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The focus of Gerber’s sign making technology emphasizes graphic design and lettering. Various software programs and printers, from thermal to paper, have brought signs to where they are today.

Gerber Scientific Products (GSP) launched its business with the release of the Signmaker III. First produced in 1982, this machine sold out on the first day of its release to the market. This multi-tasked device was built with the capability of pouncing paper patterns, drawing on paper, and cutting.

The act of introducing this technology to the entrepreneurs of the sign industry is said to have revolutionized the business. Due to the great success of the Signmaker III, GSP has gained a solid, worldwide reputation for quality and productivity.

And GSP has not been resting on its laurels. It continues to construct equally efficient merchandise. Since 1982, GSP has moved on to incorporate other dimensions to their significant role in the sign business.

Sign shops moving on the cutting edge of technology are equipped with the Gerber Edge—an advanced, full-color digital imaging system.

Gerber’s Graphix Advantage is used frequently for those sign professionals who are concerned strictly with the graphic design element of sign making.

Concerning the actual manual production of signs, banners, and the like, Gerber also offers a variety of routers—some with computer-aided design options. Their inventory branches out to several diverse areas, ranging from accuracy-oriented sprocket-feed and friction-feed plotters to a comprehensive stock of sturdy graphic materials. These materials include metallic, fluorescent, static cling, and heat transfer flock.

Also available to assist in manual sign configuration is a Gerber line of solid carbide router bits. They also sell an enormous range of fonts, symbols, and other ready-made sign graphics.

All of GSP’s products are designed with the intent to ensure accuracy and aid in efficiency. Their tools excel in the production of point-of-purchase signage, custom vehicle graphics, decal production, exhibit design, environmental graphics, and textile transfer printing. The range of use for these devices extends to the newest breakthrough in sign making and still keeps hold to the traditional, more practiced methods of signage.

“The thing is digital printing—that’s the new big thing—wide format digital printers,” said Kevin Winne, co-owner of Instant Banners & Signs, a smaller sign business based in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

“We haven’t had a ton of people come in and say ‘oh, I’ve got to have a four-color processed sign that’s 39 inches wide,’ so we aren’t going to spend $80,000 to do it for one customer,” explained Winne. “The UV ink will fade if you place it outside.”

Instant Banners & Signs likes what Gerber Scientific Systems provides for even the smaller sign shop. “What we use from Gerber is a heat applied foil, and I don’t know what the difference is between what they put in their foil to give it a UV resistance, but they claim you can give it five years outside and then extend that life by putting a transfer over that, and we go by that."

GSP is a company based on tradition. It grew out of Gerber Scientific, Inc.—its predecessor—which the late H. Joseph Gerber began in 1945. Even decades ago, Gerber led the world in sign making, commercial printing, aerospace, automotive, graphic arts, optical, electronics, apparel and softgoods, and screen printing. The name “Gerber” was synonymous with quality long before GSP was launched into the thick of the visual communication industry.

This long-standing reputation and success in production have helped GSP hold more than 1200 patents—both national and international. GSP has also split into three divisions to assist in the specified manufacturing of goods for the public: Gerber Scientific Products, Inc.; Gerber Technology, Inc.; and Gerber Coburn, Inc.

Also divided into sectors to cater to the detail of the machinery are their product groups. GSP operates in aftermarket materials, vertical markets, routers, imaging products, Graphix Advantage, and plotters. Personnel are specifically trained within each sect of the company and then educated to be experts in the product group under which they are employed.

Recognizing the upstanding nature of the corporation, GSP was awarded a place of honor at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. for its excellence in the development of automation technology.

Because GSP is constantly developing new ways of improving graphics, designing, and printing, they keep strong ties of communication with their customers. As well as providing superior products and materials, Beta site installations, technical bulletins, product-release newsletters, and other mass-distribution of company information help keep sign makers loyal to GSP.

However, even those that do not upgrade to the newest appliance in the sign industry invest their trust in the way GSP operates and in the manner in which they design and construct their machinery.

“Gerber is a huge company—I would say the leader—in sign supplying technology,” Winne said. “With the printer we use, they took that machine and still stay with the foil rather than UV ink. They didn’t go with the inks, because the inks are not going to last. And with Gerber—if they didn’t go to the inks, then there must be something that nobody is telling anyone about it.”

Clearly Kevin Winne of Instant Banners & Signs in Florida isn’t the only sign maker in America who trusts GSP. Gerber Scientific Products is one of the most respected companies that provides sign technology, machines, and materials in the world.