Pyrotec, October 2021: This year marks the 55th anniversary of Pyrotec, a privately-owned and managed business that was established in 1966 and continues to offer products and services founded on integrity, a dedication to quality, operational reliability and service excellence.

‘We have come a long way since trading in the 60s and 70s,’ says Rowan Beattie, Pyrotec’s Managing Director. ‘Our business has seen the rise and fall of the economy, the turn-around of our country’s political position, the introduction and explosion of technology, massive shifts in consumer expectations and, most recently, a global pandemic. Through it all, we believe that we have remained steady in our approach to change, and have delivered on our promise of quality, trust, and innovation,’ he adds.

A company that’s been in business for 55 years certainly knows its share of successes and challenges. ‘We’ve been hugely successful in continually investigating trends and not being afraid to launch new products,’ explains Rowan. Some examples of this are Pyrotec PackMedia’s migration from supplying self-adhesive labels to now supplying market-leading informational and promotional Fix-a-Form® booklet labels; and Pyrotec PackMark recognising the efficiency of networking coding and Premium Label Solutions equipment in packaging production environments.

‘In March 2016, we launched Pyrotec Finance to offer customers assistance when purchasing or replacing their coding equipment. This includes a rental service, a rent-to-own agreement, as well as straightforward trade-in agreements,’ Rowan adds.

Keeping abreast of the times

Bringing Pyrotec firmly in line with the times, in March 2019 at Propak Africa, Pyrotec PackMedia launched a first for the African continent – the ground-breaking purchase of a Durst Tau 330 RSC eight-colour digital label press, which forms the foundation of the company’s latest venture into digital label printing.

‘We chose the Tau 330 RSC digital label press to drive our new market growth and maintain high customer service levels,’ explains Timothy Beattie, Pyrotec PackMedia’s general manager. ‘We wanted a digital label press that would reduce turnaround times and provide customers with short print runs. Durst offers the most advanced technology, the best print resolution (1200 x 1200dpi), printing speed (78m/min), and printhead design (continuous ink circulation) of all the presses we investigated during our three-year search,’ he adds.

Durst also offers eight colours, achieving between 95% and 98% of the Pantone colour gamut, and, when the same substrate is used for consecutive jobs, set-up time and material waste are almost zero.

In addition to the digital label press, Pyrotec PackMedia also purchased an ABG Digicon Series 3 finishing machine from IIS.

Pyrotec PackMark, the company’s machinery division, offers a comprehensive range of Premium Label Solutions, coding, print and apply Premium Label Solutions equipment, and consumables. Through its exclusive distribution partnerships in southern Africa, Pyrotec PackMark supplies a vast portfolio of world-class equipment from international manufacturers such as Markem-Imaje, ALTech, and Harland Machine Systems, and a selection of other brands.

Pyrotec PackWorx is a general engineering machine shop where conveyors, feeding and automated systems are developed and created for the packaging and manufacturing sectors.

‘A big part of our success is our ability to identify niche markets and our agility to embrace innovation and adapt as changing markets demand. Our new digital press and finishing machine ensure we stay close to our customers, offering them the best possible service and turnaround times, as well as eye-catching, consistent print quality,’ Timothy concludes.

In early 2020, the most recent addition to Pyrotec’s brands was the launch of PackLink – a customised software that provides a fully-integrated coding and Premium Label Solutions tracking system. Pyrotec PackLink assists customers to increase line visibility while improving efficiency by tracking waste, labour and resources, and limiting downtime by enabling critical decisions to be made on the fly. In short, Pyrotec PackLink helps customers to achieve overall equipment efficiency.

Because Pyrotec PackLink’s software is customised and developed in-house by Pyrotec, customers can build onto the system as and when budgets allow, or business requirements dictate.

Reputation and trust

Rowan is adamant that Pyrotec remains innovative. The company continues to sell much more than just self-adhesive labels as it once did. ‘We focus on selling solutions and continually building on our reputation. We want to be respected as the best – both locally and internationally – based on our competence,’ he insists.