Signs for the times

Selkirk Signs & Service Ltd. is a business built on trusted relationships

1 of 3Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd. has consolidated its Cranbrook operations in its premises at 421 Patterson Street West. — Photo courtesy Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd.

2 of 3The staff of Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd. are celebrating the company's 30 years in business — Photo courtesy Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd.

3 of 3Jeana McDonald is the sales manager at Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd. in Cranbrook, B.C. — Photo courtesy Selkirk Signs & Services Ltd.

‹ ›

…

Jeana McDonald, sales manager at the Cranbrook office of Selkirk Signs & Services (Selkirk), said that among the things that make Selkirk a great place to work is its no-blame environment where personal initiative is encouraged.

“This is very much a business that values family and relationships,” McDonald said. “There are brothers working beside brothers, dads with their kids, and friends with friends. If we have a good employee and they recommend someone for a job here, we’re all over it.”

McDonald said that Selkirk provides its staff and customers with the best that technology has to offer.

“We all have state-of-the-art computers and we buy the best materials we can get at a competitive price, so we can give our customers value and longevity on their signage,” she said.

Selkirk Signs has a sales office and service department in Calgary, employing a staff of about 15. The Cranbrook shop is home to the production staff who build the signs and the service staff who take care of their clients between Grand Forks to the west and Crowsnest Pass to the east, and as far north as Golden. Both shops have several large crane trucks that are used to install signage and perform maintenance.

The 46 staff members in Cranbrook include drafting and design personnel, an electrician, two welders, one carpenter and 20 or more production workers. A dozen or so project managers and co-ordinators provide dedicated project followup, and the staff roster is rounded out by two people in accounting.

More than a small-town player

Though the fact that its home base is in Cranbrook may suggest that Selkirk Signs has a modest sphere of influence, in fact the company has four national clients and is a significant player in Canada’s signage industry.

“We manufacture signs for companies in major centres and rural locations right across Canada,” McDonald said. “We want small business owners to know that we will build high-quality signage for them, just as we do for our large corporate clients.”

An efficient arrangement

Those corporate clients have facilities all across Canada and even into the United States. Once the Cranbrook shop has built a sign it will be shipped to the business site, where a local sign company will do the installation.

“Our signs go across Canada, so we’ve built partnerships with other sign companies to do the installations,” McDonald said. “We get great feedback from them regarding the quality of our products.”

Selkirk’s website provides a comprehensive picture of its products and services, which include the manufacture of energy-efficient LED illuminated signs, sales and service of electronic message centres and production of wide-format digital printing. All of its products are solidly backed by Selkirk’s 30-year reputation for quality.

Building bigger relationships

Because Selkirk incorporates green initiatives into its production methods wherever possible, the company's practice of building relationships goes beyond its own workplace and into the community. Company personnel are encouraged to put forward ideas for practices that will reduce both environmental impact and costs. Those ideas extend to the areas of recycling, energy conservation, waste reduction and disposal, and choice of materials, among others, and carry long-term benefits for the community.

Selkirk’s social conscience extends into the not-for-profit sector as well, and the company takes pride in stepping up to the plate when it comes to supporting nonprofit agencies. Financial support helps these agencies to tell their unique stories and showcase the different social issues to which they are committed, and Selkirk provides signage, design and quality printing for charitable organizations at either reduced cost or no cost at all.

Growth and consolidation

Selkirk Signs & Service has undergone many changes in the past two years. It has upgraded and modernized its equipment and renovated the shop floor and office space at the Cranbrook site to allow for future growth. As of the middle of August, the local sales office and print division have relocated to the main plant at 421 Patterson Street West in Cranbrook.

The high standards of quality in Selkirk’s products and service are a cornerstone of the company’s success. Those high standards are evident in all the details of its work and can be relied upon by all of its clients.