It's the vinyl countdown
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Liveries provide a form of advertising that moves around the country and protect the truck's bodywork. CM finds out how those iconic images are put on
Words: Christopher Walton If I said to you. "green, white and red trucks with a girl's name on the frontyou would know instantly which
haulier I was talking about.
But who is responsible for giving a plain white Scania or Volvo that unique Stobart look? Since 2003, Penrith-based AstSigns has applied a full-colour, printed, vinyl wrap to more than 3,000 vehicles, including tractor units, trailers, vans, trains, plant machinery and even a helicopter.
But Stobart isn't the only fleet to get wrapped by AstSigns. Since it was formed in 2003 by Mark Aston, AstSigns has applied graphics on some 700 Mercedes Sprinter vans for Parcelforce, more than 100 tractor units for Shell and Hoycr UK, and 270 vehicles for Cumbrian firm AW Jenkinson. And there is a very large fleet refreshing its livery soon, although CM isn't allowed to mention who.
Why vinyl wrap, rather than a re-spray? Aston explains that the vinyl wrapping of vehicles reduces downtime as the whole process takes just one day per vehicle. On top of that, the wrap prevents damage to vehicle bodywork and helps maintain the residual value of the vehicle for resale, as the wrap has a life-span of three to five years. It can also be easily removed, therefore the vehicle doesn't require a respray when it comes to being defleeted.
-Vehicle wrapping has been around for seven or eight years, and there are only really a handful of companies at the top end. But it is all about the residuals," he says. "You pretty much save the price of the wrap."
It is the technology behind the wrap that makes such durability, and volumes, possible. The vinyl material is just 50 microns (0.05mm) thick, This doubles to 100 microns as a protective over-laminate is applied. It takes eight hours for one of AstSigns' professional wrappers to wrap a complete tractor unit To see it happen in just six minutes, go to www.bitly/dju8.1v or search for AstSigns on YouTuhe.
AstSigns uses a state-of-the-art Hewlett-Packard latex printer as well as UV flatbed printers. a flat-bed cutter and heat presses to produce signs, vehicle graphics and digital prints. Some of the results are among the most prominent liveries on the roads.
In 2009, AstSigns provided a single-colour, half-body wrap, with cut vinyl graphics, for more than 80 trucks in the Hoyer UK Shell fleet. •