O
n 12 June the South African Printing Industry turned
out in all of its finery and glory for the Annual Print-
ing SA Gala Dinner at Emperors Palace.
Printers and suppliers mingled, shared stories and
generally caught up on the state of the industry during the
pre-dinner drinks gathering. The theme for the event was
Carnival linking the function to the first night of the Brazil
2014World Cup.
Master of ceremonies Harry Sideropoulos welcomed
the guests and then proceeded to thank all the spon-
sors whose generous contributions made the evening
possible. Sponsors of the evening included: Heidelberg
Graphic Systems, Kemtek Imaging Systems and Antalis
SouthAfricaasDiamondlevelsponsors;BMM,Norpaper,
Bidvest Paperplus, Agfa and KonicaMinolta South Africa
as Ruby level sponsors; Continental Printing Inks, MDC,
Thunderbolt, Peters Papers, Chemosol, Papercor, Kamboo
Marketing, Caxton Printers, Midcomp and Merpak as
Sapphire level sponsors. Contributing members included
Pentel, Mango, Longrun Labels and Laminates, The Inks-
pot, Beith Digital, Alphapax, Multiprint Litho, Screenline,
Merpak, Renform and Papersmith & Son.
What followed was a spectacular dance recital of
South American dances by four South African dancers,
which thrilled the assembled guests and at the same time
reminded them just how cold the night outside was.
Terry Adinolfi, president of the Central Chamber then
addressed the guests and thanked them for their valued
support during the past year. She also added her vote of
thanks to the sponsors and to the team under the leader-
ship of Michelle Robson who had worked so hard to put
on this event.
Patrick Lacy, CEO of Printing SA followed next and
laid out the long and arduous road travelled by Printing
SA over the past ten years and highlighted some of the
achievements which the organisation has celebrated in
recent times. He also introduced Steve Thobela, deputy
CEO and the man selected to lead the organisation after
Patrick retires at the end of the year.
The keynote address was given my economist Daniel
Silke who gave an overview of the world economy and
South Africa’s position and standing in the global context.
He also said that while Africa promises to be one of the
economic powerhouses of the next century, it is not South
Africa which will be leading the charge, but rather Nige-
ria.
Following the main course, a number of prize draws
were held, based on seat and table numbers. The main
prize for the evening was a week-long holiday to Mau-
ritius which was won by NadineMcGuire from Papercor.
The evening, while long, proved to be generally good
and some of those assembledmade full use of the oppor-
tunity to partake of the copious quantities of libation and
music to party long into the small hours of the morning.
Printing SA pulls out all the stops at Annual Gala Dinner
Vol 4 Issue 3 • THE GAPP TIMES
M
erpak Envelopes has announced two appoint-
ments to its board of directors.With effect from1
June, Michelle Robson is the new sales director
andMichael Ackhurst is the new financial director.
Michelle has run the national sales for Merpak for
many years. Commenting on Michelle’s appointment,
chief executive officer Deon Joubert said, ‘We are de-
lighted to be able to announce Michelle’s appointment.
Not only is she an integral part of the Merpak team, but
she also serves on the Central Chamber of the Printing
SA Executive where she is the chairperson of the annual
AGM and Gala Dinner Committee. We all congratulate
Michelle and wish her well in her new role.’
Michael Ackhurst has a long history with Merpak
having originally come to the company as an articled clerk
during an annual audit. After qualifying as a charteredAc-
countant and spending a brief timewith a listed company,
he joinedMerpak as head of finance and administration.
Deon commented, ‘We are fortunate to have a man
of Michael’s experience, knowledge and professionalism
joining our board and we wish him a long and happy stay
on the board of the company.’
J
ohannesburg-based digital printing and displays
company Tali has launched a newcompany logo and
corporate image to reflect the changes which the
company has experienced to its core business in recent
years.
Tali Digital Displays was formed in 2004 by Orlando
de Abreu in a 52sqm house with just one other member
of staff. Since then the company has grown exponentially
and is nowbursting out of its 700sqmmetre seamswhich
house an impressive range of machines and a total of 13
staff members.
The new logo was devised to reflect the fact that Tali
is nowa full-service digital print and display solutions pro-
vider. Commenting on the change, Orlando said, ‘When I
first formed Tali a large percentage of the work which we
did revolved around the replication and duplication of CDs
and DVDs. With changes in technology and the way that
peoplework, that market is nowa fraction of what it was.
‘There has been significant growth and changes to
the displays market. When I first started, all my printing
was done using silkscreen printing. Now it is all digital
and there are so many different technologies which are
used, it requires a great deal of knowledge and attention
to detail. I have spent a lot of time learning about the dif-
ferent types of printing and which one works for which
application.’
The newname and logo - Tali Print Display Solutions -
reflects the changes which the company has experienced
in the past ten years. According to Orlando, the focus is
no longer on simply printing banners or displays or point
ofsalematerialforclients on aonce-off basisbutrather in
findingtheperfectsolutionfortheclientbasedonthespe-
cific needs of the individual customer for each application.
He added, ‘Gone are the days of making one print fit all
applications, we have the technology and know-how to
create the perfect printed result for the client for each ap-
plication and this is where our expertise comes into play.
‘We are a solutions driven company, we ask the right
questions, lots of questions, but most of the timewe think
of challenges which the clients themselves have not
picked up on – giving them themost suitable for their par-
ticular requirements. We are extremely passionate about
what we do and we look forward to even more growth
in the future.’
The new logo and brandingwere launched on the Tali
standatMarkexandwillnowberolledouttothebuilding,
the company vehicles and the website.
Merpak Envelopes announces board appointments
Tali launches new logo and Corporate Identity
94
I
The GAPP
magazine
www.
thegapp
.co.za
