

Neon parts and ballast, transformers and connectors were far and few between. There only appeared to be one vendor offering the traditional parts for red and coloured glass neon tubes. Our suppliers in Canada have told us the supplies are limited already. Although you many not see many of these signs styles in our region, it is because the neon glass tubes are typically covered by Channel Letters and caped with coloured Plexiglas to give a nice clean finish. For example, the Tim Hortons logo is narrow contours that stand out from the building. Until recently, these had bent glass tubes inside. New Tim Hortons signs use LED lighting strips (similar in nature to line of Christmas lights).

Fluorescent lamps, ballasts, tombstones and wiring are very quickly being replaced by stings of LED lights or LED light sticks by various manufacturers. The replacements are relatively easy and can save the customer up to 70% of the cost of electricity.