These days, it’s rare to hear the word ‘neon’ come up in the news. Yet, that’s what happened in March when Toronto’s Ryerson University announced it had selected Hamilton-based Sunset Neon to restore the iconic Sam the Record Man sign.
现在，很少有人听到“霓虹灯”一词了，但是这并不代表新的照明技术就取代了霓虹灯照明技术。最重要的一个证明就是，在今年的三月份，位于多伦多的瑞尔森大学宣布选择使用汉密尔顿的最新霓虹灯技术来翻新具有标志性的山姆标识。
“We are very pleased to announce the spinning neon discs will once again illuminate downtown Toronto,” said Mohamed Lachemi, Ryerson’s president and vice-chancellor. “We are all looking forward to the signs lighting up later this year.”
瑞尔森大学总裁兼副校长Mohamed Lachemi说：“我非常高兴地宣布，旋转氖光盘将再次照亮多伦多市中心，我们都很期待最新的山姆标识。”
Ryerson’s new Student Learning Centre sits on Yonge Street on the former site of the flagship Sam’s store, which closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2008. Gregory Signs & Engraving of Concord, Ont., carefully dismantled the signage, catalogued the components and placed them in long-term storage.
瑞尔森大学的教学楼坐落在Yonge街上，旗舰山姆店在2007年关闭，2008年被拆除，他们小心地拆除了标牌，对这些组件进行了编目，并将它们包装起来进行长期储存。
In 2014, Toronto’s city council supported a proposal to reinstall the giant records on top of a public building at 277 Victoria Street, near the former store site and the bustling Yonge-Dundas Square. Ryerson would cover all restoration, installation and ongoing maintenance costs under its agreement with the city regarding the heritage-certified signage.
在2014年，多伦多市议会支持在维多利亚街277号的一个公共建筑顶部重新安装山姆标识，这个建筑靠近一个熙熙攘攘的Yonge-Dundas广场。瑞尔森大学将根据与城市协议的遗产认证标识，负责涵盖所有恢复、安装和维护的费用。
In early 2016, Ryerson issued a request for proposals (RFP), seeking qualified sign installation companies. After a lengthy review process, Sunset Neon was commissioned to handle the project.
在2016年初，瑞尔森大学发出了提案申请，寻找合适的标识安装公司。经过漫长的审查过程后，最终选定委托日落公司来负责该项目。
From night patrols to manufacturing
从夜间巡逻到制造
Sunset’s owner and president, David Carley, started the business in 1982 after losing his job in a recession.
日落公司的总裁David Carley在1982年的经济衰退中失业后开始经营这家公司。
“It started out with fixing signs to pay my bills,” he explains. “I did ‘night patrols,’ driving around town to check if any of the local mom-and-pop businesses’ signs had gone out. Then I would follow up in the morning by visiting them and offering free quotes for replacing the bulbs.”
David Carley说：“一开始的时候，我们做的是一些固定的标识项目，有次夜间巡逻，在城里开车，检查当地出名的企业是否需要做一些整改，然后我会在早上去拜访他们，并免费来为他们更换照明。”
The following year, he moved the business from his home base in Hamilton to a dedicated 93-m2 (1,000-sf) facility in Mississauga, Ont., and startedto service regional retail chain accounts on a continual basis.
公司运作的第二年里，David Carley将业务从汉密尔顿搬到了位于安大略省密西沙加的一个93平方米的小房子里，开始不断地为那个区域的零售连锁店提供服务。
“There was a lot of neon that needed to be serviced in the mid-’80s, but we could also see room for controlled growth by switching our focus to manufacturing, while still keeping servicing and installation work in-house,” says Carley, emphasizing it was important to proceed conservatively when assuming debt to add equipment and hire staff.
David Carley说：“在80年代中期，整个城市都在进行大量的维修霓虹灯的工作，但是我们却将工作重点转向制造方面，同时在进行内部维护和安装工作，我们发现，在维修过程中，设备和雇用工作人员的增加非常有必要。”
“We started in 1985 with manufacturing for the companies whose signs we were already servicing, then expanded from there to build for new clients. We specialized in neon-illuminated channel letters, which there were a lot of at the time, especially with the shopping mall building boom through 1988.
在1985年，我们开始为一些公司制造带有霓虹灯的标识，同时也在扩大规模，与新客户建立联系。从那时开始，我们就专门从事霓虹灯照明的制作，直到了1988年，已经为很多商场建筑做过霓虹灯标识了。
By the end of the ’80s, business was so strong, Sunset had expanded to a 409-m2 (4,400-sf) facility, more than four times the size of its previous home.
到八十年代末，业务突然猛增，日落公司已扩大到一个409平方米（4,400平方英尺）的房子，是以前小屋子规模的四倍。
Expanded horizons
扩大视野
Following a dip with the 1990-91 recession, the next phase of expansion came in 1992, when Sunset moved into a 464.5-m2(5,000-sf) facility in Burlington, Ont., closer to its Hamilton roots, and was officially incorporated.
虽然1990—1991年经历了经济衰退，但是在1992年又迎来了新一轮的扩张，当时，日落公司又搬到了位于安大略省伯灵顿，距离汉密尔顿根区，一个5,000平方米的的工厂。
“We’ve tended to move every eight years as we outgrow each building,” says Carley. “We’ve tried to continue with the same business plan for organic growth by keeping our existing clients and dedicating a few key staff members to prospecting new ones. The prospecting can be a struggle, as we all get busy, but growth will not come without new blood.”
David Carley说：“我们每八年都会搬家一次，规模在不断扩大，甚至超过了一些小建筑的面积。我们在尝试通过保留现有客户，继续采用同样的业务增长计划来运营，并致力于发展新的客户，开发新的霓虹灯技术和服务，为公司注入新的血液。”
With this strategy, Sunset was able to add new national accounts every year or two, becoming a long-term supplier for The Body Shop, Moore’s Clothing for Men, Michael Hill and other retail chains across Canada. In addition to supplying signs when new stores opened and existing ones were refurbished, Sunset gained trust by ensuring local sign bylaws were followed from city to city.
通过这一策略，日落公司每年以递增的趋势在扩大客户规模，成为了The Body Shop、摩尔男士服装、迈克尔·希尔和加拿大其他零售连锁店的长期供应商。此外，公司还为新店开业和现有店面的进行标识翻新，并且有城市机关部门的签字章程，获得了广泛的信任。
“Our national accounts come back to us year after year,” Carley says. “All of the Dairy Queen (DQ) franchisees, for instance, like to deal with us because they know we will provide a solid product and we won’t miss a grand opening.”
David Carley说：“我们与客户保持一个友好的长期关系。例如，冰雪皇后DQ加盟商都喜欢与我们打交道，因为他们知道我们能提供一个坚实可靠的产品，所以我们当然不会错过DQ隆重的开幕式。”
In addition to serving regular customers across Canada, Sunset began to manufacture signs for shipping to locations in the U.S. and further abroad, including a video arcade in Japan.
除了为加拿大的客户提供服务外，日落公司开始打开海外市场，制造出到美国等境外的进口标识，包括日本商场的霓虹灯标识。
“We shipped the components and sent our installers over there to handle them,” says Carley.
David Carley说：“我们会负责运送组件，并派安装人员到那里进行处理与安装。”
Continued organic growth
持续的有机成长
The initial move to Burlington was followed by two relocations within the same city, first to a 929-m2 (10,000-sf) facility in 1999 and then to a 1,858-m2 (20,000-sf) facility in 2007, doubling the size of the company’s footprint each time.
日落公司最初搬到伯灵顿，之后在同一个城市进行了两次搬迁，从1999年的929平方米，到后来2007年的1,858平方米，鉴证了公司一步一个脚印的成长与改变。
Each move set the stage for major investments in new machinery, as well as research and development (R&D) efforts in emerging areas like light-emitting diode (LED) illumination and computer numerical control (CNC) routing.
日落公司有一个全面的营销策略，每项措施都为新设备的投资、照明技术和计算机数控等新兴领域的研发工作奠定了基础。
“The sign industry continues to make improvements very quickly,” Carley says. “You walk through a mall today and the signs all look fantastic and are high-quality. Even a sign from just two years ago looks very clunky by comparison.”
David Carley说：“标识行业中很多方面都得到了改善。你随意走进一个商场，品牌的标识都看起来很棒。但是以前的产品，相比之下看起来可能没有现在的这么精致。”
At the end of 2016, Sunset moved back to its hometown, Hamilton, with a 4,645-m2 (50,000-sf) manufacturing facility providing more room for a staff that had doubled over the previous three years, to more than 50.
在2016年底，日落公司迁移到了汉密尔顿，拥有4,645平方米（50,000平方英尺）的制造工厂，过去三年中，员工的数量都翻了一番，规模的扩大为员工和公司的发展提供了更多的空间。
“This location has the best and most advanced equipment available in our industry,” says Carley. “It’s very exciting to be part of this experience, where a mature company is still growing organically. Sales were up 37 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017 versus last year.”
David Carley说：“我们拥有行业中最好和最先进的设备。技术和设备的更新对于标识的更替非常关键，任何一个品牌的标识不会一成不变的，一个新技术也许能让一个标识发挥重要的作用。因此，公司还在不断发展，这是非常激动人心的，与去年相比，20 17年第一季度的销售额增长了37％。”
A reputation for project management
项目管理的声誉
Carley credits winning the Sam’s job to Sunset’s well-established reputation, not only in terms of in-house engineering and glass bending for large signs, but also for dedicated project management.
在一次机遇中，David Carley获得了恢复山姆标识的工作，这项任务的完成使得日落公司获得了良好的声誉，项目不仅要完成内部工程，在一个弯曲玻璃上安装一个大型的霓虹灯标识，而且还要规划专门的管理方案。
“Our level of project management is what our clients love most about us,” he says. “It’s also important we now have a facility that can handle the magnitude of the project. This sign is huge!”
David Carley说：“山姆公司最关心就是我们的项目管理水平，因为这个标识是巨大的，重要的是，我们有一个可以处理这个项目规模的设施。”
Tony Bianchi, account manager, is overseeing the project. He had 26 years’ experience in the sign industry when he joined Sunset in 2002 as a project manager. And as it happened, he would go on to do work for Ryerson’s Student Learning Centre just a few years later.
公司的客户经理Tony Bianchi正在监督该项目。作为项目经理，他在2002年加入日落公司时，在标识行业已经有26年的从业经验了。
“That’s why they called me up with regard to the Sam’s sign about three-and-a-half years ago,” he explains. “I wrote up a feasibility report for them.”
David Carley说：“早在三年前，山姆标识公司就打电话给我了，后来我为他们写了一份可行的标识制作方案。”
The two neon discs of the Sam’s sign were originally wall-mounted in 1977 and 1987 and had deteriorated significantly by the time they were taken down in 2008. The challenge for both Ryerson and the city of Toronto was to choose a new installation site that would provide a high level of visibility for the historic artifact, comply with local bylaws and, from a structural engineering point of view, withstand the wind load.
山姆标识的两个霓虹光盘原来是壁挂式的，在2008年的时候明显恶化被淘汰。瑞尔森大学和多伦多市政府结合当地的章程，从结构工程的角度，选择了一个新的安装地点，来翻新山姆标识，提高它的知名度。
“I got engineers involved and we came up with the idea for a louvered system that would allow the wind to pass right through the rebuilt sign,” says Bianchi. “The way this works, the background of the sign will look like a solid panel, but it isn’t. It’s a bit like a set of Venetian window blinds.”
Bianchi说：“我们想出了一个百叶窗系统的制作方案来翻新山姆标识，这样做是标识的背景看起来像一个坚实的面板，但其实最后的效果并不是这样。”
Ryerson has asked Sunset to preserve as much of the original sign as possible. Once Bianchi’s team checks the condition of all of the components now in storage, they will be able to determine more specifically which of them can be reused and which will need to be replicated.
瑞尔森大学委托日落公司翻新山姆标识时，提出了要尽可能保留原始标识的要求。Bianchi的团队检查了存储所有组件的状况，他们确定了哪些组件可以重复使用，哪些需要重新制作。
Another reason Sunset is well-suited for the job is, unlike many other sign shops, it still has a neon department with a glass blower on staff. The family of Sam Sniderman—the Record Man himself—has insisted on maintaining neon illumination for the spinning discs, rather than switching to LEDs or another technology.
日落公司非常适合接这个项目，区别于其他的标识商店，日落公司有一个独特的霓虹灯系列，而山姆标识一直坚持使用旋转光盘维持霓虹灯照明，而没有切换成LED或其他照明技术。
“There used to be lots of unique neon signs along Yonge Street,” says Bianchi, “but these days, we’ve had a hard time finding new neon components. Our supplier has had to source them from the U.S. for this project.”
Bianchi说：“Yonge街曾经有很多独特的霓虹灯，但现在我们很难找到最新的霓虹灯组件了。我们的标识供应商不得不从美国进口组件来完成这个项目。”
Indeed, given this dearth of neon suppliers, Sunset will not only restore the Sam’s sign, but also blow glass for replacement parts for use 10 or 20 years in the future.
事实上，鉴于霓虹灯供应商的缺乏，日落将不仅翻新山姆标识，而且还将为今后使用10年或20年的替代零件提供服务。
“We’ll create quite a few spare parts—including the transformers, neon and electrical components—and house them on-site,” Carley explains, “so when the time comes for servicing, they can all be easily accessed.”
Carley解释说:“我们将制作不少配件，包括变压器和电气部件等，并将其放在现场以备使用，一旦需要，都可以随意用得上。”
At press time, Sunset’s team is meeting with city council to determine further logistics—such as the potential need to shut down a lane of Dundas Street during the work—and to acquire the necessary permits based on engineering drawings, with the installation tentatively scheduled for the fall.
在新闻发布的时候，日落公司的团队正在和市议会会面，以确定进一步的物流工作。例如，在工作期间可能需要关闭Dundas街的车道，并根据工程图获得必要的许可证。
“This project is a big highlight for us,” says Carley. “Tony was very persistent in pursuing it and did a great job.”
Carley说：“这个项目对我们来说很有意义，将会变为一个丰富的经验，我们坚持追求做到最好。”
