History

Maurice J. Poyant, started the company in 1938, naming it Artcraft Sign Co.
He gained his experience by working for Brochu Signs. After being laid-off
and re-hired several times, he decided to start his own company. The son
of a French immigrant; Maurice had just a 7th grade education.

In 1957, Maurice incorporated the company. Since the name Artcraft Signs
was already in use, he chose to change the name of the business to Poyant
Signs, Inc. Leonard M. Poyant, Maurice's son, started working in the family
business full time in 1955 after graduating from New Bedford Vocational
High School in the Industrial Design Department. In 1980 Maurice passed
away, leaving the business to his son-in-law, Hector Richard and his son
Leonard. Leonard had one son enter into the business, Richard who has an
MBA in Business from Northeastern University. Hector had two sons in the
business who both graduated from New Bedford Vocational High School.
Hector died in 1991. Leonard and Richard eventually purchased the
outstanding stock from Hector's wife and their two sons.

In 1998 we bought-out a competitor in Brockton, MA. We merged the
business into our New Bedford facility which ultimately forced us to consider
larger quarters. We purchased a modern 48,000 sq/ft building in the New
Bedford Business Park to replace our 12,000 sq ft plant. With continued
growth in mind, we added another 4,000 sq/ft to it.  

We moved into our new state of the art facility in 1999. Since that time we
have continued to grow our sales team and staff.  In 2004, we absorbed
another competitor and the former owner is on our sales staff. This resulted
in establishing a Boston office. We now have ten outside sales people and
68 employees in total. 

We have also developed our installation and service department and fleet
into the largest of its kind in New England. The long term commitment to
this part of our business has created the highest level of control and
accountability for our customers.

Richard V. Poyant is currently the President and Treasurer and has full control
of the company. We hold integrity, respect and honesty, compassion and
hard work as family values that are woven into our business practices. These
values combined with a progressive approach towards personal growth,
family growth and development are also translated into company culture.
 
Since the founding of the company, every generation has learned how critical
it is to be on the forefront of improving and reinvesting in capital equipment,
training and knowledge and never to stop this process. This philosophy has
been taught and shown by example how important it is to never stop
improving. This philosophy has been inducted into the company culture and
is constantly reinforced. This has certainly helped to keep the company
progressing, resulting in the largest sign manufacturing facility in New
England and the largest installation and service fleet and has enabled to
expand our reach throughout the region.