‘Smoking ban’ lights up the future for Wolverhampton manufacturer

The impending ‘no smoking’ legislation is set to provide a ‘sales windfall’ for a leading Wolverhampton company. Rainbow Safety, a specialist manufacturer of health and safety signs, is predicting a record year of activity after selling over 500 items in the last three weeks.
Boosted by advice from the Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands and support from the National B2B Centre, the company has developed a state-of-the-art e-commerce website rainbowsafety and created a significant reseller network to cope with the anticipated demand.

Darren Taylor, who

started the business in 1992 after putting stripes on his MG Metro, explained: “From July 1st, smoking will be banned in enclosed places and that basically includes every working environment imaginable, from pubs and restaurants through to factories and offices – this is estimated to cost about £50m to implement.” He continued: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the business and, thanks to a £30k investment in digital printing machines, we are in a perfect position to supply new clients in England and Wales.”

Rainbow, which is also celebrating its 15th anniversary, provides an extensive range of products, including mandatory safety signs, warning signs and fire exit safety signs. All items are designed and manufactured in-house at the company’s Landport Road premises, a key attribute in meeting bespoke requirements and stringent time deadlines. “MAS-WM helped us to see the potential opportunities and put us in touch with Warwick University’s National B2B Centre, who worked with us to develop a professional website and e-commerce facility,” continued Darren.

“We wouldn’t really have known where to start, so having an expert on hand to provide the design flair and infrastructure was essential; in fact it probably speeded up the whole process by about three months.” He went on to add: “The site is a real bonus and, through ‘Zencart’ technology, we can process sales online and build relationships with new and existing customers through regular e-newsletters. We even managed to secure business over one of the weekends, which meant that when I came in on Monday we had a credit card payment waiting on the desk.”

Iain Robertson, MAS-WM Specialist Manufacturing Adviser, picked up the story:
“This is a fantastic example of how manufacturers can access our service and, using our network of expert associates, locate additional knowledge and skills needed to add real benefits to the bottom line. “Rainbow Safety has grown the business by 25% in the last twelve months and, with the anticipated sales boom in mind, should be looking to take on a further three people to add to its 12-strong workforce.”