Crane / Saunders
To mark 90 years of Saunders®, Crane built a new 9,770m² facility in Cwmbran. Sauce designed, produced and installed the signage and display scheme for the whole site, inside and out.
Services included
Signage
Client
Location
Cwmbran
9,770m² facility | 1,500m² of printed graphics | one 63m x 7m installation | March to November 2023 | 90 years of Saunders® heritage
Crane ChemPharma & Energy designs and manufactures process flow technology for pharmaceutical, refinery and industrial applications worldwide. Crane was founded in 1855 and in 2001 acquired Saunders®, the Cwmbran firm whose founder P.K. Saunders invented the diaphragm valve in 1933. To mark the 90th anniversary of Saunders®, Crane commissioned a new facility in Cwmbran, metres from the original 1939 factory. It houses offices, a visitor experience, production and research and development under one roof.
Crane asked Sauce to deliver the complete signage and display scheme for the building, interior and exterior.
Planning across time zones
A site this size needs the planning done properly before anything is made. Key stakeholders were based on both sides of the Atlantic, so the design and sign-off process ran across several time zones. Sauce began working with the Crane and Saunders® team in March 2023 to plan the scheme, the production schedule and the installation around the build programme, and completed the project on time in November 2023.
The production floor
The centrepiece is a single 63 metre by 7 metre printed vinyl installation across the upper outer wall of the main production and R&D atrium. Around 1,500m² of large format graphics were printed and installed in total, across the atrium and the research and materials testing labs, with displays on both the exterior and interior faces of the lab walls.
Heritage and innovation inside
Inside, the scheme tells the Saunders® story from 1928 onwards, using archive photography from applications as varied as the Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine, pharmaceutical processing and food production. Large format feature walls sit alongside vinyl wrapped panels, Perspex standoff plaques, cut vinyl messaging and a full wayfinding system. Together they run through the concourse, visitor centre, meeting rooms, corridors and offices, so the building explains itself to visitors and staff alike.
The entrance
Outside, Sauce produced and fitted flat cut acrylic lettering and hand-built aluminium letters to the building, and lined the approach to the entrance with nine branded flags and posts to welcome visitors to the new home of Saunders®.
