Meet Our Team
Bernie Ottinger
Blake Stocks
Tina Harrell
Right-On Signs was created in 1999 by Bernie Ottinger & Nelson Phillips to supply graphics for our hobbies of radio controlled aircraft & as a part time job. That dream was short lived and the graphics business took off in a big way. I soon realized that to be a great sign professional one must be very computer savvy plus be a jack of all trades and we fit the bill, unfortunately later that year Nelsons job forced him to resign from Right-On Signs and I was left to my own devices. I expanded my business very rapidly and started doing dimensional signs in-house along with thermal printing and screen printed garments.
In 2002 we moved to our current location on Highway 258 South in Kinston, NC. This is a 2800 sq. ft. facility which houses 5 computers, 3 vinyl cutters (30″, 48″ & 54″), 1 Gerber edge II, a complete screen printing system, a sandblasting room, 54 wide format inkjet printer and a ShopBot 5×8′ CNC Router table. We also have room to do vehicles inside and a facility large enough to letter 2 tractor trailers side by side. So the next time you’re at one of my competitors look around and see if they’re serious about doing graphics for you or just trying to make a quick buck. I have a very strong compassion for excellence & feel that Right-On Signs gives an excellent product for a fair market price. I will not use any product cheap in price and charge our customers for a premium product. YES we have a warranty and will stand behind anything we produce.
So the next time you are in the market for signs, business cards, tee shirts, vehicle wraps, or any other identification be it BIG or small, please check us out.
Thank You
Bernie Ottinger
Sign Professional
Retail Notebook: Right-On Signs, April 1, 2014. 15 years
Some people can wrap gifts, but Bernie Ottinger wraps cars. The owner of Right-On Signs, Ottinger creates signs of any variety, including ones that cover the body of a vehicle.
“If it involves a sign, we pretty much do it,” he said.
Ottinger has operated his business for 15 years, but sign-making was not his first career. After graduating from South Lenoir High School in 1988, the Kinston native attended Nashville Auto-Diesel College — now Lincoln College of Technology — in Tennessee, graduating in 1989. While working on the fleet of trucks from Coastal Wholesale Grocery in Kinston, he learned how to make truck graphics. “I was a diesel mechanic for the better part of 10 years,” Ottinger said, “And I decided to make the transition over to signs.”
Ottinger first worked out of his garage until the 1999 flood hit his house and home shop. Though he and his wife Laura had just welcomed a new baby, he quit his full-time job and, two weeks later, he started his own business in a warehouse on U.S. 258 South. He stayed there until he got his shop repaired. Ottinger continued operating his business at home until October 2003, when he moved to his present location.
“I do anything from simple lettering of doors to more complex wrapping of cars,” he said.
Wrapping involves creating designs or using reproductions, such as company logos and designs, on vinyl and adhering it all around a vehicle. Ottinger said his designs are generated on a computer, and he uses a 54-inch printer to print onto the vinyl. He also makes metal-fabricated and LED-lighted signs, and paints on brick. The company employs three people and has crafted the Woodmen Community Center and Mother Earth Brewing signs. Ottinger and his wife live in Kinston and have two children, Megan and Cole.
Right-On Signs, 2045 U.S. 258 S., is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 252-523-3638.
