Our supplier then went back into their research & development lab, spent some time going over all the ingredients, obviously trying to reduce the flammability of the said ingredient. In the meantime we were kept informed on progress by Chasity Clark, our client liaison at the manufacturer’s office in Georgia, USA. Two weeks ago I received an email from Chasity with the subject line saying “YAY !!”. I opened and read it and then I went “YAY !!” They were not able to reduce the flammability of the “delinquent” ingredient, but in their quest to do that they came up with something completely new that was not flammable at all. (YAY !!) and now they have an improved Adhesive-Off product that – after several customer-conducted tests – is a significant improvement on the original Adhesive-Off.

Just today we received our samples of the new improved Adhesive-Off as well as the all new Super Vinyl-Off (yes new Vinyl-Off as well). We have just done a small test of the new Adhesive Off and we’re happy to report that the product is HOTT.. yes HOTT. You don’t believe me.. see for yourself then.

GCC now provides a total solution – Rhinestone Transfer System which includes the SmartCut pro software from DAS and a professional cutting plotter from GCC. The SmartCut pro software which includes powerful functions and user-friendly interface is the best choice to make templates for the Rhinestone application. The Rhinestone system comes not only with the software but with the Stone Stencils Volume 1 graphics library. Combined with GCC high quality cutting plotters, GCC Jaguar IV series or Puma III series, the total solution becomes a perfect production tool for the garment customization business. With this simple system, you can expand your business easily.

To see what this system can empower you to create, have a look at the PDF brochure, which you can download by clicking HERE .

Starting January, 2010, the effective date of the asset purchase agreement, all distributor and reseller rights and obligations vis-à-vis Triline International S.r.l. pertaining to the transferred business, shall be considered transferred to Rowmark Italy S.r.l., which will be the new partner for the future. Everybody here at Sytech Supplies are excited about the synergies of the state of the art Triline designs combined with Rowmark’s ClearPath Signage Systems worldwide. This presents many very positive combinations and a significant opportunity for our distributors, resellers and the global sign making industry as a whole.

We are the South African brand partner for Triline Signs.

Since we started selling the CorelDraw Graphics Suite, we have also been keeping in touch with the customers that purchased the box sets to ensure that the software works for them; to the extent that we’ve made our sales and marketing personnel available to help customers with anything they need to do in Coreldraw. In addition our sales personnel have been making notes of the challenges that most customers have with using CorelDraw and have been feeding that information to the marketing department . After selling Coreldraw for a full year, we collated the information gathered over that period and drew the conclusion that most owners of the CorelDraw Graphics Suite have 2 problems in common:

• They run out of hard-drive space quickly because they store all the Corel clipart and their designs on their hard-drives for easy access.
• They struggle to either find proper graphics; or vectorise and redraw downloaded and scanned graphics for use in their design work.

As a solution and to prevent our future buyers of the CorelDraw software from experiencing the same challenges, we have made a package deal available for signage & graphics professionals. From 7 December 2009 until 31 January 2010 all buyers of the Coreldraw Graphics Suite X4 will get either a Buffalo Ministation Lite 320GB External Hard Drive or a Wacom A6 Bamboo Pen Tablet for FREE!

CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4 lets you tackle creative graphics and design projects with confidence. It has precision tools, market-leading file compatibility and high-quality content that helps you turn your creative ideas into professional results: from distinctive logos and signs, to striking marketing materials and eye-catching web graphics.

The MiniStation Lite Portable USB 2.0 320GB Hard Drive is a compact, lightweight and portable storage solution. Store, back-up and transport digital images, music and other files without taking up space on your PC’s hard drive. It comes in 3 colours to match your personal style, Crystal Black and Pearl White. Its Memeo™ AutoSync software automatically syncs your MiniStation with your PC or Mac, ensuring your back-up files are always kept up to date.

The Bamboo Pen A6 Tablet has a pen that turns your computer into the ultimate editing tool and gives you the ability to paint, draw, edit, and personalize your documents with handwritten notes, sketches, and doodles. The ergonomically-designed pen fits comfortably in your hand, and the tablet’s textured work surface makes you feel like you’re working with a pen on paper.

Whether your challenge is STORE or DRAW, the solution is HERE – NOW.

This offer is valid from Sytech Supplies from 7 December 2009 until 31 January 2010 or While stocks last.

In 2003 the company set up a national distributor network that ensures their products and services reach every major city in South Africa. Technicians travel extensively to maintain, repair and service equipment sold by Sytech Supplies. However, despite all the travelling and nationwide shipping of products, the Sytech Supplies brand remained pretty much a Durban-based one.

All that is changing in December 2009, when Sytech Supplies opens its first branch outside Durban – in Port Elizabeth.

In a move toward building a truly South African signage and graphics suplier brand, Sytech Supplies has just taken the first of several step in that direction. “From December the beautiful coastal city of Port Elizabeth will be our second home”. says Arthur Van Wyk, Sytech’s head of Brand Marketing. He jokingly adds that the reason for going to Port Elizabeth first (as opposed to Johannesburg) is because “it’s windy there and we hope that wind will blow us to the rest of the country”.

The new Sytech Supplies offices will open on 1 December 2009. Managing this new branch is Colin Rishworth (pictured). Colin is himself a signs & graphics veteran who has been active in the industry since 1988. Colin, like many big names in the industry, started out as the guy that sold you a machine and also the guy that fixed and serviced it. Colin and his staff are just as excited as the Durban-based contingent about this move.

When asked about the company’s expansion plans, CEO Malcolm Groger reckoned: “Sytech Supplies has a vast number of customers around South Africa using the company’s products, and to improve our service levels and value offering to these customers we decided to open in Port Elizabeth in December and in Johannesburg early in the new year”.

For orders and enquiries, Sytech Supplies Port Elizabeth can be contacted on 041 360 2760 or sales@sytechsupplies.com

Do you know what a Lil Chizler is? Not so long ago I didn’t either. Here’s how I got to know and use this nifty little tool..

A while back I was testing Vinyl-Off, one of the products in our Liquid De-identification System and I put the entire experience on video. What I forgot to do though was to show how I am spraying the Vinyl-Off onto the vinyl before removing it from the chromadeck board. That video can be viewed below:

What came through very strongly was my inexperience in removing adhesive vinyl from surfaces, because if you look very closely you can actually see that i’m scraping the chromadeck in order to lift the edges of the vinyl. Now if that was someone’s vehicle, they would not be very happy with me.
I told our supplier of Vinyl-Off about the video. Chasity Childers. my contact there, viewed it and loved it. Next thing they ship us a bunch of these little spatula-like goodies. A whole 200 of them. It’s called the Lil Chizler.

If you’ve been to Sign Africa 2009 in Johannesburg and you got a goodie bag at the Sytech Supplies stand, then you probably got a Lil Chizler in your home or workspace right now.

Do you know what to do with it?

I had no idea myself, but then I thought back to the video and I realised that if I had used the Chizler, that chromadeck would be without scrapes and marks. As it turns out, the Lil Chizler is not just for signage, but has functions that even includes domestic chores. Some of those include:

Removes paint from metal surfaces
Removes decals from windows
Removes spatter from mirrors
Removes putty from windows
Removes letters from wood & metal signs
Removes baked on grime from ovens

Safely open boxes and cartons
Safely clean your coated cooking surfaces
Safely score cardboard
Safely open food containers
Safely cleans dried food from upholstery
Safely lifts labels and price tags

Perhaps you can think of a gazillion other things that can be done with the Lil Chizler. We’re just glad we managed to bring this thing to market.

Remember the Craftrobo cutter we introduced a while ago?

Well we sold a pallet of them at the Sign Africa 2009 exhibition a month ago and had to order fresh stock as soon as we left Johannesburg. Now that the fresh stock is here and we’re still getting enquiries about the machine, we made an observation. A lot of people interested in the machine are into crafts, scrapbooking etc. Their most important question is always: “So where can I find templates for this cutter?”

After searching for a while. we finally have the answer to that question.

Templates can be found by clicking HERE

Crystaltek Logo

Vinyl-Off is used to remove adhesive vinyl from any surface with the help of either a little sunlight or a heat gun. It also removes 90% of the adhesive. Adhesive-Off is used to remove adhesive that is left behind after removing adhesive vinyl. It is also a good surface prep if vinyl is to be applied on a surface again. Ghost-Off removes oxidation off weather exposed surfaces like ships and containers. It has also proved to be an effective screen cleaner in the silkscreen printing industry.

Sales started off very slow and at first we were a bit concerned because we know for a fact that there is no such product anywhere in South Africa. There is something similar to Adhesive-Off yes, but it doesn’t smell half as good. (and who wants to subject their nose to torture whilst at work). After a while it became apparent that we had to start educating our customers about this product. It was not skepticism so much as “not knowing”. So after a number of successive email newsletters, 3 consecutive ads in Practical Sign & Digital Graphics magazine and a few blog posts we were steadily on our way.

And confidence levels are up so high.. clients are becoming more and more confident in the vinyl removal ability of this product that we have just started selling Vinyl-Off in 4 litre bottles.

HOORAY !!!

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