Signs of the Times - December 2012 - 60

Table 4: Breakdown of Illuminated Products
Sales Volume Less than $250,000 $250,000-$999,999 $1 million-$5 million More than $5 million Unknown Total Total (2010) Total (2008) Total (2007) Total (2006) Total (2002) Respondents 12 17 20 4 25 78 42 92 122 52 122 Neon 25.4% 15.2% 9.7% 2.0% 23.8% 17.4% 19.5% 24.5% 22.8% 34.1% 49.7% LEDs 48.3% 44.9% 56.3% 73.5% 39.2% 48.0% 31.8% 28.2% 30.2% 14.7% 4.7% Fluorescent 22.9% 37.3% 31.3% 20.8% 27.2% 29.5% 32.5% 38.9% 39.8% 44.5% 36.7% Other* 3.3% 2.6% 2.8% 3.8% 9.8% 5.1% 16.1% 8.6% 7.4% 6.7% 9.1%

*“Other” combines incandescent, HID, fiberoptics and “other” from prior year.

Table 5: Lighting Expenditures (Equipment and Supplies)
Sales Volume Less than $250,000 $250,000-999,999 $1 Million - $5 million More than $5 million Unknown Total Total (2010) Total (2008) Total (2007) Total (2006) Total (2005) Respondents 10 15 15 2 2 44 37 42 56 36 61 Lighting Expenditures $173,500 $792,700 $4,454,000 $6,040,000 $43,000 $11,503,200 $4,014,520 $6,258,000 $3,572,650 $27,797,000 $13,569,000 Average/Respondent $17,350 $52,847 $296,933 $3,020,000 $21,500 $261,436 $111,514 $149,000 $63,797 $992,750 $222,443

swing. Loyalty to neon and the smallness of the signshop is directly proportionate. Neon still lights more than a quarter of the electric signs for the smallest shops, while it’s essentially disappeared in the four largest sign companies here. Table 5, like Table 3, indicates the sign industry is rebounding, but hasn’t yet done so completely. Again, while the average amount spent on lighting equipment and materials can simply reflect the sizes of the companies that responded, we see here the highest average figure ($260,000+) in several years, despite having received responses from mostly smaller companies. This can only bode well for the sign industry. Neon The biggest change for neon, according to the survey, is a much greater emphasis on using it inside, and a sizeable increase in it apparently being used for non-sign purposes. Table 6 shows 40% of neon being used internally, whereas it’s never even been at 30% previously. Additionally, its use as “other” at 17.5% is essentially double that of the previous survey’s best, 8.9%. I suspect these two factors are intertwined – the new uses for neon are being found indoors. By small margins, neon use in border tubing and art/sculpture are at unprecedented levels, but I suspect this is more due to the major decline in neon’s use in channel letters more than an actual increase in use in these other areas. In other words, if the entire use of neon has declined, but its use for a specific application has remained constant, that application’s percentage of the overall neon market will rise. The ratio of outsourced neon to neon created inhouse has remained relatively stable at a 2:1 ratio. As expected, the use of neon for art/ sculpture is more prevalent in the smaller shops. “New” neon somehow continues to be a greater source of income than “neon repair.” With some minor fluctuations, that trend has always held true. Traditional, ferromagnetic transformers continue to trend downward,

positive number – an average salesvolume increase of 18.5% from 2011 to 2012, the best figure in at least the past decade. Those whose sales volume increased (37) more then tripled those whose sales volume declined (12). In 2008 and 2010, the results had been alarmingly the opposite. The sales-volume increases averaged 23.5%, while the declines averaged less than 5%. Those whose sales volume didn’t change (6) were proportionately the least number yet. In Table 3, the figures about the number of employees reflect the sizes of the companies that responded much more than they indicate any industry trends. Of perhaps greater interest is the ratio

of fabricators and installers to the number of overall employees. However, we see that fabricators continue to represent approximately one-third of the work force. In contrast, companies report far fewer installers – only 10% of the work force, on average, while that figure has typically been around 20%. The only reasonable explanation is that companies are outsourcing much more installation. Table 4, again, contains this report’s most significant number – that 48% of all electric sign are illuminated with LEDs. Simultaneously, neon, fluorescent and “other” are at their all-time lows. Clearly, LEDs as a replacement, disruptive technology is in full

60 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / DECEMBER 2012 / www.signweb.com

http://www.signweb.com

Signs of the Times - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - December 2012