About Signs Manufacturing

A Proud History of Helping Our Customers Succeed

Over 75,000 Signs Manufactured and Installed"It's been a pleasure working with you and your team on this sign.  You get things done when you say you are and are infinitely patient with the many changes my tenants wanted.  You are now my only source of signs and I'll refer anyone who needs a sign to you."
Thu Nguyen, Bluebonnet Plaza

Signs Manufacturing™, a Watson Family owned and managed corporation, has been building quality signs and shipping them worldwide since 1979.

Signs Manufacturing™, as used in this website, refers equally or individually to Signs Manufacturing Corporation, Signs Manufacturing and Maintenance Corporation, or Sunburst LED Signs™, LP, all Watson family entities.

We manufacture electrical equipment as defined by the Texas legislature, to include LED signs, channel letters, wall cabinet signs, monument signs, pole signs, electronic message centers, pylon signs, neon, cold-cathode lighting, awnings; and other signs.

Three Family members are licensed electricians (two are Masters), each with over 30 years experience in every phase of the business.  One member holds both Master Sign Electrician and Master Electrician licenses.  Prior to Texas' State-wide licensing program, and for years following the inception of the program, he was the only individual in Texas so licensed (and the first Master Sign Electrician licensed under the Texas-wide program.)

Some competitors brag about their "combined experience."  Several years ago we figured ours; it is well over 1000 years "combined experience."

Every adult member of the Family has a University business degree (1-SMU, 2-UT, 2-CSU.)  In fact 9 members of our Team are degreed professionals.  Because of our education and experience Signs Manufacturing™ is a different kind of sign company. 

The principal owner of Signs Manufacturing™, a university-trained marketing professional, formed several successful businesses for large and small corporations, and was heavily involved in the marketing and advertising necessary to make a business successful, prior to starting Signs Manufacturing™ with the Family.

Our signs on a magazine coverHe saw an opportunity to build a sign company serving local and regional businesses that understood marketing issues, a huge void even today, to help customers become successful.

We understand what it takes to make a business successful, so we develop "looks" and processes that benefit our customers by giving them continuously better, more productive signs at continuously lower prices.

Sunburst LED Signs™, Trembler™ Signs, PinLights™, Sunburst LED Signs™, LetterLites™ and SpectraLites™ Channel Letters, and solar powered signs, are current examples.

Underwriters Laboratories has evaluated our sister products PinLights™ and LetterLites™ and they have been approved for use in outdoor, damp and wet location signs.  UL Approval #E345252.  They are the only approved individual LED first-surface lighting products.  As the manufacturer we are very proud of this.

An example of our dedication to helping our customers succeed is this website.  It IS the definitive source on signage information, ranked by Alexa® in the top 0.05% of ALL websites in the world, the top 0.01% in the USA!  (We call our website The Knowledge Tree™. We placed the website online in 1997.)#1 SIGN COMPANY IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Signs Manufacturing™ has always been a leader in the development of new technologies for the sign industry.

"We will definitely recommend you and Signs Manufacturing™ to anyone looking for a quality product and great service."

- Crystal, Art Smart Art School (in a letter to her Sign Consultant)

Our family's manufacturing, electrical, electronic, computer programming, and IT backgrounds often prove invaluable to our customers, particularly those with or desiring Electronic-Message-Centers.  We can write/modify computer programs in many languages.

Our experiences servicing many brands of LED signs led to our realization that we could build a better LED sign for Texas, and the creation of Sunburst LED Signs™.  We installed our first message center (an incandescent time & temperature) in 1987; we manufactured and installed our first electronic digital LED sign in 1990.

The people at Signs Manufacturing™ are proud that we were the first (and remain the most) automated channel letter production facility IN THE WORLD.  Signs Manufacturing™ helped design the equipment that every very large sign company now uses to produce channel letters. (Accu-bend serial number 1 is on display in our Modern-Sign Museum.)

We have manufactured illuminated channel letters from 7 inches to 25 feet tall (the largest channel letter ever made, we are told!)

When Signs Manufacturing™ created the first CNC routed back plate for channel letter signs it was a game-changer for channel-letter signs.  Today it is a "must" for a more-modern sign look, but many small sign companies still don't have the ability to supply them so they push the simpler sign.  Incidentally, we operate the largest CNC Router in DFW.  We will make you a better sign.

The Miller Brewery pole sign we recently completed is 185' tall; a 35' x 45' cabinet atop a 150' tall pole.  It is the largest sign in Texas.

Our suppliers tell us that we are the largest custom sign company in North Texas.  These suppliers provide sign supplies to EVERY sign company in Texas!  We are also the oldest licensed full-service sign manufacturer in North Texas according to the State, and the oldest listed electrical sign manufacturer in North Texas, according to both UL and ETL

We have an extremely loyal workforce.  All of our key artisans have been with us for at least 10 years; some 40+ years!  In fact, we've been here so long that we now have 3rd-generation employees, grandchildren of some of our original employees, working here.

"Signs Manufacturing & (Maintenance) has a BuildZoom score of 127, which places them above 99% of 222,249 contractors (all contractors of all trades) in Texas." - BuildZoom

 

Signage we have created has been featured in several national magazines, as well as newspapers, movies and commercials.

We are also proud that we have repeatedly been chosen to conduct training seminars for Cities Sign Inspectors.

Several generations of the Watson family are directly involved in the everyday management of the Company.  Our "Senior" Watson has over 50 years experience in sign and electrical design and manufacturing management.

We are virtually the only sign company in any of the 97 "Metroplex" cities multi-licensed to manufacture and install signs as well as provide electrical service.

 Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise.Signs Manufacturing™ can be totally responsible for installing, wiring, and maintaining your signs and lighting if you choose.

If there is a problem, our modern, radio-dispatched service vehicles, cranes, and ladder trucks keep signs and lighting working and advertising for you.

Signs Manufacturing™ is the only company in the Metroplex regularly inspected by both Underwriters Laboratories and Intertek, and approved for the manufacturing of UL or ETL listed signs - meeting the highest design, structural manufacturing, electrical, and installation standards in the world.

Signs Manufacturing and Maintenance Corporation is a Veteran-owned business.

"We bought our sign from a great guy.  Unfortunately he died, and now our warranty is worthless because his business closed.  No family to continue the tradition.  Fix our sign."

Maurice Feldman, Pine Creek Cleaners

The Importance of 40+ Years in the Sign Business

"We had enlisted another company to provide a new sign. Things fell apart after two years of them creating the sign. After it was built it was determined that they had not talked with the city to obtain a permit and assumed it was ok to install at the location."

Teddy Brigham, West Vickery Church of Christ

Why is it important to you that Signs Manufacturing™ has been in business under consistent management for 40+ years?

Over the many years we made mistakes, and had to correct them.  We heard about and observed a lot of mistakes made by others, and learned from them.

Very importantly, because of the Family's educational, technical, and electrical backgrounds, we tested and evaluated thousands of metals, sign components, plastics, and coatings, and selected the best to use in making specific signs that will look better, last longer, and use less energy.  This website explains in detail the results of this testing.

We also selected the best, most accurate, construction techniques and equipment.  We even helped invent newer, more accurate ones.

Do you want your sign made by someone who learned from 40+ years of making signs, or from someone who still has to learn?

Products We've Introduced to Use on Signage

"All sign companies do the same thing!"  Our customers say that other sign companies use this line a lot when asked to explain what they do differently to make their signs superior.

We're different.  We're told we are the center of the sign design and innovation universe!  Our customers benefit from the customer-attracting advantages of our signage.

Through years of research we have introduced many quality products to use on signage.  Most remain unused by other sign companies because they have no idea where to obtain them.  Some of these products are:

Paints, Coatings and the Signs Manufacturing™ Story

When Signs Manufacturing™ began doing business, signs were mostly painted with oil-based paint.  DuPont Imron® existed but was very expensive and not well suited for signage because it was a 2-part epoxy system.

In the early 1980's Matthews Paint Company introduced paints specifically for signage, very good paints for the time, but they were limited to 16 colors.

Then Wyandotte Paint Company introduced a line of paints for signage with over 32,000 color possibilities because their customer blended colors, initially from 35 base colors.  The "customer" at this time was signage wholesale supply houses like Reece Supply.

Importantly, Wyandotte also developed color-matching translucent paints for plastic and vinyl products.

We invested in a Wyandotte paint system, which consisted of over 100 base colors eventually, all in gallon cans, a mechanical stirring station that kept every can of base colors "stirred," a gram scale, and a large book of formulas.  We were one of only 2 systems in North Texas; we even mixed paint for Reece Supply.

Wyandotte was purchased by Akzo Nobel, and the system morphed and improved over the years; the stirring station had to be replaced several times because contamination from the metal parts was discovered as paint formulas improved, computer discs replaced the book, tubes of tint replaced the gallons of base paints, etc.

Because of our position in their market we were well courted by Wyandotte and Akzo, and involved in developing these morphs.

We had an expressed interest in seeing a product developed to protect plastic and vinyl from the rather quick aging we witnessed, and Akzo developed a product to meet this need.  It proved to be remarkable.  Unfortunately Akzo could not get other sign companies to use the product because it was expensive, and discontinued it.  We knew how it was made, and convinced Solar Finishes™ to begin producing the product, they named it SolarGuard™.

Our inquisitiveness didn't end, and we experimented with an optical brightener (anti-reflection) coating used on glasses, binoculars, etc. (Lumabrite™) and found that it greatly improved our plastic products and blended well with SolarGuard™.

Eventually we were introduced to an even better Signlux™ paint system, which we still use today.

Solar Finishes™ developed a product, "Bright Reflective White," that increases the light intensity from our metal enclosures by directing more of the internal light source out the face(s) of the cabinet.  Brighter signs with no additional energy cost.  We use it in every applicable sign.

When we began developing Sunburst LED Signs™ we were aware from past experiences that this type of signage was very susceptible to damage from high internal temperatures in the sign cabinet during a Texas summer.  We discovered that NASA had developed ceramic vacuum microspheres as a thermal barrier to both heat and cold that were compatible with our wonderful SignLux™ paint system.  We immediately began coating every temperature-sensitive sign with NASA's discovery.

In today's world, most so-called sign companies buy pre-painted metal, only available in a few limited colors, and don't have the ability to use any of the remarkable products we use.

Why Buy Direct from Signs Manufacturing™?

There are literally hundreds of Sign Dealers (also called a Sign Broker, Car Wrap company or a Sign Store.)  Why not buy from them?

Don't expect a sign dealer, or sign shop, to buy you the best quality sign, or even the best value. Remember, they are merely buying a sign from a manufacturer to resell to you, usually to resemble a drawing, making the most money they can.

You need to know ALL of the details on how your sign will be manufactured, and how it will be installed.  It needs to meet YOUR needs, not the seller's profit goals.  What is he telling the manufacturer you don't need so he can make more money?

Believing "...a sign is a sign" gets you a Yugo instead of a Cadillac.  Remember the Yugo?  They didn't last very long, either.

Ask to see a manufacturer's license also.  A few are not licensed to do electrical work, either, they also have to hire other companies to install the signs they make.

Now, who provides the warranty?  The manufacturer, the installer, the salesman, anyone?  If the sign was installed illegally do you think they'll honor their warranty?  Did they REALLY obtain your City sign permit?  Is the sign even safe?

5 Year $0 Cost Warranty and Lifetime Coverage*As a large, both UL and ETL listed manufacturer, our name is on all our signs.  Just like you, we can't afford to have a bad sign destroy our business.  We have to care, particularly with our 5 Year $0 Cost Warranty and Lifetime Coverage*.

If you wonder if a sign-seller can legally install and service electrical signs through-out Texas go to http://www.tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch, enter "Electricians" in the "Inquire by License Type" box and the name of the sign business or person in the "Inquire by Name" box.  If they are not licensed they can not.

So someone can sell you signs and not be licensed to install or service them.  You may have to have this done.  But unless the electrical signs you buy are "listed" (U.L. or E.T.L. usually) they won't be allowed to be installed in Texas, a State of Texas Consumer Protection Safety Law designed to insure that signs are safe to use, with a few local city ordinance exceptions.  It is not illegal to sell them to you, however.  Buy carefully.

"I had a **** (sign company) right across the street … that store's out of business now … I found out they hired some other company to build and install our sign and they did a really #@%&&$ job, the thing has never lit right.  **** Corporate won't do anything, they say the closed store was an independent franchise, and the sign builder/installer won't fix it, they say we weren't their customer.  I need you to come out, tell me what it will cost to get the thing working properly and get it fixed."

Chris Jennings, Jimmy Johns

Full-Service Facility (Designing, Engineering, Sign Permitting, Listed Manufacturing, Installing, Servicing.)

Please visit our four-building manufacturing campus (Two sets of joined buildings.) (2018 commercial drone photo.)

Our modern production facility, with both high and low dock doors, has 38,675 square feet of production floor including "clean" outside storage. In addition, one-half acre is planted greenbelt.Signs in Dallas

If you are seriously considering buying from someone else we suggest that you also visit their location to observe if they can actually do what they say they can; or at least “Google” their address.

Our Dallas Office, Showroom, Shipping and Mailing address is 4610 Mint Way, Dallas, Texas 75236. 

Our Dallas sign Factory addresses are 4540, 4550, and 4560 Mint Way, Dallas, Texas 75236.

Our new Building #5 Service Annex address is 4424 Mint Way, Dallas, Texas 75236.

A lot of competitors who present themselves as manufacturers actually only buy and resell signs, working out of a house, office building, small warehouse, or storefront!  They may have a fancy website with lots of photo-shopped pictures, however.

DFW's Largest Custom Sign Company - but Why is Size Important to You?

Because we are North Texas' (DFW's) Largest Custom Sign Builder we have the size to do it.  (How do we know we're the largest?  Because the companies that supply the specialized components to every sign company tell us we are.  We are also the oldest licensed, full-service sign manufacturer in North Texas, according to the State.)

Our quality is unsurpassed, and so is our pricing.  Why?

We have a large, diverse group of people at Signs Manufacturing™, with significant backgrounds and skills in the sign industry, and many with university educations.  Over the past 40+ years we've researched what is in your best interests so that your signage ALWAYS helps your business, and does not detract from your success as your signage ages.  AT&T, among others, has documented that deteriorating signage is a major reason once-successful businesses fail.

Therefore, the price of the sign isn't the only thing to consider; all signs are NOT created equal.  We also realize that most failing businesses didn't recognize that they should have also considered their future when they bought their signs.

We have a large staff that continues researching products and innovations to continuously improve our products, and we've invested in the facilities to do so.

Meet Our Sign Company Family!

No one makes a better sign.  Because of our manufacturing volume, larger than anyone else's, we can give you the best possible sign for the lowest possible price, which is what you need.

Our size allowed us to spend well over $750,000 to build a Showroom where you can come and see all types of signs in person.  Don't purchase a sign from a drawing, or a slick website, when you can actually see, touch, and evaluate the benefits to you of each sign-type AND its potential enhancements.  Personally evaluate the importance of each feature of a sign.  Sell yourself; don't be sold, or undersold.  The worst sign doesn't even meet your immediate needs, it's just cheap.  Being undersold can be devastating.

The only inconvenience of our size is that a single factory is necessary to achieve the benefits volume brings us; brings you.  For obvious economic reasons we co-located the Showroom at our factory.  You have to visit the Showroom to benefit from it, but at least you get to visit our impressive factory, too.

Other than the inconvenience of visiting our Showroom, don't let our single-factory location bother you.

There is absolutely no advantage in dealing with a smaller, or more local, sign company.  Our sales staff is located throughout the entire Metroplex.  We will come to you wherever you want us to: at work, at home, at your new location, or your old one.

Because of our size, wherever you are located, in Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton, or anywhere else in North Texas, our installed price is always the same. We have trucks and crews going everywhere, every day.

Our schedule revolves around you, not the other way around!  This is important when initially installing your sign before you open (on time) but even more important if your sign needs service and it is detracting from the image of your business, church, or school.

And because we are big, our word and our warranties mean something.

Finally, we won't disappear, or not answer the phone, and leave you hanging.  With other sign companies, individuals may get sick or go on holiday, or lose their phone, or their vehicle broke, or some other excuse, but as a large organization we are ALWAYS available.  Multiple operators are standing-by to personally begin addressing your problems.

Size matters!

Incidentally, we have competitors who also claim to be "the largest."  Verify!  Even Google AI knows the truth: