When to invest in installation training
You’ve just plotted or printed a beautiful new graphic for your customer, and you’re ready to apply it to the company delivery truck. As you work, you’re asking yourself, “Why am I getting all these wrinkles?” or “Why can’t I ever get the vinyl down over these rivets?” Trust me, we’ve all been there.
Whether you’ve been installing vinyl for six months or 10 years, you can learn something new. Industry training courses and seminars can help you overcome some of these installation obstacles. Here are several options that can hopefully help you get over that “old dog,” or even the “new dog,” syndrome.
Why do I need that?
When creating such ubiquitous signs as Coroplast® corrugated plastic “yard sale” blanks decorated with plotter-cut film, you could probably fumble your way through them relatively successfully. So, why would you need further training? What if your customer would like to re-brand his 10 area franchise restaurants with storefront signage and five, fully wrapped catering trucks? Don’t try to fumble through that one.
Advanced training prepares you for applications that require various vinyl types on many different substrates. Need another reason? When the shop down the street can’t handle this type of job, your phone might start ringing more. And, here’s the second reason – more money!
By now, you’re scanning down the page to see where you can get this training, but slow down – you need some background information first.
The earliest vinyl installers, who were self-taught, learned the correct installation techniques the hard way – through many mistakes and costly re-do’s. They also learned that various vinyl types require different treatments – what you can, or can’t do, with monomeric calendered film or premium cast film. (Actually, these early installation pioneers taught manufacturers the films’ capabilities!)
So, for years, you might have found a training video or a book, but nothing could replicate hands-on training.
Recently, however, vinyl-film manufacturers have offered one-, two-, or three-day seminars that teach vinyl-installation aspects that pertain to one or two specific scenarios, such as vehicle wraps or wall graphics. However, these well-organized and educational classes may devolve into sales pitches.
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