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Shop celebrates its centennial with green initiative
By Steve Aust
When Philadelphia Sign Co. (PSCO) was founded in 1911, wooden, handpainted “For Rent” signs represented its first offering. As neon’s introduction to the sign industry revolutionized electric-sign possibilities, the shop became an early adopter and built numerous movie marquees and rooftop signage as they became industry trends. The company has since kept pace with LED illumination and other signage innovations. As ST can attest (it passed the century mark five years ago), an enterprise doesn’t remain in business for 100 years without rolling with the punches and staying vigilant in adopting new trends. Today, the shop provides turnkey manufacturing, project management and maintenance for financial-services, retail and hospitality clients, among others.
Embarking on its second century, PSCO now maintains headquarters in Palmyra, NJ, just outside Philadelphia. It operates additional production facilities in Palmyra and Pennsauken, NJ, as well as a sales and installation plant in Littleton, MA, and satellite sales offices in Chicago and Knoxville and Virginia Beach, VA.
The company boldly addressed what will be a growing concern for the next 100 years – sustainable energy. The company equipped its 225,000-sq.-ft. Pennsauken facility with a $4.5 million retrofit that enables the shop to be run entirely by solar power. What began as a cold call evolved into a forward-thinking decision to invest in green energy.
-->Here comes the sun
During the summer of 2010, several solar-power-component vendors visited PSCO to discuss installing a solar-power system. Intrigued by both investing in renewable energy and federal tax credits, Bob Mehmet, PSCO’s CEO, researched the viability and efficacy (and cost) of switching to solar power. He exhaustively pored over data for two months, and toured nearby facilities – Dietz & Watson, Johnson & Johnson and the Pennsauken landfill – which had transitioned to solar power. Mehmet then decided to state his case to Bill Trucksess, the company chairman. Trucksess agreed the solar-power installation would be advantageous.
Rather than going with a turnkey provider, PSCO decided to buy its components directly from the manufacturer and manage the project in-house. They chose to retrofit the Pennsauken plant because its flat roof, which spans approximately five acres, would be most conducive to the changeover. The company promptly sought project vendors.
Mehmet said, “As with finding a sign-industry vendor, it became very apparent that there’s a significant difference in quality among manufacturers.”
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