G
ive print a thought, you see it everywhere and not just on paper. On your way to
work you will see billboards, banners, vehicle signage and so much more. All of
that has been printed in one way or another. Usually, you would expect that all of
these different things are printed by different printers using all different types of
equipment. And, for the most part, you would be right. There are, however, a few printers
who have the size, critical mass and capability of handling a wide range of print types. One
such company is the Sisonke Group. This is a multi-faceted company capable of meeting
most of your printing requirements from brochures and magazines through to banners
and business cards.
Founded 16 years ago as Sisonke Printers, the group now incorporates a number of
companies serving a broad spectrum of clients with a range of services. At the centre
of the Sisonke Group is still Sisonke Printers. The company now employs 148 people and
is solely focused on the print activities of the company including full litho, digital and
large-format printing offerings. Its production capacity across all sectors gives it the
ability to meet the requirements of a wide range of customers.
Printing capacity at Sisonke is handled by a ten-colour A1 press, a five-colour A1
press, a five-colour A1 press capable of printing onto board and a two-colour A1 press.
The company prints a wide range of products for its customers including corporate
communications and B2B publications. It has also branched into packaging printing
allowing it to meet all of its customers’ needs. On the digital side, Sisonke Printers has
a Xerox iGen 3, an iGen 4 and two Xerox x1000 digital production presses for full-colour
digital printing. The addition of a digital printing department was initially made in 2004.
In the large-format arena for point-of-sale printing and banner printing Sisonke Printers
has the first Xerox IJP2000 printer in South Africa. This high-speed, full-colour, large-
format printer allows Sisonke to produce banners and posters on demand. The latest
addition to the large-format offering is the Agfa Anapurna M2050 printer capable of
printing large-format and super-wide format prints onto flexible and rigid substrates
up to 45mm thick. This machine is widely regarded as the Rolls Royce of wide-format
printers. These devices are complemented by large-format Mimaki roll-to-roll printers.
Said Delano Slack, director of the Sisonke Group, ‘We incorporated digital printing into our
product portfolio a long time ago because of the extra production capacity and flexibility it
offered us. Many other printers waited to make the move into digital and they have found
the learning curve to be very steep. We took the move in the early days which has made it
a lot easier for us because we now have the learning process behind us and we have all
the processes in place.’
He added, ‘It has also allowed us to have a full web-to-print offering where we can assist
customers with their digital publishing requirements as well as, offer them the ability
to place their print orders via the web. When we opted to add digital production to our
portfolio, we entered into an agreement with Sommer Corporation in Germany for skills
transfers and assistance with the process. This made the entire process much easier
and smoother.’
Print is not, however, the only string to the Sisonke Group’s bow. Staying true to the
company slogan of ‘More than just Print’ the Sisonke Group offers a number of other
services, all related and connected to its print offering. A little over a year ago, the print
finishing department was separated from printing because of its ability to offer a range
of services to other printers, as well as handling all the finishing for Sisonke Printers.
Outer Limits, as the finishing company is called, also offers a wide range of service
including folding, perfect binding for square back books and magazines, saddle-stitching
for stapled products, laminating and varnishing. Another of the services Outer Limits offers
is the manufacture of packaging material. A large-format Brausse die-cutter allows for
fast cutting and stripping of packaging material.
Delano commented, ‘We have installed state-of-the-art equipment to meet all of our
requirements. However, the production capabilities of our equipment means that we have
excess capacity and we can offer a finishing service to other printers. Therefore, it makes
sense to have Outer Limits as a separate operating company to Sisonke Printers.’
Such has the success of this multi-pronged approach been, that Sisonke Group became
aware of the need to assist customers with design and concept creation. The solution
was the formation, a year ago, of a full service advertising agency called adam8eve. This
provides conceptualisation, design and production services for above-the-line and below-
the-line clients. The advertising agency works hand-in-hand with the other companies in
the group to offer a full concept to campaign service.
This is not the end of the developments at Sisonke. Earlier this year, a new company
named Sisonke Dataprint and Mail was formed to handle the fulfilment of clients
transactional printing and mailing. With full accreditation and certification from the
Post Office and implementation of the PAMS system, this latest addition to the
Sisonke Group is able to meet all the fulfilment requirements of its customers.
A major aspect of fulfilment is data handling and security. According to Delano, every
effort has been taken to ensure data security. He added, ‘We have third-party people
who take responsibility for the security of the data. Not only are our servers locked in a
vault, but we have multiple back-ups, some stored onsite and others stored offsite. Only
one person is able to access the data at any given time and one person is responsible for
verifying, cleaning and manipulating the customer data. We have written and created our
own data software which has been inspected by the Post Office and is actually better
than any of the mainstream systems available on the market.’
Sisonke Group and its subsidiary companies are experiencing on-going growth in the print
sector despite the pressures which print finds itself under. In recent years the volumes
of printed material have been reducing with a steady shift toward electronic and digital
communication methods. Sisonke is taking full advantage of the growth in electronic with
its various offerings. Delano commented, ‘We are not backing down from the challenges
presented by e-commerce, in fact we have aligned our offerings with the E services but
we believe strongly in the future of print. All that is required is an integrated approach. Our
clients still need print and will continue to use print. We have adopted a holistic approach
to our customers’ communications. We also make sure that we keep up-to-date with the
latest developments taking place so that we can ensure we offer our clients the very best
levels of service.’
In order to ensure that customers receive the best service and top quality products, the
Sisonke Group has been ISO:9001 certified and has started the process of implementing
ISO:22001 health and safety standards with the aim of being certified.
The Sisonke Group is striving to offer its clients a one-stop service using print as the focal
point but with much more included.
Nex Media •
Vol 2 Issue 3
45
