FA L C O N S I G N A G E S U P P L I E S
FALCON SIGNAGE SUPPLIES
All Signs Point to
Falcon Dominance PRODUCTION: William Denstone
With the most comprehensive range of quality signage supplies, offered at the right price, Falcon is among the leading sign material suppliers in the Southern African region. General Manager, William Gibson takes us through the company’s imminent plans for growth and diversification into potential lucrative markets.
//
Falcon was established in 1995, and in a relatively short lifetime has grown into a fully BBB-EE approved outfit with a national footprint comprising 12 outlets, strategically stationed in South Africa’s key outposts. We asked General Manager William Gibson to outline the Falcon story to date, as it nears its
2 / www.enterprise-africa.net
quarter-century of operations. “The business started very modestly, giving no real hint that it would end up growing to the entity we see today,” he details. “Falcon came about because of the obvious synergies between the manufacture of number plates, which was what was being made at the beginning,
and of signs - road signage, reflective materials and vinyl, for example - there were very similar principles in the two industries. These similarities were what brought about the creation of a signage manufacturing company, which later was streamlined to become a supplier to the signage industry.”
www.enterprise-africa.net / 3
INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING
Today, a substantial part of Uniplate Investment Holdings which consists of Uniplate, the largest number plate company south of the equator in Africa, and what Gibson terms, perhaps with a hint of false modesty, “the Differentiator of the organisation” - Falcon. “Initially, we started off only supplying Chromadek sheeting, and some rudimentary vinyl materials were also sourced and sold,” Gibson tells us. Chromadek is an industry-renowned product, billed as being lighter and stronger than any other of the materials used in the early days of sign manufacture material, and that’s why it is also popular in the building industry making roofs up to 80% lighter than those using conventional concrete tiles.
// WE WANT TO INFILTRATE THE MINING INDUSTRY BY CAPITALISING ON OUR EXPERTISE IN PROTECTIVE FILMS //
Guillotine Department
4 / www.enterprise-africa.net
// WE HAVE BECOME A GENUINE ONE-STOP SHOP // “Today,” he continues, “we supply the widest range of products to the signage industry, which has necessitated rapid and significant expansion on our part.” NATIONAL EXPANSION Falcon’s footprint has grown substantially from its early days as a start-up in Johannesburg. “We now have 10 active branches and two agencies at our disposal, giving us 12 outlets for Falcon signage material supplies,” explains Gibson. “This gives us coverage of the entire country, from as high as Polokwane in the very north of South Africa, right down to Cape Town at its southern tip. “We do have a substantial footprint in that we also have a large hub in Durban, where a lot of the materials that we import from Europe and the Far East arrive. These then are shipped to one of the other two distribution hubs, either in Cape Town or our site in Isando, Johannesburg.” Falcon’s is a truly national operation, with a presence around each of the
major areas in the country; a complex network allowing the company to service customers in every corner of the territory. “The majority of our branches are located in the Gauteng area - four in fact - while at the Isando hub, which is also our head office, we have two large de-coiling and sheeting lines where we prepare Chromadek trimmed plates for distribution nationally. We also have our hub and a branch in Cape Town, from which we supply into Port Elizabeth and East London, where we have outlets to cover the east coast of the country, while inland we have a branch in Bloemfontein.” One of the key recent strategic decisions for Falcon concerned its physical location, with the company making the move from a 2500m2 premises to an all-singing 5000m2 site, crucial to greater efficiency in its operations, according to Gibson. “We were not in the best area in terms of serving and delivering to customers, and we wanted to consolidate what
TEXTILE DECORATION TECHNOLOGIES - since 1932
-
NEW GENERATION of intelligent IQ BOARDS with WIRELESS HEATED LOWER PLATEN
integration for all Fusion models.
for Sprint Mag, MAXX and all Fusion models
®
SILICONE 100
Silicone dye-blocking technology, very thin and elastic
® All products are available in Africa by
SUPERTEK 2.0 SERIES New generation of SuperTEK materials
www.stahls.de www.falconsa.com
INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING
// WE ARE THE FIRST OF THE SIGNAGE SUPPLIERS IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD TO OFFER AN ONLINE FACILITY // we do into a central network. We have moved into a far larger location which has allowed us to bring the de-coiling and sheeting of the Chromadek onsite into the centralised hub, as well as afford us the space to bring together all of our stock and give us greater control.” INCREASINGLY GLOBAL PRESENCE With South Africa comprehensively covered, Gibson goes on to hint at Falcon’s tentative steps to expand beyond its borders. “Outside of
the country we also have a seller in Namibia, and arrangements with resellers in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique. We manage to cover the majority of the sub-Saharan African region with our resellers in those centres, and we showcase all of our comprehensive range of products at trade shows all over. For example, last year we had a stand at the Zambia Sign Africa show, and we do similar in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.” Falcon achieves the rare balance of having achieved an increasingly international presence, while remaining loyal to its strong local roots. “We source globally, which is why we have distribution hubs in the port cities of South Africa and the main hub sitting in the Gauteng area, servicing South Africa’s biggest commercial and industrial area. It
Lesedi Mohapi (Administrative assistant). Claire Ogivey (Procurement Assistant). William Gibson (GM). Andrew Horsley (Procurement Manager).
6 / www.enterprise-africa.net
is also important to us, however, to purchase items from local suppliers and support the domestic market where we can, and our Chromadek, ABS and Correx materials are all manufactured here in South Africa. MASTER OF MANY TRADES “From the humble beginnings of supplying only Chromadek sheeting and basic vinyl, we have been able to add to this offering a wide range of materials sourced both locally and globally to supply into the market.” Falcon’s growth both in size and in expertise allows it to satisfy an everlarger section of this huge market, but across its wide range of competences it has a few specialities, as Gibson points out. “We have become pretty much the experts in premium cast vinyl materials, for car wrapping, and are the sole
FALCON SIGNAGE SUPPLIES
New Warehouse and Sales Office
distributors of the French brand HEXIS. We are also the preferred suppliers to ORAFOL, based in Germany.” The ORAFOL Group is of course one of the world’s leading manufacturers of innovative self-adhesive graphic films, reflective materials, cast and adhesive tape systems. “On the rigid material side, we specialise in aluminium composite sheeting which we source from another European company, 3A Polycasa, the leading manufacturer of sheet materials for the field of visual communication. “We are one of the two main distributors of NUtec Digital Ink to the region as well. To support this business we also offer a technical service to all our customers, whereby we have technicians in every region servicing and repairing customers’ print machines to whom we supply ink.” As Gibson sums up: “We have
become a genuine one-stop shop you can get it all from Falcon.” NEW INDUSTRIES TO CONQUER As thoughts turn to the future of Falcon, William Gibson fills us in on the shape that future innovation will take for the company. “One of the new areas that we are targeting, is to enhance our industrial and engineering-grade reflective, protective materials, for use on vehicles and for signage in heavy industries,” he says. “These will require very hardy materials, and we want to start infiltrating these industries by capitalising on our expertise in protective films.” It goes without saying that in these conditions, which in heavy industries case are often noisy, confined and contain an array of moving equipment, visibility is paramount and Falcon’s products lend themselves
perfectly to such applications. “We are looking to become more accessible to a wider net of customers, which will enhance our service offering as well,” rounds off Gibson, and this will be invaluable to achieving what he tells us are Falcon’s lofty future ambitions. “Our long-term goal is of course to increase revenue, but we want to accomplish that by adding value as well as bringing the best products to market. Since 1995 Falcon has been known for having high quality products and never lowering its standards, and we have to keep to that credo. “We will not be the cheapest supplier or to try to be everything to everybody, but we will be the best.”
WWW.FALCONSA.COM
www.enterprise-africa.net / 7
Published by CMB Media Group Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street, Norwich, NR3 1JU T. +44 (0) 20 8123 7859 E. info@cmb-media.co.uk www.cmb-media.co.uk CMB Media Group does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Š CMB Media Group Ltd 2018
AS FEAT UR ED IN
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
AUG UST 2018