SAVIGNY, France--()--Europe’s only continent-wide sign installation and maintenance company is celebrating the second renewal of a contract with tyre company Bridgestone.
Associated Sign Services Europe – ASSE – has worked with Bridgestone’s European network for four years, providing comprehensive services relating to site-based corporate identity, re-imaging and maintenance work.
ASSE claims to solve a major problem for European retail brands; the sign industry is fragmented across the continent, made up of local, regional and national companies none of which can legitimately claim a network extending across the EC.
For customers this means that consistent service delivery and project management can be difficult to secure; installation firms seldom have command of all the relevant languages to handle Europe-wide roll-outs. Customers commissioning sign and branding projects country-by-country also fail to capitalise on the economies of scale available on larger projects.
ASSE is the brainchild of French sign company PL Identité Services, which has invested heavily in seeking-out high quality partners in each of Europe’s 27 countries and working with them to develop a business model which can deliver consistency. As a result, ASSE has over 100 installation teams, five main European logistical hubs, 35 regional depots and more than 300 staff at its availability.
It has access to sophisticated project management software specifically designed for the sign industry and can offer top-level customer interface in German, French or English. Its installation teams can talk to customers in whatever is the relevant local language. Customers have a single point of contact at senior level and full transparency on the progress of their work.
Bridgestone is the world’s largest tyre manufacturer, selling 10 million tyres a year; it has 2,000 First Stop centres across 25 countries, making it one of Europe’s leading fast-fit companies. ASSE supplies and installs quality signage, showroom furniture and fittings for the network.
ASSE has reduced lead times for new site openings by an average of two months, reduced the amount of time First Stop managers have to spend on signage and interior fittings, and is credited with keeping costs low at a time when materials, components and transport costs increased by 13%. Under the contract, it is responsible for ensuring network-wide compliance with corporate identity, equipment standardisation and quality levels.
To see ASSE’s new website go to www.signseurope.eu.