A destination blind is manufactured by a screen printing technique. We first receive a list of
destinations, that list of names will then go through to the factory, who will then get the
artwork ready for it by importing the list of names, so that we can then cut it on a plotter,
which is a machine that cuts out work at full size, which gives us a really good quality
stencil. After the letter's been cut out, you then have to weed each of the lettering out, which
takes out the letter itself and behind that letter is a clear acetate backing. That then becomes a
negative stencil, which is then transferred into our light table room. The next stage is
where we would have a screen, which used to be silkscreen, it's polyester mesh now. That screen
is then coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, then a frame will be lowered that has a rubber
sheet that is soaked down and what that does it actually holds the stencil tied to the mesh,
so that there's no spacing to let light flood between the lettering and the screen, and then we
would switch lights on and a timer and expose that screen to the UV light. Once that's done, we would
then switch it off, lift the frame up, take the frame, which as far as you can see is just coated
in green emulsion. We'll transfer that to a water bath and just spray clear, cold water over it, and
what will happen is the black areas that have not had the light exposing it will wash away, the hard
areas where the clear lettering is that the light has been touched will stay hard and become the
positive image on the screen ready for printing. It's then transferred to a drying cabinet to dry
and take all the excess water away, it's then put against the backing, where you can see through it
and any specs that may need touching or will be touched up and it will get then wrapped ready for
the printers to take over. A printer will clamp it into a frame above a base that's got suction
holes on it. The suction holes are there to hold the material in place to allow the blind to be
printed without it moving and sliding. They will then lower the printing frame down and then print
from one end to the other, push through a squeegee and ink through. Once the first print's done,
it's then transferred onto a conveyor belt. This conveyor belt passes through a two-stage
heater-dryer. First stage is the heater that dries the income material, second stage cools it
to enable the operator on the end of the conveyor belt to roll the blind up and check it while he's
doing that to make sure there's no specks of dust transferred onto the blind, and once he's happy
with that, he'll roll it up and put it in the box ready for the next stage. They will then be taken
into our finishing department where they will be hemmed each end. Hemming is a process where we
fold a lip on the end of each blind for about 25 millimeters. The hemming is required to feed a rod
through, which loads it onto the roller in the destination sign. Hemming is very important and
it's very important that it's kept square. We use a set square and a steel ruler. The set square is
positioned down the edge of the blind with the steel ruler underneath to make sure it is 100%
square at end. If it isn't 100% square when it is fitted into a destination unit, it will start
going from side to side, will eventually scrunch up and possibly tear. The blind will leave
the finishing department and go into our sign department. The sign department is where they're
responsible for actually loading the destination blind into the destination sign, making sure
the software in the controller is the correct one, and then they test the controller against
the destination line and make sure it works correctly before shipping it out of the factory.