Floor decals, plastic shields and the ‘fascinating’ business demands of COVID-19 – The Province

Mike Froome and Matt Boos of M&T Printing show just a few of the products that are keeping them busy in London during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press/Postmedia Network

Those decals on the floor at grocery stores, the plastic shields protecting workers and the endless stickers and signs warning us all to be healthy and careful amidst the pandemic? Theyve kept a London printing business busy.

M&T Printing Group has managed to keep some of its workers on the job, winning new business as a result of the COVID-19 shutdown and social isolation.

Were trying to stay ahead of the curve, to find out what the new normal will be so we can position ourselves, Mike Froome, vice-president at M&T, said.

The business lesson from the pandemic is that one has to diversify to survive, he added. M&T, in business in London for more than 50 years, offers a study in how to do just that.

Among its recent and different contracts, the printer is now preparing to make plastic shields to be installed at airline counters at London International Airport, which hopes to see flights returning this summer.

We have started to call people back, Froome said. Were busy wearing a lot of different hats.

M&T has about 50 workers now on the job and about 100 remaining on layoff. But the company is trying to keep as much business as it can to serve its approximately 200 clients.

It has even tried to carve a niche as a hospital bedmaker. It has manufactured an inexpensive bed out of heavy board material that can hold 500 pounds and be shipped to a hospital in a flat pack and snapped together on site, in case a hospital gets swamped by patients.

The business has also seen a return to old-school printing, with stickers and signs warning workers to remain six-feet apart and wash their hands, making up a large part of its business.

I find it interesting were falling back on traditional signage. Everything were doing now, all of it, is COVID-related, Froome said.

That includes the activity book it has printed for the Boys and Girls Club of London to send to youth so they can do puzzles, colouring and games at home. Or print material for the pin caddy, a device which means golfers dont have to reach into the hole or touch a ball once it has been putted into the cup.

The decal floor stickers popular at stores started out with retailers asking for simple lines and markers on the floor. But it evolved in days to be decals with foot prints, many of which are now branded with store and restaurant logos.

The COVID-related opportunities are fascinating, Froome said.

It has even been asked to make signs for school graduates. Since there are no graduation ceremonies, families are placing a sign in their home windows stating it is the home of a graduate, as a way of celebrating a milestone for youths.

These are Grade 8 and Grade 12 commencement signs, Froome said. Its happening everywhere. I think were going back to the sense of community as a village.

ndebono@postmedia.com

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Floor decals, plastic shields and the 'fascinating' business demands of COVID-19 - The Province