With this year’s Highways UK coming to an end, we’re reflecting on a fantastic few days at The NEC in Birmingham. 

Last year’s Highways UK was a great success, so we were very excited to exhibit this year and make it even better. A strong MVIS team, featuring familiar and new faces, was out in force at the event. 

We recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary and so the theme for this year was ‘A Decade of Driving Innovation’. We had a lot of our latest innovations on show, with the highlight being our new Integrated Environmental Decibel Data that was captured live at the event. 

Like last year, the event was another great success, with us receiving a lot of compliments about our stand. We had five staff work the stand this year, including our newest team member, Ben Kettell, who attended his first trade show and Highways UK event for the company. 

Marketing Manager, Ben Kettell commented, “It was great to attend Highways UK for the first time and represent MVIS. The stand looked fantastic and it was great to meet so many friendly faces from the industry. It has been a very rewarding experience that has helped me get to know our customers better and it filled me with pride seeing the preparations the Marketing team has made contribute to the success of the event.” 

Amongst some of the materials prepared for the show, we had brand new merchandise bags to hand out with branded air fresheners and ice scrapers inside. We also had our ‘VMS Special Offer’ flyers available to take away as part of our latest campaign. 

We also gave our product specification sheets a fresh new look and put them all together in a brochure, which could be downloaded by scanning a QR code. If you didn’t manage to catch us at Highways UK or if you’d just like to learn more about products, you can download our catalogue, here. 

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director added, “Highways UK is the biggest event of the year for us and the industry, so it was great to make such a good impression with our stand. Even though this year we focused on innovation, we wanted to continue our efforts to be more environmentally responsible. By creating a product catalog and encouraging visitors to scan a QR instead, we ended up printing a lot less product sheets out and on fewer pieces of paper. We are already looking forward to next year and I’m excited about what ideas our Marketing team will come up with.” 

The whole MVIS Highways UK 2022 team wanted to wish everyone who stopped by a big thank you. It was a pleasure catching up and meeting with so many faces. We look forward to seeing you all next year! 

We can’t wait to exhibit at Highways UK and we’re now only one week away. Highways UK is the sector’s must-attend event, as it offers companies the opportunity to showcase their latest products or solutions, as well as explore other innovations in the market, and network with others in the industry.

If you are attending, make sure that you stop by Stand H16 to say hello to our friendly team and ask them any questions you may have. Our Managing Director, Pat Musgrave, will be attending and the rest of the team will be wearing a different colour polo shirt in relation to the 5 colours in our logo. 

So, let’s meet the members of the MVIS team who will be attending and working the stand this year. 

Pat Musgrave – Managing Director

Pat helped with the launch of our sister company Bartco UK and has been MVIS’ Managing Director since 2013. Under his leadership, we have successfully rebranded and launched a series of innovative ITS solutions that have cemented our reputation in the highways and event management sectors.

If anyone wants to catch up, discuss innovation and future opportunities, be sure to have a chat with him and take one of his business cards. 

Anne Ashman – UK Group Commercial and Operations Director

Anne is the driving force behind the MVIS and Bartco UK machine and will be greeting and welcoming visitors to the stand. With over 10 years of industry experience, there isn’t much Anne hasn’t seen in her role with the company and this is reflected in her dynamism and passion for customer service.

As some of our team members will be attending Highways UK for the first time this year, Anne’s presence will give them the opportunity to meet familiar faces in the industry. 

Ben Kettell –  Marketing Manager

Ben is the newest member of the MVIS team, joining as our Marketing Manager in July. Even though he hasn’t been here that long, Ben has become very knowledgeable about our products and the highways industry in general. 

Make sure that you have a chat with Ben as it is his first time working the stand at a trade show for MVIS, as well as his first time at a Highways UK event. He’ll also be wearing a bright orange polo shirt, so you can’t really miss him. 

Juliette Wright – Customer Relations Officer 

Juliette has recently been promoted to Customer Relations Officer as she has proven herself to be a highly important member of the MVIS team since joining in January 2021. 

As part of her new role, Juliette provides support to Graeme, our Sales Director, as well as to Clair and Mia in our Customer Relations team. Juliette embodies our Platinum Service Promise in everything that she does and will provide a friendly face for any visitor who comes to the stand. 

Tom Hooton – Research & Development Manager 

Tom is the Research and Development Manager at our sister company Bartco UK, who manufactures all of our products. Tom has been with the group since 2014, making him a highly experienced and knowledgeable member of the team. He also has some Highways UK experience, having attended last year for the first time.  

Tom’s knowledge and technical capability make him a fantastic team member to chat with for anyone who has any technical questions about our products.

Graeme Lee – Sales Director 

Graeme is the second longest-serving member of the team, joining the group in 2012. Since then, he has helped to build our customer base and enforce the high standards we set for ourselves by leading by example. 

Highly skilled in sales, networking and maintaining relationships, Graeme is well respected within the industry which makes his presence at Highways UK very important for us. 

Make sure that you download the Swapcard app before you go, so you scan our badges and collect our contact information. 

There’s also still time to register for your FREE ticket to attend. For those who have registered, see you there! 

Our journey as a company began in June 2012 with the London Olympics, which required 177 mobile variable message signs (VMS) to be deployed and managed throughout London. Shortly after this in August 2012 came the Paralympics of a similar scale, forcing MVIS into delivering the platinum level service that we are known for today. 

Transport for London (TfL) required the temporary deployment of an extensive network of VMS to be positioned along the Olympic Route Network, in order to provide clear and distinguishable route instructions to road users and help athletes get to their destination in a timely manner.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games presented TfL with the challenge of creating a road traffic system that would facilitate not only the seamlessly smooth running of both events but also the efficient flow of non-event traffic. TfL appointed MVIS to supply, install and support an incredible 177 signs in what was believed to be the largest single deployment of solar powered mobile VMS in the world at the time. 

With the help of our sister company and manufacturer Bartco, all 177 units were able to be built and deployed onto the streets of London ready for the start of the games. Taking on a project of this size so early on in our lifespan was not without its challenges, though. A 10,000 mile supply chain length, weather problems, port closures, flight delays and customs issues all had to be overcome in order for the signs to get into the UK on time.

Since then, we have only expanded and grown from strength to strength. This has resulted in MVIS becoming a trusted asset in the industry with a focus on the values of efficiency, excellent service and trust with our customers.

In 2012, we had a fleet of only 8 x Bartco 5 colour VMS and now boast the UK’s largest fleet of over 600 VMS that have been built and maintained by our staff. Better yet, we are still working in multiple large schemes across the UK for happy clients who choose MVIS to deliver. 

To find out more about our work on other projects, see our major projects timeline.