Capabilities

Recognized as an industry leader in dimensional letters and plaques, Gemini takes a great deal of pride in partnering

with our customers for success. Fifty years of development and investment have given us the capability to deliver the

largest and most complex jobs with speed that has become a benchmark for the industry.

Gemini’s brand of collaboration and partnership will enable you to maximize your profits by completely satisfying

your customers’ needs. Our products will open the door for you, but it’s our ability to partner with you and simplify

your experience that will make you a long-term believer. Simply put, we can help manage your large and complex

jobs so you can concentrate on what you do best.

The ingredients for success go well beyond world-class manufacturing. With seven strategic manufacturing locations,

our reach makes us as strong and fast as any local source. Gemini is a value-added resource that will enhance your

results at every step in the process. We can help you find, win and keep the right customers by working with you to

design the right products, manage cash flow, and deliver on time and in full.

Our MissiOn: We do all this with you, our client, in mind. Simply stated, our goal is to supply the world’s finest

dimensional letters and plaques, hassle-free, with the fastest delivery at the most competitive prices, all with a

lifetime guarantee. If for any reason there is a problem with anything we make or do, we will make it right with you.

A Trusted Partner

Gemini was organized in 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota,

to specialize in the manufacture of vacuum-formed plastic

products. In 1966, the company began the manufacture of

plastic letters, which marked the beginning of our involvement

in the sign industry. Today, Gemini is the world’s largest

manufacturer of dimensional letters and employs more than

600 workers in 18 plants located in Minnesota, Iowa, Nevada,

Texas and Virginia in the United States; Neustadt, Canada; and

Reynosa, Mexico. Over the past five decades, our commitment

to customers and dedication to excellence have produced

a client base that includes some of the most respected

organizations in the world.

HisTOryOur signs And PrOduCTs CAn be seen AT:

` Caterpillar World Headquarters

` CitiFinancial

` Exxon

` Goodyear

` IBM

` Kroger

` JPMorgan Chase

` McDonald’s

` Shell

` Thrifty Car Rental

` UPS

… and many more

Choice is the pedestal on which creativity

rests. Gemini manufactures the greatest

range of dimensional letters, logos, numbers

and products for the sign industry. Whether

the letters are for shopping malls, fashion

boutiques, cafés, restaurants, schools, gyms,

or government and cultural facilities, Gemini

dimensional signage offers a superlative

selection of choices designed with your and

your customers’ needs in mind.

PrOduCTs

` Cast aluminum and bronze

` Precision flat laser and waterjet cut metal in aluminum, bronze, brass, copper and stainless steel

` Fabricated stainless steel

` Mini metal letters

` Aluminum and bronze plaques

` Thermo-formed plastic

` Injection-molded plastic

` Precision flat and laser cut plastic

` Metal laminate on acrylic

` Injection molded and formed channel letters for illumination

` Changeable copy letters, track and accessories

` Theater marquee letters

` Gas pricing numerals and letters

` Snap Lok™ track and frames, letter mounting pads and letter trimcap

Aligning your needs with those of your customers is one of

the key ways Gemini maintains a competitive advantage. If

you’re not successful, we’re not successful, and preserving your

relationships with your customers has always been a priority

at Gemini.

It goes beyond that, however. The alliance we create is built on

the foundation of making you more profitable and making your

process smoother. This starts with our products.

Because we’re experts, you can concentrate on what you

do best, knowing that you’re receiving the highest quality

products in the industry. The breadth of our portfolio and

our customization capabilities allow for any brand to be

distinguished with a style as unique as your clients’ needs.

Most of what we do is customized work, and our ability to

mass-produce these items will give you the competitive edge

you need to please your customers. As you will see, our unique

depth, line of finishes, coatings and materials can produce

exclusive products that translate into high profits.

We take pride in managing each order and reducing the

complexity of every situation — a skill set that will make you

shine in your customers’ eyes. We manage the details so you

don’t have to worry about them. One of the reasons we’ve

been around for 50 years is our ability to incorporate these

values not only in our project management but in our approach

to sales and marketing as well.

This approach revolves around some basic customer-centric

principles. Understanding your needs and delivering value-

added products and services are at their core. It’s not about

us, it’s about you, and we work hard to make you more

competitive.

We have the ability to prototype jobs of any size and can build

tooling to save on heavy capital investments. We have also

created standardized mounting templates and incorporated

customer-focused production schedules. The bottom line is that

we want to partner with you up front to set you up for success.

PArTnersHiPs

gemini will partner with you to create successful solutions.An example of partnering with Gemini for success can be seen at Exxon service stations across the United States. The illuminated channel letters with the distinctive “XX” are custom-manufactured, injection-molded letters produced by Gemini.

In this instance, Gemini worked with the designer to create competitively priced, high-integrity, side-lit channel letters. To help the design firm land the job, Gemini agreed to pay half the tooling charges for the molds — another example of how we will work with you to help grow your business.

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Gemini’s unique scope of capabilities in the development and

production of standard and custom signage is second to none.

That’s because we routinely work with virtually every material used

in the sign-making process. And, with more than 600,000 square

feet of manufacturing space, Gemini has the capacity to handle

almost any project that comes our way — large or small.

The holder of more than 10 manufacturing patents, Gemini is on

the leading edge of research and development. Gemini extrudes

its own sheets of plastic and acrylic and produces all of its products

within our manufacturing plants. Gemini operates its own foundries

and performs its own oxidation and anodizing, meeting all industry

standards approved by the Aluminum Anodizers Council (AAC) and

the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Unlike many companies throughout the world, Gemini has resisted

the temptation to cancel or freeze capital improvements during

uncertain economic times. The company’s investment in a new cast

foundry at its Iowa plant to produce larger plaques and dimensional

letters is just one example of our commitment to moving forward.

We have also expanded our product testing facilities by adding two

major pieces of testing equipment — a Ci4000 Xenon Weather-

Ometer® and a CCX Advanced Cyclic Corrosion Cabinet. We

have also built our own color lab for paint matching and paint

mixing. Thanks to this expansion and investment in equipment and

personnel, we can complete any project from beginning to end

faster, more accurately and much less expensively than ever before.

MAnufACTuring exCellenCe

MaterialsThe finest materials produce the finest products. Gemini’s experienced craftsmen use only the highest-grade materials for production of your letters and logos. Our all-electric, pollution-free furnaces melt lead-free bronze and aluminum ingot used in our casting processes. Our fabricated stainless steel products use only lead-free solder. Gemini purchases metal sheets in bulk quantities that are cut at our plants with custom-designed lasers and water jets. Ultimately, whether your project is to be made of metal or plastic, our goal at Gemini is to finish the product beyond your and your customers’ expectations.

Shown here are just a few examples of available metal finishes.

Aluminum5052 AlloyShown: Brushed Aluminum

CopperC11000 AlloyShown: Brushed Copper

bronzeC22000 Commercial AlloyShown: Medium Bronze Anodized

stainless steelC304 Alloy/316 Alloy (more corrosion resistant)Shown: Polished Stainless Steel

brassno lead C46400 nAVAl Alloy C280 MunTZ Alloy Shown: Polished Brass Cor-Ten® steel

Aluminum356 Alloy, 514 Alloy w/anodizedShown: Clear Anodized Aluminum

stainless steelHigh-grade stainless steel C304 AlloyShown: Brushed Stainless Steel

bronzenAVy g (lead- and mercury-free bronze) AlloyShown: Brushed Bronze

TitaniumTitanium-Coated stainless steel C304 AlloyShown: Brushed Gold

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Designing a sign is a balancing act of color, size and style.

Each of these factors plays an important role in creating the

“look” of a sign. Selection of the correct letter is as important

as designing a logo — and the proper selection of the color

or finish of the material used is equally critical. With an array

of exciting choices engineered with equal focus on design

and functionality, Gemini has all the bases covered with an

extensive selection of finish and coating options that set us

apart from other companies.

Gemini’s flat cut metal letters are available in six metals, six

gauges and 50 finishes from ½” to 60” high — all made in

just seven days. Our bronze and aluminum cast metal letters

offer the classic look and permanency of metal demanded

by government, university and other high-end projects. With

many different finishes, including buffed, oxidized or anodized

(using AAC and AIA guidelines), you’re sure to find what your

customers are looking for.

We also have our own color lab for paint matching. If one

of our 45 standard colors is not what you need, our specially

trained technicians can match your color and create the paint

mix needed to complete the job. As an example, UPS chose

Gemini because of our ability to make a plastic material that

matched their trademarked brown color. In all, Gemini features

more than 60 standard styles with many different finish

options, ensuring that your finished letters will meet, if not

exceed, your customers’ expectations.

COATings & finisHes

Anodizing is an electro-chemical process that hardens aluminum and allows it to be colorized. The aluminum surface is converted into aluminum oxide. This aluminum oxide layer protects the aluminum from natural oxidation as a result of reactions occurring at the anode in an acidic solution. Any red metal (brass, bronze, copper) can be oxidized to create an antique look. Letters are treated in a chemical bath that turns the entire letter black. The face of the letter is then wiped with a stiff sponge to remove some of the black oxidized face. Varying levels of oxidation are available, such as light oxidized and dark oxidized. All oxidized returns (sides) are left black. The entire letter is then clear coated with a low-gloss hardened acrylic polyurethane or powder coated and then oven baked.

Letter faces are polished by sanding and buffing with progressively finer belts and compounds until they have a high gloss finish. They are then coated with a gloss liquid acrylic polyurethane and oven baked. Gemini offers polished finishes for flat cut aluminum, bronze, brass, copper and stainless steel and cast bronze. A buffed mirror-like finish is available for cast aluminum letters that offers high luster.

Gemini painted letters are coated with either a liquid or powder coat paint. For liquid paint, letters are first primed then coated with pigmented acrylic polyurethane and oven baked. Colors are available with a standard gloss finish, or can be ordered in semi-gloss or matte. Custom colors are available by matching a PMS formula, sending in a paint sample, or by specifying the paint manufacturer and numbers.

Powder coating is a process of applying a mixture of finely ground pigment and resin that is electrostatically charged and sprayed onto an electrically grounded metal letter. The charged powder particles adhere to the grounded surface until heated and fused into a smooth finish in a curing oven. Currently we powder coat only our brushed aluminum letters and logos using a polyester paint.

Gemini’s brushed finish features stroke-sanded faces, typically using an 80-grit sanding belt. Standard grain direction is top of letter to bottom, but horizontal grain direction is available upon request. Our goal is to consistently sand all letters in a single order to provide a uniform letter appearance when letters are installed. Letter returns are bead blasted to provide a uniform frosted appearance. Brushed aluminum letters are then powder coated (face, return and back) with clear low-gloss polyester and oven baked. All other metals are liquid sprayed with clear acrylic polyurethane (low-gloss standard) and then oven baked.

anodizing / Oxidizing

Polishing

Painting

brushing

Just because we offer the lowest prices in the industry doesn’t mean we shortchange our

customers on quality. We are able to keep our prices low by purchasing raw materials in

bulk and by manufacturing many of the other materials used to produce your sign products.

Through recycling, nesting thousands of orders and utilizing the latest technology, Gemini can

manufacture superior products at much lower costs than other suppliers.

Beyond these common sense business practices, we also maintain high quality standards

by working only with premium materials. That means we use the best coatings and finishes

available, and provide mounting hardware that will keep sign installations secure. Whether

made of metal or plastic, Gemini delivers products beyond your customers’ expectations.

We also continually test all of our materials and finishes — both in the field and in our own

weather-testing equipment — and refine our coating technology in an effort to deliver a product

that we know will last much longer than the life of any sign installed using other products. Lab

results are tracked daily and records are kept for comparison between products. Our equipment

is also capable of storing the history of test parameters so we can have comparable tests

performed on new products as they become available.

QuAliTy

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control measures, Gemini is able to offer the industry’s only lifetime

guarantee on all the products we sell. What do we mean by a lifetime

guarantee? It means that should a letter fade, break or contain any defect,

we will refinish or replace the defective materials at no cost to you, as long

as the letters have remained in their original location. When we say lifetime

guarantee, we mean it.

lifeTiMe guArAnTee sign company finds gemini guarantee as good as promised.Keith Reinowski of Midwest Graphics in Martin, North Dakota, needs no prodding to vouch for Gemini’s products and lifetime guarantee. After some kids broke a pair of formed plastic letters in a furniture company’s decades-old dimensional signage, Keith was able to get free replacement letters from Gemini.

“What surprised me the most wasn’t that Gemini stood by its lifetime guarantee,” Keith said, “but that when I put up the new letters side-by-side with the old letters you could hardly tell the difference. All I needed to do was clean the old letters a little bit and they looked just the same.”

Here’s the rest of the story … The furniture store operator had the original Gemini packing list from 1968 in his drawer. In business since 2011, Keith wasn’t even in grade school when the original letters were purchased and installed by another sign company!

Gemini understands that there are many stages involved in

the ordering process and we know that crisp communication

is a prerequisite to success. Our people understand your sense

of urgency, and our systems are designed to deliver regular

updates and are easy to use.

From ideation to completion, we’ve got experts to help you

with every stage. We will listen to your customers’ requirements

and translate your vision into reality in the quickest way possible.

Sharing our past experience and library of past successes can

help generate ideas and crystallize a unified vision that will

make any brand distinguished. Whether you have an idea or

need an idea, let us help you develop a unique product that

makes you stand out.

Once these ideas become reality, we can determine a price very

quickly and work with you to develop terms that make sense for

all parties involved. We have the advantage of being as quick

and nimble as a small company and have streamlined processes

for your benefit.

For multiple set jobs, we can manage your project by having a

representative oversee all steps involved. In many circumstances,

prototyping before developing the actual product is common.

This goes hand in hand with willingness to set up the tooling

needed for custom jobs as well.

Closing the loop with a timely delivery process is critical to your

success. In the case of large quantity orders, we can scale up

and produce these products in a way that makes us an industry

benchmark.

PrOjeCT MAnAgeMenT

When one of our customers had an opportunity to place signage in more than 600 Liz Claiborne boutiques in JCPenney stores, we asked them what their budget for the project was and how we could best provide the products and terms to meet those needs. Our customer eventually chose fabricated stainless steel letters and ordered the job over the course of six weeks, rather than in one large order.

This worked out for our customer so that there wasn’t one massive invoice to deal with, or a large backlog of product sitting idly waiting to be installed. Communication and going the extra mile to learn and understand our customer’s needs turned out to be the key ingredients for this successful project.

Communication is key to gemini meeting customer needs.

Case study

Over the past decade, the green movement has become

a huge part of the design and building process. Gaining

importance in this movement is LEED (Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design) certification. Gemini was actively

looking for greener solutions before this movement gained

prominence.

You’ll be happy to know that everything we make is

manufactured in an earth-friendly manner. Gemini’s line of

recycled, recyclable and regionally manufactured products fits

nicely within these guidelines, and gives you a competitive

option when trying to meet green specifications.

Our metal products use only lead- and mercury-free metals

with a high concentration of recycled materials. Our formed

plastic line is a cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) that contains

no petroleum.

Besides our products, our production processes have a green

thumbprint from beginning to end. Our environmental

programs are supported by Gemini’s executive team, as

evidenced by the fact that Gemini’s corporate headquarters in

Minnesota earned the coveted title of Green Star Facility from

the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

We take great pride in our pollution-control engineering,

which reduces wastewater, air pollution and general waste.

Our patented water-jet metal cutting process is a closed-loop

system with zero water discharge. Besides needing little water

in the process, the garnet used in cutting is reclaimed for

reuse. All solvent wastes are reclaimed for reuse or sent to a

recycler, and we recycle all trim and scrap generated in the

manufacturing process.

green MAnufACTuring

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gemini letters help a Minnesota college achieve leed Platinum certification.When St. Paul’s Macalester College became the first college or university in the state of Minnesota to have a facility achieve LEED Platinum certification, it did so with help from dimensional sign letters manufactured by Gemini Incorporated.

The honor was bestowed upon Macalester for its construction of Markim Hall, home of the college’s Institute for Global Citizenship. LEED Platinum certification is the highest level of certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating Systems, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. The certification program independently verifies the highest green building and performance measures.

Markim Hall uses ¼” thick flat cut aluminum letters manufactured by Gemini as part of the building’s dimensional signage. Gemini certifies that 60 to 80 percent of its flat cut aluminum letters and logos are manufactured from recycled aluminum. This is in compliance with the Environmental and Recycled Content Materials requirement that calls for the use of recycled content materials.

“Achieving LEED Platinum status underscores Macalester’s commitment to sustainability,” said Macalester President Brian Rosenberg. “Markim Hall is a place where form and function come together as we prepare students to be global citizens, and we’re honored to have achieved LEED Platinum certification.”

The fundamental rule we adhere to is to vigilantly pursue customer satisfaction. That means

seeing things from your point of view and delivering on that vision. Sound products are the

backbone of our reputation, but service is what distinguishes us. Aligning our resources to meet

your needs is a process that never ends at Gemini, and sets us apart from competitors.

This starts with a field sales support staff that will actively engage you and strive to make you

more competitive. We see ourselves as trusted advisors who will listen and educate, not just on

Gemini products, but also on best industry practices. With our experience, we can help you find,

win and keep customers in many different market segments. We’re successful when you achieve

your goals and grow your business. Investing in your marketing and sales tools is something we

are happy to do for you.

Gemini is known for its complete product catalog but also offers an array of sales tools and

literature pieces to help you close the sale with your customer. We can connect the dots between

our products and their applications to help you achieve profitable growth. We know you have

choices, and that’s why we cut through the complexity to make Gemini the easy choice. With

multiple resources to help walk you through the selection process, we’re confident we can

simplify your experience with dimensional letters and plaques in no time.

On the other side of the sales spectrum is our industry-renowned customer service staff

that teams with your field representative to cover all the bases. You’ll always know what to

expect from our staff. When it comes to teaming up on behalf of your customer, nobody can

match Gemini.

serViCe

PHOne

usA: 1-800-538-8377 Monday–Friday 7 a.m.–7 p.m. / Saturday 8 a.m.–noon (Central)

Canada: 1-800-265-0426 Monday–Friday 7 a.m.–8 p.m. / Saturday 9 a.m.–1 p.m. (Eastern)

international: 1-507-263-3957

eMAil

usA: sales@signletters.com

Canada: canada@signletters.com

fAx

usA: 1-800-421-1256

Canada: 1-519-799-5954

international: 1-507-263-4887

Online

sign Professionals: signletters.com

Plaques: geminiplaques.com

CAb Plastic: cabsheet.com

MAil

usA: Gemini 103 Mensing Way Cannon Falls, MN 55009-1143

Canada: Gemini Box 268, 373 John Street Neustadt, Ontario NOG 2M0

COnTACT usFive Ways to Submit Your Order or Request a Quote

Printed in USA ©2013 Gemini Incorporated

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