Leading print-to-post specialist aquires Mailsys

10 May 2006

KwaZulu-Natal: Having shown exceptional growth at its Gauteng and Cape Town plants, Lithotech Afric Mail, a division of market leading printing specialist, Lithotech, has acquired Durban-based laser printing and mailing plant, Mailsys. While the acquisition is relatively small, the purchase expands the company’s national presence in print-to-post.

Hennie Mentz, Managing Director of Lithotech Afric Mail, said that the acquisition would increase the company’s print-to-post capacity to existing customers and give it the flexibility to mail from more than one centre at a time. “We already have a firmly established litho printing, manufacturing, envelope and sales division in KwaZulu-Natal. The establishment of this additional Afric Mail plant allows us to offer the same full basket of services as Gauteng and Cape Town.”

Lithotech is currently the only company in South Africa that can offer the full print-to-post solution where all products that form part of a mailing are manufactured within the company itself. “We will be looking to transfer our expertise in Cape Town and Gauteng to the Durban market. This includes the latest technology in laser printing and mail enclosing,” said Mentz.

“A strong motivation for the purchase is the evolution of hybrid mail – a service designed for national businesses that require high-volume electronic and physical mail preparation – we can now mail customer billing applications from three major centres within the country at the same time. Our research has also indicated the rapid growth of the sourcing and personalisation of plastic cards in South Africa – we will now be able to offer this service to the Durban market.”

The unique development will also see the Durban plant fulfil the third point of a ‘Disaster Recovery Triangle’ with the Gauteng and Cape Town plants. This means that should there be an equipment failure, power outage or capacity peak, Lithotech Afric Mail can transfer customer data digitally through its ADSL network and production can resume with minimal downtime.

To ensure continuity with existing customers and cultivate knowledge of the local market, the plant will be based at Mailsys’ old offices and headed up by Operations Director, Sean Cleland, a previous shareholder of Mailsys.

“Lithotech Afric Mail Durban is the next step in our national strategy to offer unequalled solutions in the print-to-post market to existing and potential customers,” said Mentz.