Digital Signage, Need to Know: Importing LED Signs From China, Re-visited

China sourcing is alive and well, and when properly designed, controlled and managed, products made in China can be very impressive. But,  any serious American company utilizing China as their manufacturing source will have an on-site quality engineer, or preferably an engineering and production support team because with China “you get what you inspect, not what you expect”.

Apple does not phone in a sales order to its Chinese factory for 1,000,000 new iPhones, whatever the next generation, then sit around and drink wine and play ping pong until the boat arrives. 

Let’s face it, for today, China still has a “cost of labor” advantage. But, it’s rising fast, and sometimes when you factor in shipping, communication costs, and hassle, many companies are starting to practice “on-shoring”- bringing production back to the US.  

Some companies utilize Chinese production facilities and actually “rent” time for their own proprietary production run. They may have discovered a well-engineered and manufacture sub-component and then applied strategic modifications to improve its performance. It’s not the typical “off the shelf” standard component but it may have started off as one. There are many ways for the “China Connection” to be successfully exploited and maximized.

So, it does not matter if you are a major US LED sign manufacturer, Apple, Boeing, GM or thousands of others, somehow China is in your operation’s life- for better or for worse!

My concern centers on the LED sign product designed and engineered in China, built in China, Inspected and certified in China, and shipped from China without American talent involved in the process at all. Just like when ordering from the “Mail Order Bride” catalogs of the 1800’s, what you get may not be what you expected. And it’s probably harder to ship your double-sided 4x8’ LED screen back to Shenzhen than putting that person on the stagecoach and sending her back to Chicago.

My worry falls into 5 categories and while I will not identify Chinese manufacturers, these are personal experiences and first-hand accounts from industry professionals.

NRTL certification (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory certification- sometimes generically called UL certification), design issues, hardware quality, control software usability, and communication are the 5 Horsemen that ride roughshod  across the backs of LED sign importers. 

So let’s start:

NRTL Certification: It’s been a big deal in the LED Sign Industry and in the last 5 years more and more Chinese Manufacturers are paying attention and becoming ETL, MET or whatever “testing lab” certified. That is generally a good thing. No one wants unsafe or poorly constructed product on the streets, it‘s foolish and dangerous to pretend that certification is unimportant.  

The claim that Chinese product shipped, does not match the specifications of the product submitted for NRTL certification was alleged by 3 separate contacts, unrelated to each other.  In other words, it was alleged that they send the Lexus to the testing lab and ship the Yugo to the US.  Simply inspect (for example) the quality of the electrical wiring insulation and the way electrical supply lines are secured. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, think it over.

Since most of the world does not require NRTL certification, some wonder if the Chinese effort to provide NRTL certification is to merely placate the US market rather than to improve the product.

Design Issues: Oh where to start? Let’s be simple- for years one US distributor of Chinese products had a high failure rate of the LED signs they sold- real high. Water intrusion, cabinet hinge issues, locking issues, odd mounting holes in the cabinets that had to be plugged up were just a few concerns. 

Then, during one ISA Trade Show a Chinese Marketing Director revealed the truth “In China, most LED signs are mounted within a water-resistant structure or shroud that protects them from the elements. In the US, many small LED signs are simply put on a pole without any surrounding protection- not designed for this.”

This is just one example that importers (and customers) face when assuming that an LED sign is “an LED sign”. They are not all alike, universally.

Hardware Quality:  If I had a dime for every time I found a re-manufactured LED module shipped on a new LED display… well, I’d have a big stack of dimes. Even when confronted with this assertion over and over the manufacturer claimed an “accident”. The truth is that when you push too hard for a deeply discounted price, unique ways are found to meet that demand! 

Power supplies, wiring, cabinet construction, controllers, electrical sockets, and more can fail on any manufacturer’s product. But if you believe that a well-made US LED display is not significantly more reliable than a Chinese designed, manufactured and shipped LED sign then there is some wet land in Florida you might be interested in. 

Sure, some Chinese sub-components are well designed and used on US produced LED displays. I have no argument here. But when that reasonably good product becomes part of an LED sign totally originated in China, the overall reliability is a lot less. 

It’s your hair, pull it out if you want to!

Control Software Usability:  I like Science Fiction. How many times in a movie have I seen the control panel of some captured alien spaceship? A well-meaning scientist accidently activates the control panel and suddenly it’s all aglow with strange shapes and symbols that meant something to some being from some world, but is gibberish to humans. 

Well, for me, trying to use Chinese control software is exactly the same experience. It is designed for an engineer or someone with a lot of patience and time. I am neither of those.

Communication: What do you expect? As Americans sometimes communication is difficult within our own borders- different accents, different manners, different customs, and different time zones.There are tremendous communication issues involved in a trade relationship with China- 8,000 miles, 10 hours difference on time zones (or more), language, meaning of words, and the frustrating time element required to resolve anything. And, oh... find a decision maker, I challenge you!

If you have a problem on Monday, it can literally take until Friday to get an answer that has been misunderstood and must be asked again. What you think you are saying, is not what they may be hearing. If you are impatient, check with your doctor for a prescription of tranquilizers because you will need them.

To the Chinese Manufacturer’s credit, they usually appoint a representative that is well-versed in English. That does not solve your problem. It merely gives you a shoulder to cry on and someone to share in your misery.

It’s a complex world. Just ask Boeing. They access 500 suppliers, many international, to obtain 3,000,000 parts to build their 777 Dreamliner Jet Airliner. And you thought you had problems!

Boeing had to make a lot of choices to assemble their supplier list. If every supplier is operating at 100% efficiency and without incident, it is still a monumental task to integrate the vast universe of variables together to create the end product- a safe, well engineered, state-of-the art machine.

LED signs do not, of course, require 3,000,000 parts, but smart choices still have to be made and all the facts have to be known when choosing a supplier. Quality, technology, reputation, and communication are the time-tested factors of success. 

Choose wisely, choose USA.

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue

 

Digital Signage Need to Know: Why cloud control for your LED sign is better than using localized software

"THE CLOUD" Everyone’s all excited about the recent trend where businesses and people are moving their software programs and applications to the “cloud”. Is it all being transported to an evil-looking raincloud, or a nice puffy white cloud with the shape of a swan? None of that foolishness!

The shift is definitely underway from more traditional models of software storage to using the resources of large companies via the Internet. It’s more than a trend it’s an active process underway that makes tremendous sense and is a superior choice. 

This includes the transition of LED sign software off of your desktop to the “cloud”.

Why does it make sense you ask? Simple- “less risk and fewer headaches” is the quick answer. Software can be complex and expensive to update, store, maintain and deal with over time. Most companies just want the end result of using the software, not the process of evolving it and ensuring it works on their hardware.  The cloud provides many distinct advantages over traditional storage methods. 

Let me present these allegories to amuse you and illustrate my points. 

First any resemblance of these characters to other beloved American comic strip or cartoon characters is entirely coincidental.

* “It was a dark and stormy night,” Loopy, the small Beagle, typed these words sitting in the basement of his dog house. Just as he hit “enter” on his Dell laptop his trite paragraph came to life as a lightning bolt blew a transformer off a power pole adjacent to his dog house.

The lights immediately went out but then the power surged back on and then the lights returned. Loopy looked at his laptop and realized it was now “off” despite being plugged in to the AC adapter.

“Rats,” He lamented. Loopy’s paw pressed the power button but nothing happened. Little did he know but the current spike when the lights came back on was so strong this time it damaged his computer, killing the hardware and software.

* The WWI Flying Ace, Loopy’s alter-ego, and Woodstick, his trusted bird friend, stumbled down the street towards the dog house. Woodstick was ready for the comfort of his fluffy rooftop nest and Loopy, aka the “The WWI Flying Ace” was looking forward to a restful sleep in his waterbed on the 2^nd floor bedroom of his dog house. Loopy and Woodstick had slugged down far too many root beers that evening to be comfortable and both were eager to arrive home. 

Loopy reached out to unlock the front door and was shocked to find it not only unlocked but slightly ajar. They both stepped into the crime scene and inspected their belongings. All was present and accounted for except the Dell Laptop, and the programs he had invested in. Loopy had lost his computer but more importantly his top secret data and it was probably in the hands of the German army!

* Loopy looked at the watch on his wrist and mentally calculated how many hours he’d spent that week working on his computer, filing, updating, refreshing, backing up, revision enhancements, and deleting old software. This week he’d also had to do a fix a fragment problem on his hard drive for the new update to run. “I wonder just how many hours I spend maintaining this stuff and making sure it all works?” he thought taking a big bite of his banana split ice cream treat. “I think maybe I should use someone else's computer department! After all, I just want to use these programs I don’t want to memorize them! That will also give me more time to fly my dog house!”

What business is a typical sign company in? Well, selling and installing signs and advertisement products is the best answer! So, does it make sense for a sign company to have to deal with storing, updating and maintaining software products? Why not make it the responsibility of some trusted software vendor since that’s what they do?

What about the sign companies customer- the user of the sign or the advertising products? Does it make sense for them to waste time with the same issues? Usually it does not.

With cloud-based software you pay for only what you use, upgrades are automatic, scaling up or down is easy and all you have to do is open your browser, log in and get to work! Many cloud-based programs will unchain you from your desk and allow access on a mobile device like an iPhone, android, tablet or a smart phone. Money is made out in the field working with customers not riding the desk like some office jockey! Why not change the message your LED sign on the way home from work?

Businesses are specialized these days. Software companies don’t make their own LED displays and LED sign retailers really are not in the business of dealing with software. The end result of using the software- the new LED sign message, the CAD drawing, the spreadsheet, the image file, the animation, or whatever the software creates, is what the sign company wants. This is efficiency.

Consider sourcing your LED sign software in the cloud- that’s where the future is! Check out the market, do your research and see which LED display manufacturers have migrated their software to the cloud and allows for remote control of the programming. No more discs sent to you to lose, no more missed updates, no more lost data. 

This is the way to fly! Even the WWI flying ace would agree.

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.    

Digital Signage Sales 101: Wow Your Customer

- Mike Prongue

As a regional sales manager in this LED sign industry I walk into a lot of LED sign shops in the Southern USA. I dislike the term “shop” to describe a storefront since I always thought of a “shop” as a low tech place where a cobbler beat a heel onto a shoe or someone strung beads onto a wire. 

Since the product we sell is electronic and “techie” to say the least, I’d expect the “shop” to really be a “store”, perhaps like a single cell version of a “Best Buy”.  Let’s pretend how your shop/store would differ if it were actually fined-tuned and perfect in execution of some simple ideas? 

I present the “top 10” things to do to wow your customer with a great first impression of your shop/store:

• Walk the Talk   If you sell LED signs, have an LED display. If it does drive 15% more customers through the door and you aren’t using one, what’s the problem? Your LED sign is your best demo unit. Show customers the wireless RF, show them the computer and show them how easy it is to use! Oh, yours is tough to use? Shop around for another manufacturer. Not all LED signs are alike.

• Shop Shirts    Baseball teams, army units, and Olympic squads all wear a common uniform. Where is your “Dale’s LED Signs” shirts for your team? Identity is important. How about magnetic signs for the cars and window tinted logos on the cars? Get everyone into the same boat and start “rowing in the same direction”.

• Greet Customer  Quickly  Sour-faces need not apply. Someone needs to say “Hi, how are you? I’m Dave and I’ll be with you in one second!” Phones need to be answered by the 3^rd ring saying-“Dale’s Signs, this is Judy, how may I help you?” at the very least!

• Create a Nice Break Area  The single-most unprofessional thing a small business can do is have food scattered out across the counter area. That Italian sub with the stinky cheese may be your favorite treat of the week, so take it into the back room. Even better go out to lunch- you need the break. When you come back from lunch, grab the vacuum cleaner and vacuum that carpet. It’s been 6 years since anyone took that task on (in some cases).

• Have “show and tell” product displays  Have a hands-on area that displays LED modules of different resolutions, a power supply, an IPC (industrial PC). Why not educate your customers while they wait for help? Some LED sign stores have actual functioning LED signs on display of different resolutions.

• Watch your Language  Do not use any bad language. Reserve your political opinions to your evenings in front of FOX News or MSNBC on your TV at home. Regardless of what you say, ½ your customers may be offended. Watch your jokes. Take down objectionable posters. What’s funny to you is not so funny to Reverend Jones looking for an LED sign for his church. Do not create a hostile place of business. What about those angry “no soliciting” signs plastered all over your door? Does that apply to Girl Scouts and the local High School band selling doughnuts? What a Scrooge. I wouldn’t buy a sign from you.

•  Create a Customer Service Area  Many LED sign stores are engaged in traditional sign businesses and have layout areas and drafting areas and other in the front of the store. Some of this is unavoidable but “hide the chaos” as much as you can and create a simple neat and clean area where customers can be greeted and talked to. Even the use of a couple free-standing, cubicle-used, room dividers can separate the customer area from the work area.

• Clean up the Production Area  Have a mandatory 10 minute break, once in the morning and once in the afternoon and clean up the production area. Customers are judgmental and may think the mess you create in your own work area is what you may do at their facility. With a clean production area, you can show your handiwork and skills to customers on safe, guided walk-throughs.

• Have a Website  Yes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you’ve had that “under construction” message on your website for 2 years now. This is 2013 and a website is an electronic you- a presence that the world can access 24-7. I can’t tell you how much a good website improves business credibility. Conversely, a minimal website shouts a different message to the world, perhaps an unintentional message. Google Adwords used within a region is a very successful new customer strategy. But they have to visit a website that is interesting and professional.

• Sundown Rule Time waits for no man, or woman. Your urgency is one of the variables that can win you customers. The old Zig Ziglar saying is “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!”  The way to show people you care is to reply to their inquiry, finish their quote, or call them back. Don’t let issues extend into the next day- solve the problem now so you can sleep better tonight!

What I’m suggesting is turning up the heat and creating a friendly, neat, clean and impressive area to wow customers and to do business.

A lot of businesses are simply amazing with their execution of these 10 items and dozens more. Remember you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

You create your own reality so wouldn’t it be better if you had an store that people remembered in a good way?It doesn't take much work. Get your team involved and ask for suggestions on improving the customer experience.

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.  

LED Sign Tech & Spec: Factors Affecting Image Quality on Outdoor Digital Signage

-Scott Hofheins

I’ve been actively evaluating virtually every LED sign I happen to see for quite some time. Its almost an instinctual reaction to immediately determine the manufacturer, quality, size, pitch, etc... This is a common affliction that affects most people in the industry and is a running inside joke.  We are constantly being told (usually by our significant others) to stop looking at the LED signs, and start paying attention to the world around us. Although this may be a long term issue for us, it can be a great temporary issue for those looking to find a high quality LED sign. The aspect I’m going to focus on today is: Why is there variation in the image quality on an LED sign and what are the factors that affect this quality?

The LEDs

An LED display is really just a large group of individual LEDs laid out on a grid, like your computer monitor or TV. Individual LED’s come in many colors, shapes, sizes, configurations and quality. These factors all come into play when dealing with the image on an outdoor digital sign. High quality LED’s that are matched correctly will significantly improve the image displayed.

LED manufacturing is not perfect, and every LED manufacturer must deal with a certain variation of color from LED to LED. The method used to organize LED’s with the same color is typically referred to as “binning”. LED’s with the same color output within a certain tolerance will be put together. This is very important for both  indoor and outdoor digital signage because they are using so many LED’s that if you didn’t bin correctly, the display would look “blotchy” from the different shades of Red, Green or Blue LED’s spread out across the entire unit.

It’s important that the manufacturer address this and can reliably replace LED panels with LED’s in the same “bin grade” as the rest of the sign. You can see this pretty clearly on a display that has one or two squares that are “tinted” against the rest of the sign.  Unfortunately this usually means that the manufacture wasn’t able to provide a matching LED Module (or panel) and the business had to settle for the best of two evils, have a blank square, or a “tinted” square.

Module Construction and Mounting

LED displays are built using groups of LED’s mounted to an LED Module, or panel. These panels will hold multiple LEDs, usually in grids or 8x8 or 16x16 pixels. These modules also house some of the hardware and circuits that control and drive the LED’s on a fundamental level.

The construction of these modules is very important to the quality of the image. Just like mismatched LED’s, modules that are not uniform in construction will create an inconsistent image across the display. This situation will cause a “patchwork” effect, where you can see the individual modules seams, making it look like a patchwork quilt. This may not be noticeable from directly in front of the display, but as you move to the side, you will quickly see the quality difference when lines start appearing out of nowhere.

The module mounting system and cabinet design are also factors manufactures have to consider. A mounting system that doesn’t uniformly pull the LED’s onto the cabinet can cause some of the same effects I mentioned above. The cabinet design must also be consistent. An uneven cabinet will make for an uneven display.

Louver Panel Design

The LED’s must be shaded from direct sunlight.This might sound odd to someone new to the industry, but it is true. Fully exposed LED’s will be washed out by the sunlight and their effectiveness diminished. Louvers are put in place to shade the LED’s from the sun and isolate the light, but not block the visibility of the sign itself. This provides higher contrast by giving the image the blackest surface possible.  

The design of these louvers is important. If the louvers are too small, they won’t shade enough. If they are too big, they might block the view of the LED’s above. The material of the louver panel is also very important. A Flat black non-reflective finish that absorbs the light will improve the contrast and the overall depth of the colors.

Additionally, LED’s in a pixel group (a group of Red, Green and Blue LED’s) will have at least one LED that is physically positioned lower than the rest. Well designed louver panels should shade each LED, not the entire pixel group. Some manufactures are also using “mini” louvers that help divert even more light from the panel surface itself.

Brightness and Contrast

These two principles go hand in hand on a quality display. The display has to be very bright during the day, but it also has to maintain contrast. The blacks must be black, and the whites, white. The contrast is physically determined by the louver face and LED panel design. As I mentioned before, flat black louver panels affect this. The brightness aspect is determined by the LED’s themselves, and how hard they are “driven”. High quality LED’s can be “driven” brighter without a significant loss of life. However, some sub par manufacturers will drive lower quality LED’s harder, and they might be bright at install, but start to fail quite often, over time.

Color Calibration

This relates to the Brightness and Contrast mentioned above, but also includes Color. LED signs need to be calibrated to make sure red is actually red, or chartreuse is actually chartreuse. This is done by calibrating the video signal, and the internal hardware at the factory. Unfortunately there are still manufacturers out there, usually overseas direct, that do a poor job of calibration.The result is an end user with an LED sign that will always look worse than the others around it, regardless of any software adjustments they make.

Content

This is a big one for me, because it is the easiest to control, yet many people don’t realize it’s importance. Good content can make a lower quality sign physically look better than a high quality sign. This is an unfortunate truth that many dealers have felt directly when a customer sees a sign with great content, and decides to use that manufacturer for that reason alone. They are then stuck with a sign that might look great for a couple of months, or maybe a year, but will soon start to fail, over and over again.

Remember, it’s not enough these days to just have an LED sign, it has to look great too. If you're looking into an LED sign, start investigating the ones around you. Note what looks good, and what doesn’t and do your research. Use this blog and the other great resources out there to make sure you get a sign that’s going to look good for a long time. It’s worth the extra effort to really get to know the industry yourself and be an informed buyer.

-SH

I hope this post has been informative and helpful. As usual, I welcome ALL constructive comments. Please feel free to comment and add anything I’ve missed, or additional tips you may have regarding this topic. Please visit www.vantageled.com for many other resources, white papers, and of course: Great looking LED Signs!

**All posts/thoughts/writings are strictly the viewpoint of me and me alone and do not reflect nor speak for Vantage LED’s beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, etc. unless specifically stated.