Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (or Emarat) is an iconic UAE fuel services company, offering commercial fuel and petrol products and terminalling and distribution facilities and operating an extensive network of 70 consumer service stations in the Northern Emirates such as Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, and Sharjah. Emarat service stations are also known by road users for their inviting and freshly brewed Arabicca coffee.

In recent years Emarat has expanded rapidly, opening a series of 35 new service stations across the UAE. Blue Rhine Industries was chosen by the client as the preferred supplier for designing, manufacturing, and installing the static signage needed across a selection of these new service stations, which were located across the UAE.

Eye-catching, cohesive branding

The client envisioned a network of bright, high-quality LED screens that would communicate Emarat’s corporate colours in the correct hue and tone, ensuring road users could easily identify when they were approaching an Emarat service station.

Blue Rhine Industries refitted the entire signage network across each location, including the:

• canopy signs around the perimeter displaying the Emarat logo
• wayfinding signage around the gas station
• cladding of the columns next to the fuel pumps
• signage displaying the retail brands in each Freshplus store
• and each unit’s main ID Unipole standing at 22m high

The most vital part of the signage at each Emarat location was ensuring that the volumes and colours were correct on each static LED screen so that the client’s branding was cohesive and recognizable. The 3.9mm Excel Pixel Pitch LED screens Blue Rhine used are also thin, discreet, and blend seamlessly into the service station’s design and environment.

When manufacturing and installing the canopy of the main structure of the service station, Blue Rhine used vinyl from 3M that was designed especially for LED lighting. This choice of vinyl ensures that the lighting never exceeded 400 LUX in brightness.

The level of brightness is therefore safe for road users and provides an excellent perception of Emarat’s corporate colours on the station’s canopy perimeter and main ID unipol. Both of the signs display the company logo and are the first elements that visually appear to approaching customers, making colour perception crucial at this first point-of-contact.

Fast, effective installation

Blue Rhine Industries employed an innovative method of on-site installation, using its extensive in-house expertise to pre-assemble as many elements as possible at its Dubai Investment Park facility before bringing them to each location.

This minimised the amount of installation time needed at the site itself and reduced overall quality issues, as any challenges found during the manufacturing process could be resolved quickly in-house without the need for disrupting on-site work.

For example, the Emarat logos in English and Arabic would usually be designed as separate 3D letters, which would then need to be installed individually. The Blue Rhine team instead manufactured each logo as a pre-assembled unit, which came out the factory in one piece, thereby making it much quicker and easier to affix the logo to each sign when it reached the site.

By spreading out installation teams across different project elements, as well moving much of the pre-assembly to its in-house faculty, the Blue Rhine team was able to reduce its time on-site per unit from two months to only 28 days, which is an average reduction of 50% compared to previous projects.

Signage designed for easy maintenance

Each signage model was designed to be simple and easy to maintain, with access for maintenance teams built into the construction to minimise disruption to service station customers.

Blue Rhine Industries built a lightbox around the canopy perimeter of each Emarat service station, which functions like a tray that can be easily removed to access the screens and lighting beneath. This means the time taken to perform maintenance and the resulting disruption to users caused is minimal.

On the main ID Unipol for each unit, the Blue Rhine team also ensured that all the LED lighting trays are accessible via a dedicated maintenance platform, which ensures simple access to the electrical platforms.

• LED 3.9mm Excel Pixel Pitch screens offer a seamless, sleek, and discreet appearance for customer-facing digital signage, elevating the user experience
• Screen brightness never exceeds 400 LUX, ensuring the level of light is both safe for road users and improves the perception of corporate colours from a distance
• Pre-assembly of major project elements off-site improves the levels of quality and reduces overall installation timeframes by 50%
• Easy removal of signage elements allow technical teams to perform maintenance quickly, minimising disruption to customers.