Call it fate or providence. For Mike and Cathy butler, buying Diskey Architectural Signage has proven that the “fourth time is a charm.” Before the Butlers had ever heard of a “simple sign,” they had put deposits down on three different companies, but each deal fell through at the eleventh hour. Now they're glad they did.

Diskey Signs, which was started by the Diskey family from Marion, Ind., moved to Fort Wayne in 1965, when the company's plant was demolished in a tornado. Before the move, the company designed and produced much of the “new” McDonald's and K-Mart outdoor signage.

Mike Butler, an Auburn native and IPFW Business School graduate, had an upper management, high-paying job with a successful antique car and auction company, but he had always wanted his own business.

“I wanted to get into a business that I could own and build myself; something that allowed me to go hoe at 5:00 pm. And spend weekends with my family,” says Butler.

When a business broker presented Diskey as an opportunity, the Butlers saw a lot of potential. Diskey's main product, which was state-of-the-art twelve years ago, was the simple sign, one with a clear window that allowed interchangeable inserts. Customers could purchase the signs one time and customize and re-use them by printing their own inserts on a simple printer. Many companies used the design at the time.

“My thought was that if we focused on school and hospital signage, we would be recession-proof,” says Butler.

He says the strategy proved successful.

“We were growing 20 percent a year. Almost 80 percent of our business was coming from that sector,” he says.

While some companies still use the simple sign design, most of the industry has evolved into a more custom, high-end signage that requires the productioncapabilities offered by Diskey.

“We take pride in the fact that we make the vast majority of products that we sell,” says Butler. “We make almost all of our interior and exterior signage products ourselves. Most sign companies either buy from us or another company like us.”

A few exceptions include electronic LED, cast letters and plaques.

“We didn't have all these capabilities when we bought the company. All we could make were those little plastic (simple) signs,” Butlers says, with a laugh.

Over the years, Butler has invested in several pieces of new, stat-of-the-art equipment, including CNC routers, mechanical engravers, wide-format printers, a laser, a $50,000 paint booth, and dies to extrude a custom line of post and panel signs.

Production capabilities are extensive. In addition to regular signage products, Diskey can produce vehicle graphics, magnets, trophies, plaques, leather coasters, bathroom tiles, Giclees, die-cut stickers, 3D-lettering that looks one hundred years old, a variety of laser-engraved products, coin embellishments, and life-size cutouts of Peyton Manning. (No, you can't buy one. They go for $400 to $500 at a few charitable auctions.)

Butler says he hasn't been marketing those types of items because he's “too busy selling signs.” In the future, he plans to market some religious-based items through a Diskey-owned website, www.signfromgod.net.

Diskey Sign's design team takes pride in the fact that they can create a sign that's “any shape, any size, any color.” Butler says there's a reason why there isn't a product catalog: “You'd fall asleep before you got through all the products.”

In terms of color alone, in the past few years, Diskey has custom mixed paint for over 800 different shades of just blues, greens and reds.

Diskey has produced thousands of different signs with multiple variations. Often one customer's design will appeal to another customer, with modified materials and colors. Even the rejections are learning curves for new business. For example, one $25,000 hospital bid in Ohio was rejected, but three hospitals in Indiana and Michigan loved the design and bought more than $250,000 worth of signs.

In spite of the recession, Diskey Signs has continued to sell a lot of signs.

“In the last two years, the sign industry is down about 40 percent both locally and nationally,” says Butler. “through hard work and luck, our production has continued to grow. We've started this year up over ten percent. We haven't laid off anyone or cut hours.”

Butler attributes several factors to this resilience. An updated web page, created by his son, Ken Button, has garnered new business from all over the country, essentially replacing dealers lost during the recession.

Attending a national trade show for architects last summer also proved successful. Many architects do their own design work, but they hire Diskey Signs to produce it.

“We recently produce an order for an architect in Nebraska working for a hospital in Tennessee,” says Butler.

New business has also been generated through bidding on jobs found through a special Internet database.

“We pay a lot of money for the database, but it's been worth it. It's a numbers game. If you send out a lot of bids, eventually you hit a certain percentage of them, “ says Butler.

Diskey's signage adorns numerous local companies, including Allen County Public Library, Vera Bradley, St. Joe Hospital, Dupont Hospital, Parkview Hospital, The Coliseum, Grand Wayne Center, IPFW, and University of Saint Francis. Nationally, two of Diskey's larges accounts have been Columbia University and the City of New York. A few of last year's unique jobs included United States Border Crossing in Laredo, Texas; three schools in Colorado; and a parking garage in South Bend. Military purchase have also increased, with orders one week shipping to Camp Atterbury in Indiana, Fort Sam Houston, Texas and an air base in Colorado. Future growth is planned through a co-branding and hybrid franchise program currently being tested in several markets.

The Butlers attribute part of their success to their involvement in the day-to-day business. Cathy Butler serves as the company's Chief Financial Officer; Mike is the CEO.

“If I spent more time sitting down and being the CEO, we'd grow faster, but I like meeting with the customers, designing signs, answering the phone and going on installations to stay current,” Butler says.

The Butlers also attribute Diskey Sign's success to divine help.

“We are so blessed,” says Butler.

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